Kent Beck

Agile & AI: From Genie-Level Hype to Practical Collaboration

AI has arrived in our workflows like an unpredictable genie — powerful, fascinating, and sometimes a little reckless. Kent Beck, one of the authors of the Agile Manifesto, recently described AI agents as “genies” that can grant wishes but rarely in the way you expect. His advice? Experiment boldly, but don’t forget the risk you’re taking.

That perspective resonates deeply with Agile practitioners. After all, agility is about embracing uncertainty, experimenting, and learning quickly. The challenge is figuring out how AI can serve our teams without letting the hype or fear distract from the real work: delivering value to people.

1. Build Safety Before Scale

Teams are often pressured to “adopt AI now.” But introducing AI without psychological safety creates resistance or misuse. Coaches and Scrum Masters can help by framing AI as an experiment, not a mandate. Encourage teams to:

  • Start with small, low-risk use cases.
  • Share what works — and what doesn’t — openly.
  • Normalize that AI will sometimes fail spectacularly (and that’s okay).

2. Use AI to Augment, Not Replace

Agile thrives on collaboration, creativity, and problem-solving — qualities AI can’t replicate. But it can amplify them. For example:

  • Product Owners can use AI to analyze customer feedback at scale.
  • Scrum Masters can generate retrospective prompts tailored to their team’s patterns.
  • Developers can get “draft” code snippets or test cases that spark discussion.

The key is treating AI as a sparring partner, not a decision-maker. Humans remain accountable for judgment, ethics, and empathy.

3. Focus on the “Why,” Not the Tool

It’s tempting to jump straight to prompts and plugins. But Agile leaders should remind teams: every tool is in service of a purpose. Before introducing AI into your workflow, ask:

  • What problem are we trying to solve?
  • How will this help us deliver faster feedback or higher value?
  • What will we measure to know it’s helping?

Without a clear “why,” AI risks becoming another shiny object that drains time instead of creating impact.

4. Coach for Resilience in Uncertainty

AI, like Agile, is about embracing the unknown. Coaches can use AI adoption as a teaching moment:

  • Practice adaptability when results aren’t perfect.
  • Encourage curiosity over judgment.
  • Help leaders resist the urge to over-control outcomes.

These mindsets don’t just make AI safer to adopt — they strengthen agility itself.

Closing Thought

AI will continue to evolve in ways we can’t predict — just like the genie that twists every wish. Our role as Agile leaders isn’t to tame the genie but to help teams use its power wisely, with intention and care. By grounding AI adoption in safety, purpose, and human collaboration, we keep agility at the center — and ensure that our teams remain the true source of innovation.

Revisiting the Agile Manifesto: Are We Truly Being Agile?

It’s been over two decades since 17 developers met in Utah to draft the Agile Manifesto. They weren’t trying to create a rulebook—they were trying to articulate a better way of working, a philosophy for software development that emphasized people, collaboration, adaptability, and delivering value.

And yet, if you look around today, I can’t help but wonder: how many organizations are truly living these principles, rather than just following a methodology?

What Industry Leaders Are Saying

Kent Beck, one of the co-authors of the Agile Manifesto, recently reflected on his career and the evolution of development practices. Even with decades of experience, he finds excitement in experimenting with modern tools and approaches, emphasizing continuous learning and adaptation as core to being agile rather than doing agile (Business Insider).

Agile consultant Niall O’Keeffe stresses that the core values of Agile remain relevant, but that today’s context has changed. He calls for a reassessment of how principles are applied in modern teams (LinkedIn).

Similarly, Joe Van Os, in his piece Revisiting the Principles of Being Agile, notes that while the principles themselves are timeless, many organizations struggle to adapt them to new technologies and modern challenges (Medium).

Even organizations like the Scrum Alliance remind us that Agile principles should guide behavior, not dictate process. They emphasize that teams should revisit these principles regularly to ensure they remain relevant and effective (Scrum Alliance).

My Take: BE Agile, Don’t Just DO Agile

Here’s where I see a huge gap. So many companies have latched onto methodologies, frameworks, and metrics without understanding the why behind the Agile Manifesto. They track data, enforce strict workflows, and later blame teams when the “process” isn’t followed perfectly.

But the manifesto never commands. It doesn’t tell teams to track every metric or enforce a specific way of working. Its message is simple: focus on individuals and interactions, working software, customer collaboration, and responding to change.

The problem is that many organizations confuse being agile with doing agile. They try to execute rituals, dashboards, and reports, but miss the essence: adapting to change, delivering value continuously, and empowering people. True agility is a mindset, not a set of rules.

Why This Matters Today

We live in a world of constant change. Markets, customers, and technology evolve at a pace no rigid process can keep up with. Agile principles were designed to help teams navigate complexity with flexibility and purpose. When organizations ignore these principles in favor of strict adherence to methodology, they sacrifice:

  • Innovation: Teams stop experimenting and learning.
  • Collaboration: Interactions become transactional and process-driven.
  • Value Delivery: Focus shifts to output and metrics, not outcomes.

If we want to see real agility, we need to return to the basics. Revisit the principles. Ask why we do what we do. And remind teams and leadership that Agile is a philosophy, not a performance review tool.

Take It to Your Team

For your next sprint or retrospective, try this:

  1. Ask: Which Agile principles are we actually practicing today? Which ones are we ignoring or bending?
  2. Reflect on whether your team is being agile or just doing agile.
  3. Pick one principle to focus on in the next sprint—then inspect and adapt how it changes your workflow, collaboration, or delivery.

Agility isn’t about checking boxes. It’s about living the values, continuously learning, and adapting. If we forget that, the Agile Manifesto becomes nothing more than words on a page.