The widely adopted delivery methodology that often looks different in practice than in theory.
Agile (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe)
Understanding the Gap
The original Agile Manifesto emphasized collaboration and adaptability. In practice, many organizations implement what's sometimes called "Water-Scrum-Fall"—a hybrid that combines Waterfall planning with Agile ceremonies. This isn't necessarily wrong; it's often a pragmatic response to organizational constraints.
Where This Works
- SaaS Products: Continuous deployment and feedback loops are native here.
- Innovation Labs: Where the goal is learning/discovery, not just output.
- Team-Funded Models: Where teams are long-lived and funded by capacity, not project.
Common Challenges
- Traditional Planning Cultures: When leadership requires detailed long-term roadmaps, teams sometimes struggle to balance Agile flexibility with organizational expectations.
- Complex Dependencies: In tightly coupled systems, individual teams may find their pace limited by dependencies on other systems or teams.
Why Companies Choose It
- Recruiting: You cannot hire good engineers in 2025 if you say you do Waterfall.
- Market Pressure: The need to release "something" every 2 weeks to show stakeholders momentum.
Common Learnings
Organizations often discover that Agile reveals existing challenges rather than automatically solving them. Success requires supporting practices like CI/CD and automated testing—without these, faster iterations can sometimes amplify existing quality issues.
Execution Evidence
| Aspect | Agile (Theory) | Enterprise Agile (Reality) |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | Just-in-time | PI Planning (Quarterly Waterfall) |
| Teams | Self-organizing | Manager-directed Issue Tracker movers |
| Customer | Collaborative | Proxy Product Owner who guesses |
| Velocity | Used for capacity | Used as a performance target |
Understanding SAFe
SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) is often adopted by larger organizations seeking to implement Agile principles at scale. While it provides structure, some teams find that the additional coordination layers can create distance between engineers and end customers.