This is not a talk, this is an intervention! In recent years, we’ve seen the agile movement in a state of crisis: layoffs of agile professionals, declining interest in agile trainings and conferences, and a general disillusionment with what was once a transformative movement. The dream of transforming organizations into a new way of operating has faded, and instead, we’re left with a bloated “agile industrial complex” more focused on selling certifications than cultivating real talent. At the heart of this crisis lies a hard truth: we’ve built generations of Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches who often lack the skills and mindset needed to drive meaningful, lasting change in their teams and their organization. Instead, we get agile preachers, who cannot translate their theoretical knowledge into growing their teams and so-called coaches, who refuse to intervene when their teams are struggling – all in the name of self-organization.

This provocative talk pulls no punches. It is both a wake-up call and a constructive intervention for Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, and practitioners who are ready to reflect, reset, and rise above the status quo. We’ll dive into the most common and damaging anti-patterns plaguing Scrum Masters today – patterns that are stifling progress, eroding trust with teams, and diminishing the promise of agile.

You’ll hear why preaching agile values isn’t enough if you can’t back it up with practices that actually improve how teams work. Why focusing only on the soft elements of the Scrum Master role is doing more harm than good, as cultivating leadership and challenging teams appropriately is often ignored. And why a refusal from Scrum Masters to learn technical concepts is a counterproductive attitude, that limits their potential as agile professionals.

If you’ve ever felt frustrated by agile theater, disempowered teams, or the growing skepticism around agile itself, this talk is for you. It’s time for Scrum Masters to evolve and to become practice leaders, organizational challengers, and technically curious professionals who embody the spirit of what they ask of others. Let’s move beyond surface-level agility and build a profession worth taking pride in.