# Agile + 20

- Show: [Oxide and Friends](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends)
- Published: 2021-07-27
- Length: 1h 11m
- Episode: 9
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-07-27-agile-20
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/9e9e7211

## Summary

Bryan Cantrill, Adam Leventhal, and a panel of software veterans including Tom Killalea, Tom Lyon, and Dan Cross discuss the 20-year legacy of the Agile Manifesto, arguing that while its core principles regarding customer focus are sound, the methodology has been corrupted by prescriptive 'cargo cult' rituals like rigid 2-week sprints and excessive estimation. They contrast these failures with successful implementations, such as the development of AWS S3, which utilized Agile pragmatically to provide engineers with uninterrupted focus and accountability through demos and retrospectives. The group concludes that Agile is not a silver bullet but a flexible framework that works best in high-trust environments where teams can adapt processes to their specific context rather than following dogma.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-07-27-agile-20#t=0) Introduction: The Agile Manifesto Retrospective
- [1:03](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-07-27-agile-20#t=63) Cargo Cults, Snake Oil, and the Origins of Agile
- [6:34](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-07-27-agile-20#t=394) The Problem with Prescriptivity and Rigid Sprints
- [19:05](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-07-27-agile-20#t=1145) Sun Microsystems: Direct Customer Connection
- [24:46](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-07-27-agile-20#t=1486) AWS S3: Successful Agile Implementation
- [33:39](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-07-27-agile-20#t=2019) Key Success Factors: Demos and Retrospectives
- [40:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-07-27-agile-20#t=2414) Estimation, Uncertainty, and the Young Discipline
- [54:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-07-27-agile-20#t=3249) Agile as a Guideline vs. Dogma

## Topics

- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Leadership, teams & culture](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/leadership-and-culture)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)

## Most relevant to

large enterprises

## Mentioned

- Agile Manifesto (other)
- AWS (company)
- S3 (product)
- Delphix (company)
- Sun Microsystems (company)
- Solaris (product)
- Extreme Programming (other)
- Scrum (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Agile Manifesto Part 2](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2022-03-23-agile-manifesto-part-2) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)
- [Agile in Small Teams](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2021-10-26-agile-in-small-teams) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)
- [16: Democracy Is the Worst Form of Government](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2013-08-28-16-democracy-is-the-worst-form-of-government) (Embedded.fm)
- [Agile Manifesto Pt. 1](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2022-03-08-agile-manifesto-pt-1) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)
- [Project Management Dysfunctions - Part 2](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-pragmatic-embedded-podcast/2022-07-13-project-management-dysfunctions-part-2) (The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/oxide-and-friends/2021-07-27-agile-20. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to Oxide and Friends.