{"id":6960,"date":"2026-06-24T10:45:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T09:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/niet-gecategoriseerd\/beyond-the-buzzwords-back-to-what-agile-is-really-about\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T22:53:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:53:35","slug":"beyond-the-buzzwords-back-to-what-agile-is-really-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/article\/beyond-the-buzzwords-back-to-what-agile-is-really-about\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Buzzwords: Back to What Agile Is Really About"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"6960\" class=\"elementor elementor-6960 elementor-6509\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-22a3276 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"22a3276\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-cdd808b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"cdd808b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><strong>By Nico Schellingerhout and Jeroen Jan Elzinga<\/strong><\/p><p>Agile.<\/p><p>A word that once promised transformation, but is now often met with cynicism.<\/p><p>\u201cAgile doesn\u2019t work anymore.\u201d<br\/>\u201cSAFe isn\u2019t real Agile.\u201d<br\/>\u201cWe do Scrum, so we\u2019re Agile\u2026 right?\u201d<\/p><p>Somewhere along the way, the essence got buried under certifications, frameworks and rituals. We stopped asking why we do things and started ticking boxes instead. <\/p><p>Perhaps it\u2019s time to pause. Not to argue about definitions again, but to listen, reflect and reconnect with the why that made Agile so powerful in the first place. <\/p><p>For me, that reconnection starts with three deceptively simple questions.<\/p><h2>What are we actually trying to achieve?<\/h2><p>Too often, we rush towards solutions before we\u2019ve properly understood the problem. Take a common example: <\/p><p><em>\u201cWe need better Portfolio Management.\u201d<\/em><\/p><p>Fair enough. But why? A deeper line of questioning might reveal:  <\/p><ul><li><strong>Why better Portfolio Management?<\/strong><br>Because we serve multiple clients and struggle to align releases.<\/li><li><strong>Why is alignment so difficult?<br><\/strong>Because clients want certainty about long-term delivery.<\/li><li><strong>Why is that a challenge?<br><\/strong>Because deliveries are often late or incomplete.<\/li><li><strong>Why does that happen?<br><\/strong>Because issues only surface late in the process.<\/li><li><strong>Why so late?<br><\/strong>Because we only test once the full scope is complete.<\/li><\/ul><p>What started as a portfolio problem turns out to be a delivery problem. That shift reveals a more meaningful goal: we want to release on demand, without conflicts in planning or priorities. That\u2019s a very different conversation. And one that brings us much closer to real change.   <\/p><h3>2. What are we holding on to \u2014 and should we still be?<\/h3><p>Transformation isn\u2019t just about doing something new. It\u2019s also about letting go of old assumptions, habits and sometimes entire systems that no longer serve us. <\/p><p>In many organisations, the process still looks like this:<\/p><ul><li>project-based, phased delivery<\/li><li>designed for predictability, control and traceability<\/li><li>considered necessary for compliance<\/li><\/ul><p>But look more closely, and the picture shifts. Regulation may require traceability, but not necessarily rigid phases. A phased approach assumes we can define everything upfront. In dynamic environments, that assumption rarely holds.   <\/p><p>That\u2019s where space opens up for new ways of thinking and working:<\/p><p>\u2705 Treat your product as a living system, not a fixed end state.<br>\u2705 Keep traceability current throughout, rather than documenting it all at the end.<br>\u2705 Embrace change continuously, rather than in large, infrequent batches.<\/p><p>Letting go isn\u2019t easy. But that\u2019s often exactly where real progress begins. <\/p><h3>3. Which approach fits your goals and your context?<\/h3><p>Only once you\u2019ve clarified your goals and challenged your assumptions does the next question become relevant: what approach will actually help us succeed? Notice the word approach. Not method.  <\/p><p>Scrum, SAFe and LeSS are tools. Not goals in themselves. The real goal is to build a system that works for your context, your constraints and your ambitions.  <\/p><p>Back to the earlier example:<\/p><ul><li>the goal is on-demand release capability<\/li><li>the constraints are traceability, governance and compliance<\/li><li>the challenge is scaling governance not only up but also down, so that small, frequent and traceable changes can flow through the system<\/li><\/ul><p>A system that supports these goals, constraints and challenges doesn\u2019t emerge by itself. It requires thoughtful design. And it requires people who are engaged, empowered and aligned.  <\/p><h3>Moving forward: the honest work of change<\/h3><p>Agile still has the power to transform organisations. But only when we stop chasing checklists and start working from intention again. If you\u2019re serious about making change happen, start here:  <\/p><h4>Go back to first principles<\/h4><p>Understand the why behind Agile, not just the what.<\/p><h4>Work with a guide<\/h4><p>Not someone who arrives with a standard solution, but someone who helps surface the right questions.<\/p><h4>Invest in your people<\/h4><p>Lasting change grows from within. You can\u2019t fully outsource it. <\/p><h4>Stay curious<\/h4><p>Keep questioning assumptions. Agile comes alive where curiosity is given space. <\/p><h3>Over to you<\/h3><ul><li>What\u2019s your experience?<\/li><li>Where have you discovered hidden assumptions in your own organisation?<\/li><li>What ways of working are no longer helping you?<\/li><li>What why question still needs to be asked?<\/li><\/ul><p>Let\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/get-in-touch\/\">open the conversation<\/a>.<\/p><p>Real change doesn\u2019t happen in isolation. It grows when we learn and connect. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Nico Schellingerhout and Jeroen Jan Elzinga Agile. A word that once promised transformation, but is now often met with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":6961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[401],"tags":[],"capability":[125],"framework":[],"land":[],"language":[],"rol":[139,140],"class_list":["post-6960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artikel","capability-agility-scrum-mastery","rol-agile-coach","rol-agile-consultant"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6960"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6962,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6960\/revisions\/6962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6960"},{"taxonomy":"capability","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/capability?post=6960"},{"taxonomy":"framework","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/framework?post=6960"},{"taxonomy":"land","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/land?post=6960"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=6960"},{"taxonomy":"rol","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/connected-movement.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rol?post=6960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}