What Happened to Agile?

Is Agile dead?

Former Agile Alliance Co-Founder Mike Cohn drops provocative insights on Agile, the collaboration with PMI, and how AI could transform product development.

Mike Cohn owns Mountain Goat Software and is the Best-Selling Author of many books, including User Stories Applied. I have read his books and learned a lot from them. What makes him stand out is the applicability of his content rather than a dogmatic approach. He focuses on accelerating value creation.

This conversation is a lesson for those who want to focus on what truly matters to create value faster—50 minutes of actionable insights.

Here are 7 Key Takeaways you will get from it:

1. What Really Matters

“If I come back in a year and you’re still doing Agile ‘by the book,’ I’ll be pissed off.

Agile isn’t about strict adherence to frameworks; it’s about adapting practices to your context.

2. Context over Dogma

“Anyone who quotes the Scrum Guide at me, I disengage.”

Understanding your context needs beats blindly following rules.

3. Embrace Uncertainty

“The key is knowing what to do next—not having a five-year plan.”

Agility thrives on acknowledging the unknown and iterating toward the best outcomes.

4. Fallibility Fuels Growth

“No matter how strongly I believe something, I might be wrong.”

Teams should validate assumptions and embrace mistakes as opportunities to improve. Yet, they should always challenge if the validation wasn’t a false positive.

5. AI Expands Product Opportunities

“Projects that weren’t viable in 2022 might be possible in 2025, thanks to AI.”

AI won’t replace teams, but it will unlock new possibilities for innovation and supercharge those who embrace it.

6. Mixing and Matching Practices

“Don’t get locked into a method prison—free the practices.”

Combining the best practices from multiple frameworks leads to better outcomes. It doesn’t matter where the idea came from. It matters how it helps you reach your goals.

7. PMI and Agile Alliance Merger

“It’s a strategic partnership, not a takeover—an opportunity for Agile to reach broader audiences.”

When focused on enabling collaboration and fostering faster ways of creating value, the partnership could benefit both Agile and PMI.

Listen to the full episode to learn more about it.

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