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Agile is Dead • Pragmatic Dave Thomas • GOTO 2015

GOTO Conferences · talk · Watch on YouTube

Software practice, open source & careers

What it is

Dave Thomas, a co-author of the Agile Manifesto, argues at GOTO Amsterdam 2015 that Agile as a branded industry has lost its meaning. He says agile is an adjective, not a noun, and urges developers to reclaim agility.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Offered in nearly every Agile or Scrum complaint thread as the authoritative take on what agile was meant to be versus what it became.

  • 11 people recommended it
  • 9 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2016, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “I love his talks for a few reasons”

    Anti-hype, controversial, and correct take on agile.

    monksy, 2016-10 · Strong recommendation · in “Ask HN: What's your favorite tech talk?”

  2. “I highly recommend this video of a Dave Thomas talk about what agile was supposed to be vs what it has become.”

    What agile was supposed to be versus what it became.

    jrs95, 2018-05 · Strong recommendation · in “Reality Driven Development: Fixing Project Management in Software”

  3. “Listen to one of the authors of the manifesto itself”

    Agile manifesto author explains what agile really means.

    rimantas, 2016-07 · Recommendation · in “In a nutshell, why do a lot of developers dislike Agile?”

  4. “Listed as a favorite tech talk by Dave Thomas.”

    lumannnn, 2016-10 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: What's your favorite tech talk?”

  5. “He also made a talk about it”

    Dave Thomas talk on agile as an adjective, not a methodology.

    jeremiep, 2016-11 · Recommendation · in “It’s not the methods that are Agile, it’s the people”

  6. “I think Dave Thomas[0] made some great points recently [1] about what Agile (as a noun) has become”

    Thomas on what agile has become and why he dislikes it.

    okreallywtf, 2017-08 · Recommendation · in “Split user stories ruthlessly and get value earlier”

  7. “Dave has an interesting talk about it.”

    Interesting talk on problems with scrum and agile.

    FrankyHollywood, 2018-05 · Recommendation · in “Scrum disempowers developers”

  8. “Included in a list of fantastic technical speeches.”

    jppope, 2018-07 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: What are the things keep in mind while giving/preparing for a tech talk?”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: agile, scrum, agile manifesto, software process, dave thomas

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