Agile’s Missing Piece: What we Overlook and Why it Matters

A mini-series uncovering our blind spots and the human factor we often overlook in Agile, starting with how we show up individually, how we collaborate in teams, and how we work together as a group. [Part 1/4]

A search for the missing pieces that make Agile work

Agile promises to change the way we work. After all, its roots were in the bold convictions of a group of engineers who believed that what was the norm was wrong and pushed against it to publish today’s well-celebrated Agile Manifesto. Yet something seems to be missing in the way this is translated in many teams, organisations, and cultures.

Agile onboarding as a means of culture building

In many organisations, we like to believe that landing on and evangelising the right espoused values will transform what’s enacted.

For this reason, Agile training is often the first step in onboarding. It’s a ceremonial introduction we organise to align roles, clarify expectations, and build a shared language. It’s something I have both attended and conducted with many stakeholders too. We often hope this introduction will be enough to bring about the transformation the original Agile practitioners envisioned.

Yet, despite this extensive training and adherence to the Agile principles, there’s often still a gap between what’s promised and what’s practised. A gap that hints to the fact that frameworks and practices — sprints, standups, backlogs — while fundamental, are not the whole story.

Not the cure — the framework doesn’t fix culture

We’ve likely realised by now that onboarding people into the frameworks of Agile is not a panacea. We’ve all seen this before — where organisations leap onto a practice or framework they aspire to model and train everyone to learn it. Where they plaster their walls with posters and pictures of how they are an Agile company. But reality often paints a different picture. Structures are rigid, people are micromanaged, and work is unsustainable.

This happens a lot with Design Thinking too. As a designer, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to make Design Thinking accessible and relatable to those outside the field. I’ve poured hours, days, even weeks thinking about how to nuance the language so that people don’t feel alienated by jargon and can accept the principles without the labels. Yet even when they do, the core change often remains just out of reach. The tools are embraced, but the transformation remains shallow.

So, what’s missing?

Attending The Missing Agile Manual course gave me a lot to think about. After much reflection and reading deeper into the materials and topics discussed, it struck me that what’s missing isn’t the lack of proper execution or understanding of the mechanical aspects of Agile. The Missing Agile Manual highlights that the real issue is something much deeper: it’s human.

Don’t get me wrong, running the various frameworks of Agile takes great skill and finesse. And the course does plenty in equipping participants with a lot of practical takeaways such as:

• What leading and lagging metrics are, using DORA to measure product complexity
• Using a frequency-impact matrix to prioritise what to test and what to automate based on ROI
• What product strategy is and what components make up a strategy

But traditional Agile training often places the majority of its focus solely on the technicalities. And this reflection is on the idea that the heart of Agile isn’t found in sprints, standups, or backlogs. It’s found in the principles that breathe life into these practices.

What’s truly missing is an emphasis on continuous learning, genuine connection, and adaptability — values that are profoundly and intrinsically human.

It’s about how we teach ourselves to grow, how we show up for others, and how we think and function as a collective.

Here’s my take

When we focus on these human elements, we move beyond the surface, tapping into the real power of Agile — the power that comes not from processes, but from people.

In doing so, we can transform our work and our interactions. We improve not just the way we work, but ourselves and each other.

Expounding on my reflections in a mini series

The journey begins with what we can do as individuals — Part 2 of the mini series.

Agile’s Missing Piece: How We Show Up for Ourselves

Psst: If you’re a Govtechie, the next run of The Missing Agile Manual in September is open, so go sign up!

Agile’s Missing Piece: What we Overlook and Why it Matters was originally published in Government Digital Products, Singapore on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.