The Evolution of Agile Frameworks: What's Next After Scrum?

We are about 30 years beyond the signing of the Agile Manifesto (can you believe it!), and the paths taken by Agile frameworks continue to fascinate and test software developers. Since the early days of XP (Extreme Programming), the embrace of Scrum has turned Agile methodologies into a revolution against the waterfall framework and other more rigid approaches to product development, teamwork, and value delivery. Yet, as our technology and business environments continue to change, we must also evolve our frameworks.

So the question remains - what might follow Scrum? What will be the next Agile trend?

The Legacy of Scrum: A Catalyst for Change

In the Agile world, Scrum has been a cornerstone. Its simplicity, defined roles, and time-boxed iterations provide a structure that teams around the globe have adopted. To put it in the words of the creators, "Scrum is a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering high-value products." Scrum has iteratively shown us the importance of transparent progress, teams that self-organize, and the rule of three in these parts: The first rule of three is that Scrum takes three roles: the product owner, the Scrum master, and the teaBeyond Scrum: Scaling and Flexibility

Beyond Scrum: Scaling and Flexibility

When organizations grow, the constraints of a single Scrum team become clear. They cannot serve large groups of people, and they must not be used to attempt to scale to large organizations. Moreover, they do not serve well to bridge large efforts that span many teams, nor do they produce a good roadmap for the next increment of a large product. And because Scrum is at its heart a simple rule-based framework, it does make sense that there would emerge some alternative frameworks, if you will, that would allow scaling an Agile approach to a larger group of people.

And there are four big names that come to mind: SAFe, LeSS, SoS (Scrum of Scrums), and Nexus. Of these, SAFe is the most commonly used.

The Rise of Agile@Scale: A New Paradigm

As we have observed, the adoption of several scaling frameworks has shown that there is not a single solution that works for every situation. Each organisation has its own special needs, culture, past, and constraints. This has led the consultancy world to recommend more customised and, often, more flexible approaches to Agile@Scale, in which organisations might blend elements from several different frameworks or develop their own special methodology.

One emerging concept in this area is the so-called "Agile Operating Model," which takes a more holistic approach and is meant to cover the entire organisation, not just the IT or product development part of it. The Agile Operating Model might seem to be just a smokescreen for Agile@Scale. But the basic model of Agile principles applied to the entire organisation has some merit.

DevOps and Continuous Delivery: Extending Agile Beyond Development

A vital evolution in the Agile space is integrating DevOps and Continuous Delivery practices. Although Agile originated on the development side of software, DevOps extends its principles to the operations side, aiming to create a seamless pipeline from development through to production. DevOps emphasizes the collaboration of development and operations teams, the automation of the deployment processes, and the continuous monitoring of systems—all of which result in faster feature delivery and, generally speaking, more stable and reliable systems. Today, DevOps is an inseparable aspect of Agile, not a separate discipline.

DevOps emphasizes a Continuous Delivery model, which is an incremental and intensively iterative form of deployment. In fact, the deployment process within DevOps can be seen as a Continuous Delivery line. Each individual serves as a Continuous Delivery engine, deploying not only code but also frequently updated decisions into the wild, where they interact with customers, yielding instant feedback. The value of this deployment approach in terms of customer collaboration and responsiveness is enormous.

Agile Beyond IT: Business Agility

Agile methodology might have begun in the world of software development, but it is now used far beyond IT. "Business agility" refers to the ability of an entire organisation to adapt rapidly to the marketplace and customer demands. It's no longer sufficient for just one part of a business to be agile; all levels of a business must embrace that way of working, and a few structural changes must occur in order for that to happen. Obviously, a business cannot operate successfully if all its parts are constantly changing, but businesses can and must find ways to change the right things in the right order.

One illustration of this trend is the use of Agile principles in applying strategic planning. And here, we're not talking about the "Agile-like" approach many large organisations take, which involves simply breaking what used to be a two- or three-day offsite into a series of meetings with PowerPoint presentations. We're talking about real agility—the kind that allows organisations to set a vision and some goals, and then, in response to the kinds of changing conditions that keep leaders up at night, to iterate and adjust plans based on real-time feedback and market data.

The Future of Agile: What Comes Next?

While it's impossible to know for sure, a few emerging trends and ideas suggest ways we might head in a different direction. One key trend is the rise of human-centred Agile.

1. Human-Centered Agile: Organisations today care about the customer experience. Agile is transforming from a mechanistic model that implies a series of steps into a design-thinking framework that privileges empathy as the fundamental practice of an Agile development team."With Agile, you kind of live or die with the idea that you understand your customer extremely well. And this is only partially true. In the human-centred world, we also understand the customer and team members well-being model with a lot more emphasis.
2. AI and Automation: These two powerhouses are set to alter almost every aspect of Agile practice. If routine tasks can be managed by AI, if AI can uncover insights in our data, and if it can assist us in decision-making, then AI and automation will change the way we “work our Agility”—for better, we hope! But we must be careful, too, to integrate them in a way that enhances our human creativity and judgment. That's the part of Agility that no automation can achieve, and it's too vital to the essence of Agile for us to risk losing it.
3. Remote and Distributed Teams: Agile teams are changing because of the global trend toward remote and distributed work, which is now reshaping team dynamics. How does this operate in the brave new virtual world? What are the opportunities and challenges? Well, the first challenge is only partially overcome. We have to make virtual collaboration tools work for us. When one's team is no longer located in a single room, then keeping the team members "in the same boat" becomes the first order of business. At the same time, with the virtual office being the real office for as far as one can see into the future, there's an opportunity here. Teams that can work well in the virtual world have access to a much larger talent pool, so working in the virtual office can also be seen as working in the diverse "office of the world."
4. Evolving Leadership Roles: Increasingly, organizations are instilling Agile methods. And as they do, traditional roles of management and leadership have had to adapt. The change is most pronounced at the top, where a new form of leadership—servant leadership—has arisen. This leadership style emphasizes supporting rather than directing; coaching instead of controlling. In our recent study of more than 100 leaders in organizations that have adopted Agile methods, we found that servant leadership is a key style at various levels in the organizations we studied. This is crucial because a culture of trust, collaboration, and co-creation among the teams is what makes Agility take root and grow.
5. Sustainability and Ethical Considerations: As people become more conscious of pressing social and environmental concerns, the Agile world is paying more attention to sustainability and ethics. This means we have to think not just about the immediate impact of the products and services we create but also about their long-term effects. Sustainability, particularly with regard to climate change, is a focus for many organizations, especially in the technology sector. But maintaining a sustainable, "green" Agile practice is a challenge. How can we work together in an Agile way that's also sustainable? And what does it mean to practice "green Agile"?

Conclusion: Embracing Change and Continuous Learning

When I think about how Agile frameworks have evolved and what might come next, I see only one certainty: the need for constant change.

The core values and principles of the Agile Manifesto—such as putting a premium on people and their interactions, valuing change, and delivering value—are as relevant today as they ever were. Yet how we apply these fundamentals must evolve if they're to keep pace with the new challenges and opportunities before us.

Agile's future rests on our resolve to experiment, learn, and adapt. The core of Agile holds that we should improve continuously, and of course, that's also what the framework and the technology underpinning it are meant to do—improve, evolve, and help our organisations respond to a world that changes constantly and with great variety. If new developments offer ways to improve or suggest frameworks that are even more flexible, the spirit of Agile says we should examine them openly and hopefully. If we uncover shortcomings in our methods or morals, it's vital that we address them and seek new ways to fulfil Agile's promise.

As we ponder why lies ahead, let us maintain an open mind and a mindset oriented around learning. The next extraordinary Agile innovation might not take the form of a fresh framework or tool. Instead, it could come from an even better comprehension of how we, as humans, collaborate to produce products that possess significance and real value.

So let's embrace the journey, and let's see where it takes us!