Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome to Agile Theater — where teams go through the motions of Agile without embracing the mindset behind it! They act like they’re in a feature factory: developers pick up tasks from a backlog, finish them, and move on — without real ownership of the outcome. Scrum events take place, but collaboration feels transactional. Leaders push for “”Agile transformation,”” yet the day-to-day still resembles an old-school production line.
In this six-act play, we will uncover the most common patterns of Agile Theater and explore ways to overcome them.
In the first act, The Agile Masquerade, we’ll uncover how organisations wear the mask of Agile without truly embodying its values, creating a false sense of progress.

In the second act, The Agile Puppet Master, we’ll reveal how the role of the Product Owner and Scrum Master can become entangled in the mechanics of project management, focusing on tasks instead of guiding the product’s evolution.
In the third act, The Ticket Factory, we’ll investigate how Taylorism continues to influence modern Agile teams. We’ll delve into the feature factory mindset where tasks are tickets to be completed, how this undermines true product ownership, and the effects on team morale and customer value.
In the fourth act, The Data Drama, we’ll expose the overemphasis on questionable agile metrics that distort teams’ focus, leading to stress, burnout, and subpar outcomes.

In the fifth act, The Misaligned Machine, we will show how organisational structures, reward systems, and cultural practices prioritise individual performance over collective success, fostering dysfunction and disengagement.
In the sixth and final act, The Great Silo Standoff, we’ll examine how component teams are highly dependent on each other yet compete instead of collaborating. We will explore the challenges these silos create and how they impede true Agile transformation.
But fear not! This isn’t just a show for entertainment. In this session, you will become part of the performance, participating in the acts through humour, role-playing, and immersive engagement. Together, we will explore how to break free from the Agile Theater and embrace the true Agile mindset. We will dive into practical strategies to transform your culture, processes, and teams for real, lasting success, and provide opportunities for discussion on how to overcome each anti-pattern.

Take your seat and get ready to transition from Agile Theater to Agile Mindset, and leave with actionable insights and strategies to drive genuine Agile transformation.