This is a simple text to express my feelings about the agile movement. It’s about presenting my observations with my analyses, my categorizations, my convictions, my proposals. I leave you to express yours wherever you see fit. I don’t claim that mine are better, just that they exist, here they are.

By “agile movement” I mean the dynamic of companies and organizations knowing how to evolve well in today’s complex world. The question is therefore, in my view, how to benefit from the observations and knowledge we have to enable organizations to have more impact, people to have a better life, because it’s more meaningful.

Today this “agile movement” is moribund.

It’s mimicking itself.

On one side it completely loses its meaning by decking itself out with a slew of certifications that make no sense and especially whose content is antithetical to the thinking that underlies this adaptation to the complex world. These certifications come with frameworks, foundations, to sell and reassure. (see Why You Should Be Wary of SAFe). It’s a golden escape route for organizations to guarantee homeostasis, immobility. One piece of good news despite everything: the deception is starting to show, because the glaring lack of success is hard to go unnoticed, and the farce has been going on too long to remain hidden.

On the other side, a sort of hara-kiri, seppuku, of agile coaches who, finding no foothold in organizations¹, lose all credibility by letting themselves be caught up in magical thinking, or a picturesque but currently empty originality (the alchemists, the gardeners, the cultivators, the permaculturists, the circular ones, the flourishers, the openers, etc.) because it doesn’t bear fruit. And then there are the players, the activity center facilitators, who swear only by games. With the years (because I too have done a lot of them, mea culpa) I believe that agile games are pleasant to run, a reassuring support, intellectually somewhat sparkling, but don’t unlock situations, don’t provoke awareness, don’t bring about powerful conversations. They remain in the realm of play, and nowhere else, contrary to what we want people to believe. As in the case of certifications and magic recipe frameworks, games, magical drifts, nothing has borne fruit. No results in sight. So either we’re very bad, or it doesn’t work.

In the books that compile new companies and that are dear to this community (Freedom Inc, Reinventing Organizations, etc.), no games, no frameworks, no certifications.

It’s Not the Right Subject of Conversation

The “agile movement” would be much better off today in my view if it anchored all its conversations in the real, in reality. If it spoke the language of the people it accompanies. A simple and direct language. I’m with an entrepreneur, I talk about the entrepreneur’s subjects and context. I’m with an educator, I talk about the educator’s subjects and context. Etc. Their subjects, their frameworks, their realities. No jargon. No evasion. No imposition. We come with our convictions, and our experiences to enrich their subjects. Their subjects are central.

Bringing complexity back to simple language, to simple questions. Not simplistic ones. That also means bringing decisions back to structural choices, since they’re brought back to their essence. If we bring questions back to their fundamentals, the choices made necessarily have amplitude.

Imagine if we banned from all these conversations the themes of play when play is not the subject, of benevolence when benevolence is not the subject, of frameworks when the framework is not the subject, etc.

I want powerful conversations, constructive confrontations, which are only possible if we talk about things, about the real subjects. They exist, they’re drowned out by other themes.

So 1) All conversations concretely address the subject for which coaching is required, with the words of the context. Simple, adequate words, no detours.

The Conversation Isn’t Taking Place in the Right Location.

Talking about the heart of the subject means talking at the heart of the company. It’s often the leaders, but not always. We must try at all costs to address the real subjects in the real places. It’s not easy. But it must be signaled. Clearly indicate that this is the conversation that should be taking place.

Point 2) Speak at the heart of the company. Where decisions are made.

It’s better to waste your time trying to do this than to try to do something else.

Without Intention There Is No Salvation

By clarifying the matter, by being concrete, we quickly observe whether the desire to go in the defined direction is present or not. That doesn’t mean going fast or not. It means we validate the intention. Point 3) If the intention isn’t there, withdraw, you may come back when it’s ready.

Again, I’m not talking about speed, the intention can be there, and the speed very slow. But you know how to judge whether the intention is there or not. Whether it’s a lie (conscious or not) or a real desire. When in doubt you can also put this question in the middle of the conversation.

If it turns out that the intention isn’t there. Please withdraw. By playing the game of deception, by covering up, by staying present, you blur all the signals, all the messages, all the responsibilities. Deciding this takes a few months (not a few weeks, that’s too short to know). Don’t play the short term, and the vicious cycle, let’s play the long term and the virtuous circle: don’t feed the beast.

3 Points to Get Out of Procrastination

Don’t pretend, don’t hide behind the playful or the magical (to use Laurence’s words).

1) All conversations concretely address the subject for which coaching is required. Simple, adequate words, no detours.

2) Speak at the heart of the company. Where decisions are made.

3) If the intention isn’t there, withdraw.