Highlights the importance of delivering a usable product each sprint in Agile, warning against focusing on process over outcomes and emphasising real value over rituals.
Agile without a usable working product is just expensive theatre.
Yet, so many teams get lost in rituals, Jira tickets, and endless documentation, completely missing the point. Agile is about delivering value continuously—not accumulating unfinished work, endless “technical discussions,” or chasing vanity metrics.
A sprint that doesn’t produce a potentially shippable product is wasted time. A backlog filled with items that never see the light of day is a black hole. And don’t get me started on teams that celebrate velocity without considering whether they’re building anything worthwhile.
The real metric? A usable working product at the end of every sprint. That’s how you mitigate risk, get feedback, and stay relevant in the market. Everything else is noise.
Is your team delivering something usable every sprint, or just running in circles?
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.
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.
Big Data for Humans
CR2
Graham & Brown
Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)
Genus Breeding Ltd
Xceptor - Process and Data Automation
Epic Games
Philips
Jack Links
Boxit Document Solutions
Alignment Healthcare
Sage
Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)
Brandes Investment Partners L.P.
Milliman
Slaughter and May
Microsoft
Schlumberger
Washington Department of Enterprise Services
Nottingham County Council
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
Royal Air Force
Washington Department of Transport
New Hampshire Supreme Court
Microsoft
NIT A/S
MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.
Qualco
Trayport
Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)