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What you describe looks how agile was supposed to be. What the op described looks like a perversion of agile perpetrated by managers who either don't understand why agile was born, or do understand it, but only care about increasing their power instead of getting things done.

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I know. When I first read the XP book by Kent Beck it was a revelation. That was the first time I saw a methodology that I felt worked and agreed with my own experience. Planning everything out in advance is hopeless.

There are two great quotes that I think capture this:

“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked.” John Gall

“Enlightened trial and error outperforms the planning of flawless intellects.” David Kelley

It is really sad to read about how often the agile ideas have been misused!

How about "a team of skilled developers is likely to be successful with any software development approach; an inexperienced or untalented team is doomed regardless of the chosen methodology"

After 20 years that's been my experience

Yes. But unfortunately not every team can be made entirely of rockstars. So the purpose of a methodology is to increase the probability of success for a moderately talented team.

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