5 common objections to Agile

In this article I correct misconceptions I hear about Agile so you can discover what Agile is really about.

Here are five common objections I hear about Agile, which are misconceptions about what I understand as the true spirit of Agile:

1) “Agile is chaos!”
Actually, Agile encourages structured autonomy.

2) “Agile is traditional project management, rebranded”
Actually, Agile is first and foremost a mindset, or way of being, and not a specific way of managing projects.

3) “Agile does not use plans or documentation”
Actually, Agile certainly can have plans and documentation, but these are updated in response to change.

4) “Agile is complicated processes with that requires certification”
Actually, The Agile industry has designed overly complex processes and created certification around them. While they might capture useful best practices, any rigid top-down implementation that is overly complex and does not take contex into account is not in the spirit of Agile.

5) “Agile (and self-organization) is an excuse to fire middle management”
Actually, Self-organization works best with [structured autonomy][sa] where power is shared. Servent leaders, facilitators and roles with accountability play a key role in this. If middle management is fired for cost-savings without investing in structured self-organization, Agile is likely to become chaos.