Scrum Notes 2013-20

Within minutes of posting my Agile lament, my attention was drawn to a rather terrifying document, which—proudly emphasising its pair of registered trade marks—begins, "Project Management Institute (PMI^®) and Agile Alliance^® partnered to create an Agile Practice Guide..."

I've never thought much of the Agile Alliance, with their leader-worship, status quo-obeying conferences and their award culture, placing personalities firmly before principles, so I guess this marriage with the PMI shouldn't have surprised me. And in fact it didn't. But it did cause a wave of sadness and despair to pass over me.

But it's good news for those who think that Agile is too vague. The newly-formed AgilePMI group is creating the "Agile Practice Guide". I have no idea what that means, but the idea of being "guided" in Agile by project managers causes me no little concern. And in case the new guide isn't enough in itself... "this new guide is going to be aligned with the next edition of the Project Management Body of Knowledge...which will also contain, for the first time ever, formal Agile content."

Formal Agile content. What does that even mean? One commenter described the Agile Alliance-PMI collaboration to be a match made in heaven. I rather think of it as a match made at the undertakers, with the PMI putting the final nails into the Agile coffin. Which is especially terrible as Agile isn't actually dead. It's being buried alive.

Rest restlessly, spirit of Agile, and arise again when humans are ready to receive you.¹

¹ Which apparently, in 2023, is not yet.