Explore common misconceptions of agile fatigue
By Kenneth Wong
Kenneth Wong is the Manager of Business Solutions at 10Pearls - a certified Agile Coach, Product Owner, and Scrum Master. He assists clients in optimizing processes and implementing best practices for various Agile frameworks.
Agile Fatigue & Fundamental Misconceptions
Blog contents
Within the past few years, there has been relative fatigue in many organizations in adopting and implementing Agile practices, processes, and culture. The methodologies and individual frameworks have been marketed to organizations as the silver bullet to resolve product delivery and operational challenges. Still, often, executive leadership has yet to fully realize the benefits or value that Agile was supposed to provide. In fact, some organizations have reverted to the status quo, and others experienced increased resistance among involved teams, resulting in a noticeable decrease in overall morale and satisfaction.
The move to embrace an Agile culture and structure is not easy and not for every situation—it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach. Agile may not be the best approach for organizations with certain types of work that cannot be broken down into smaller portions and completed incrementally. A critical evaluation and assessment should determine if it is the right strategic move. This transition (or transformation, as the buzzword these days) involves a lot of time, often operational changes, and dedication for it to work.
Unfortunately, there are too many instances where a certain framework was implemented hastily at an organization with rigid internal rules and processes still in place that directly conflict with the way the framework was intended to be executed. Yet despite these conflicts, leadership expects that everything will work without consequence. This disconnect directly contributes to Agile fatigue because it can inherently increase workload unnecessarily and cause growing frustrations among teams – let alone burnout. Repeat this similar scenario for other organizations that claim to be 100% Agile out there, and it’s no wonder why many leaders, delivery teams, and product teams wind up exhausted and eventually arrive at the self-made conclusion that “Agile doesn’t work.”
If we take a closer look, it almost always comes down to misconceptions around expectations and the system – the organization’s people, process, and technology. Here are some common ones.
Agile always results in faster product delivery
That’s not always the case. It may result in a faster time to market, which is one of the advertised benefits of Agile, but only if delivery teams are mature and well-optimized in an environment that is conducive for them. Suppose you have a high-performing team that gets hounded by project managers asking for daily statuses and is also constrained by a lengthy deployment/release process. In that case, faster product delivery may not even be achievable.
Tip: Establish an efficient deployment process that enables rapid releases and eliminates unnecessary barriers or overhead for delivery teams. Ensure that what is delivered iteratively always adds value to the customer, rather than just meeting an arbitrary date on a project plan.
Agile requires rigid adherence to a specific framework
One of the main Agile principles is “individuals and interactions over processes and tools.” This stresses the need to find something that best works for teams to optimize collaboration to achieve a goal. Agile frameworks provide foundational processes and tools to leverage, but it’s up to the teams to make it work for them in their day-to-day activities in specific situations.
Tip: If it makes sense to borrow certain processes or flows from other frameworks and create a hybrid mix, teams can do that as long as everyone collectively agrees it would work better for them.
Agile just needs to be implemented at the team level
This is one of the main misguided beliefs prevalent in most places. It’s like expecting a seasoned short-distance runner to do well in a full marathon by only providing him with new running shoes. From leadership down, the entire organization must embrace this mindset and foster an environment that continually supports Agile. This applies to any impacted departments or groups that delivery teams may need to collaborate with or depend on for their work. Without making any necessary structural and procedural changes beyond delivery teams, an organization would still experience bottlenecks and hand-offs that may slow down those teams expected to deliver faster.
Tip: There needs to be buy-in at the organizational leadership level with an understanding that other departments and business units may need to change if there is a desire to work cohesively in an Agile manner. It’s more than just delivery teams – the processes, interactions, and operating models may need to change as well. Agile was never meant to be an add-on component to an organization.
Agile is only meant for IT or technical organizations
Agile, in varying degrees of adoption, has become increasingly common beyond just the IT realm. While Agile is most known and popular in IT or technical organizations that do software development, Agile concepts and practices are industry agnostic. For example, in HR and Marketing, the Kanban framework is frequently used from a business perspective to help visualize where work is sitting and to provide direction on what to tackle next.
Tip: If there is work that often has changing requirements, requires frequent customer or stakeholder feedback, and calls for iterative updates, Agile may be a good candidate to consider.
Implementing Agile is a one-time event
One of the main points of Agile is being flexible enough to respond and quickly adapt to changes, whether from the customer or market. Truly Agile organizations are on an ongoing journey of adapting processes, regularly updating priorities, and tweaking practices to better respond to changes more efficiently—it’s never one-and-done. There needs to be continued conscious reinforcement and investment in the whole system, with empowerment to seek out and experiment with better ways of doing things.
Tip: Support and advocate for the autonomy of teams and provide the necessary resources to get things done. Trust team members to continuously refine the most optimal delivery method, then empower them to adjust accordingly.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that Agile fatigue is real, but there are also misconceptions that fuel this fatigue, whether due to limited training, botched implementation of certain frameworks, misaligned leadership expectations, or any combination. Properly instituting Agile principles and frameworks is a challenging endeavor, but layering on top of these misconceptions makes it even more difficult.
20% of the most valuable global firms have truly embodied Agile and are growing faster than the S&P500 while generating significant customer value.
It’s not all doom and gloom. A Forbes article published in February 2024 stated around 20% of the most valuable global firms have truly embodied Agile and are growing faster than the S&P500 while generating significant customer value. Achieving true agility requires reframing and appropriately addressing these misguided perspectives so an organization can mold their holistic system into a functioning environment that adequately promotes Agile first then subsequently optimizes delivery sub-systems (i.e., teams). Only then will it be able to reap the benefits of Agile and be able to easily adapt to changing market conditions to remain competitive.
Sustainable adaptability & innovation with 10Pearls
Many organizations experience burnout and frustration when Agile principles are misunderstood or poorly implemented. Speak to us to learn how to achieve lasting agility and boost your organization's impact. Let’s connect.
Related articles
