a·gen·tic a·gil·i·ty

Stop normalizing unprofessional behaviour in the name of agility

TL;DR; Unprofessional behavior should not be excused as part of agile practices, as true agility requires professionalism, discipline, and competence. Failing to deliver usable increments, lacking team understanding of goals, and rigid processes undermine agility and can lead to serious consequences. Development managers should actively address and correct unprofessional behaviors to ensure ethical, effective, and sustainable agile delivery.

Published on
2 minute read
Image
https://nkdagility.com/resources/mqbD3iIhRg4
Subscribe
Loading the Elevenlabs Text to Speech AudioNative Player...

In Scrum Events across the world, I hear repeated the phrase “that’s how agile works” when describing behaviours that are both unprofessional and the very opposite of an agile mindset. These behaviours will inhibit agility and are a result of a lack of understanding of the underlying principles.

We need to stop normalising unprofessional behaviour and call it out whenever we hear it.

In order for agility to function, we need professionalism; a focus on doing things right so that we don’t end up with our beards caught in the mailbox (Norwegian saying). Agility requires more planning, more knowledge, more diligence, more discipline, and more competence … not less! It’s harder to use agile practices as we are expected to have a usable product at all times, well, at least every iteration of a few weeks. We are most definitely not agile if:

In the traditional world these behaviours were still present, however they were mitigated by time… lots and lots of time.

Think about the lead software engineer at Volkswagen that got a 3-year prison sentence for following orders and writing code that disabled the catalytic convertor when under emissions tests.

Think about the engineers at Boeing that dont yet know their fate over the 737 Max.

When you don’t know that these behaviours have a negative impact on our ability to deliver its ignorance, once you know and do it anyway, it’s incompetence. We have a moral and ethical responsibility to do the right thing, to protect our customer, our company, and ourselves.

Smart Classifications

Each classification [Concepts, Categories, & Tags] was assigned using AI-powered semantic analysis and scored across relevance, depth, and alignment. Final decisions? Still human. Always traceable. Hover to see how it applies.

Subscribe

Connect with Martin Hinshelwood

If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.

Our Happy Clients​

We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.​

Lockheed Martin Logo

Lockheed Martin

DFDS Logo

DFDS

Sage Logo

Sage

Epic Games Logo

Epic Games

Boeing Logo

Boeing

Bistech Logo

Bistech

Qualco Logo

Qualco

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd. Logo

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.

Teleplan Logo

Teleplan

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company) Logo

Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)

New Signature Logo

New Signature

Emerson Process Management Logo

Emerson Process Management

Alignment Healthcare Logo

Alignment Healthcare

Milliman Logo

Milliman

Graham & Brown Logo

Graham & Brown

Workday Logo

Workday

Genus Breeding Ltd Logo

Genus Breeding Ltd

Hubtel Ghana Logo

Hubtel Ghana

Washington Department of Transport Logo

Washington Department of Transport

Nottingham County Council Logo

Nottingham County Council

Washington Department of Enterprise Services Logo

Washington Department of Enterprise Services

Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo

Department of Work and Pensions (UK)

Ghana Police Service Logo

Ghana Police Service

Royal Air Force Logo

Royal Air Force

ProgramUtvikling Logo

ProgramUtvikling

YearUp.org Logo

YearUp.org

Lockheed Martin Logo

Lockheed Martin

SuperControl Logo

SuperControl

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd. Logo

MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.

Graham & Brown Logo

Graham & Brown