44 - Is Scrum fast enough for today’s needs? Dave West, CEO of Scrum.org, on Agile and Scrum in the age of VUCA, GenAI and ever-increasing acceleration

The roots of Scrum and Agile now go back almost 30 years. Is an approach with such deep-rooted origins still suitable for addressing today’s challenges? How do Agile frameworks need to adapt? What should be preserved, and what needs to change?

Tell me Dave, is traditional Agile fast enough for today's needs?

Dave West, CEO of Scrum.org, analyzes today’s challenges and concludes that it’s not only about speed but also about collaboration on a larger scale - bringing together many experts, diverse perspectives, and various stakeholders.

It is also important to understand that Scrum’s Sprint structure applies to the team's work packages, not to releases. Sprints organize work, planning, reviews, and retrospectives—but not releases. Releases can happen independently of Sprints. 

Dave discusses why Agile principles are more relevant than ever, why shorter Sprints make sense in times of uncertainty, and what organizations need to change to truly embrace agility.

Looking ahead, he explores the impact of AI-driven teams. Will autonomous agents replace specialized roles? Do we still need teams as we know them? And how will Agile evolve in large organizations that are still structured around old decision-making models?

Join us for a deep dive into the future of agility. Thank you for sharing Dave West.Dave West is the Product Owner and CEO at Scrum.org. He is a frequent keynote at major industry conferences and is a widely published author of articles and research reports. He co-authors two books, The Nexus Framework For Scaling Scrum and Head First Object-Oriented Analysis and Design. He led the development of the Rational Unified Process (RUP) for IBM/Rational. After IBM/Rational, West returned to consulting and managed Ivar Jacobson Consulting for North America. Then as VP research director Forrester Research, where he ran the software development and delivery practice. Before joining Scrum.org, he was Chief Product Officer at Tasktop, responsible for product management, engineering, and architecture. As a member of the company’s executive management team was also instrumental in growing Tasktop from a services business into a VC-backed product business with a team of almost 100.