Agile at a Crossroads: How the Industrial Complex Is Perpetuating Inefficiency

Having spent over a decade in Agile leadership and coaching roles, including time working in major consultancies and founding Agile-Leads, I've always been deeply passionate about delivering value, not just pushing frameworks. This frustration with the "Agile Industrial Complex" resonates with me, as I've often witnessed the disconnect between top-down mandates and what teams truly need to thrive. In this article, I explore the concept of the Agile Industrial Complex and why it's essential to focus on people, value, and adaptable approaches rather than blindly following rigid, off-the-shelf solutions

The Agile Industrial Complex as defined by Daniel Mezick, a management consultant, author & keynote speaker on business agility:?

“It is that web of Agile institutions, Agile thought leaders and Agile consulting firms that implicitly collude to make normal the very harmful and disrespectful imposition of Agile practices on teams without consent. The Agile space is now a “no-innovation zone.” It tolerates and in fact perpetuates a highly weaponized version of Agile. Coercion, command-and-control, force, and the routine mandating of specific practices are how this game is played. The Agile Industrial Complex perpetuates and then monetizes a culture of coercion and force. The result is a worldwide pandemic of highly prescriptive, enterprise-wide Agile “trance formations.”

I am part of the ‘Agile Industrial Complex’.? However, I’ve always had the same frustration - knowing that what works will only be determined by listening to teams, and frequently seeing this not happen.?

Operating as an Agile Lead with tech consultancies has been my profession for a long time.? When starting Agile-Leads I wanted to partner with a company I believe provide clients real value with a focus on people, not an off-the-shelf model for agile with a massive price tag.? It was important to me to focus on the elements around agile adoptions, e.g. sensitive change management, leadership coaching, team dynamics and emotional intelligence.

A few years ago, I spent six months working for one of the big 6 consultancies. During that time, I realised it wasn’t the right fit for me, and ultimately decided to move on. I found myself struggling with the challenge of promoting solutions that, in my view, weren't the best fit for our clients. I'm not a salesperson, my passion lies in delivery, coming from +21 years in digital project management, Scrum Mastery, and agile coaching and leadership.

Listening to the latest ACN podcast - The Agile Industrial Complex’, I heard a term I’d not come across before - Agile Industrial complex. This hit the nail on the head of what bothers me so much about this idea of an off-the-shelf approach to agile adoption or transformation.? One that favours profit over people, velocity over value.

I’ve had roles where I’ve been put in the position of trying to coach teams in ways of working which they had no input into, and neither wanted nor (in my opinion) needed.?

I worked in an organisation that was facing challenges with their SAFe implementation. During that time, a VP shared with me that they felt it was more of a ‘rebadging’ exercise, which was insightful. Some key stakeholders were reluctant to fully engage or participate. There was some significant resistance and silos that were exacerbated by the introduction of SAFe. Despite these challenges, the decision to scale SAFe continued to be driven from the top at a global level. As Albert Einstein famously said:

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

A great example is an outside consultancy coming into an organisation, running a long assessment phase and imposing the Spotify model.? A model which Spotify themselves say not to use! Spotify created a model that works for them, they never intended it to be a copy & paste solution for other companies.? There are so many frameworks and tools that come under the umbrella of agile, companies need to adopt a practical approach, which is born from the needs of their teams.

Pragmatic agile: Choose what’s right for you and your teams

In Daniel Mezick’s quote he uses pretty aggressive language.? Though I think his point can be plainly summed up with these obstructive organisational behaviours:

• Imposing processes on teams that run counter to the Agile Manifesto, specifically if the direction is coming ‘top down’
• Keeping command & control structures
• Making accommodations for legacy systems, structures & processes that run counter to what the teams need
• Forcing teams into ‘processes’ and dictating the framework without understand how they need to or want to work?

I’ve highlighted some key principles of the agile manifesto, which I feel run very counter to the idea of an imposed model for agile:

12 Principles of the Agile Manifesto

I understand why this off-the-shelf approach to agile models might be attractive, why leadership focus on the benefits of speed of delivery and increased quality, that are sold in by the agents of the Agile Industrial Complex.? However, when value and people are not the focus, these models for agile will not stick.? The real values at the heart of agile will not be realised.

If I learnt anything as a consultant, its that when you get a new brief from a client you reframe the ‘ask’ in that brief, to try and uncover the heart of the problem or challenge.? Only then can you hypothesis and research what the right solution is, and you do this by talking to the teams, by engaging every department that touches software development.?

The outcome will be a roadmap or implementation plan that works for the teams.? One which they can assess and review regularly to make sure the approach is adapted for the their needs, and one that aims to always create value.

Final Thoughts

The Agile Industrial Complex often sells a one-size-fits-all approach that overlooks the true principles of Agile. As I’ve seen firsthand, imposing rigid frameworks without truly understanding the needs of the teams only perpetuates inefficiency and disengagement. Real transformation happens when organisations listen to their teams, adapt processes to fit their unique needs, and maintain a relentless focus on delivering value. Instead of chasing a ‘perfect’ framework, we should be embracing the mindset of flexibility, collaboration, and continuous learning that Agile is truly about. Let’s keep people at the centre of our Agile journeys and drive real, sustainable change.

Articles referenced -

‘The Agile Industrial Complex’ by Daniel Mezick

‘Agile Industrial Complex’ by Matt Philip

A Little Disclaimer:

My words are my own.? Whilst Chat GPT and other AI tools are amazing resources to check my grammar, suggest better formatting and provide catchy headlines when the brain fog sets it, it cannot provide verifiable data without substantiation. It cannot replace experience or the passions and inspirations which fuel our professional lives. Any data and trends I have included have been substantiated via the sources I provide.? The insights given in this article are based on my +21 years professional experience, my +6 years in senior leadership roles in The UAE and my own wide-ranging research.? If this article has resonated with you please feel free to comment and share, feedback is always welcome and appreciated.