value stream

The Future of Agility: Looking Ahead to 2026

Over the past several weeks, I’ve explored some of the biggest shifts shaping Agile in 2025 — from the return to basics to the rise of AI-driven agility, from platform engineering to value stream thinking, from hybrid development approaches to hyper-collaboration and evolving roles.

Each of these trends points toward a single, unmistakable truth:

Agility isn’t about frameworks anymore — it’s about mindsets, outcomes, and adaptability.

As we look toward 2026, I see the Agile world continuing to evolve in three key directions: simplification, augmentation, and integration.

Let’s take a closer look at where we’ve been — and where we’re headed.

1. Back to Basics — The Simplification Revolution

We started the series with what I still believe is the most critical conversation: getting back to Agile basics.

Somewhere along the way, many organizations overcomplicated agility with layered frameworks, rigid ceremonies, and too many tools chasing too little purpose. But the best teams are rediscovering that simplicity works.

In 2026, I hope to see even more organizations stripping away the unnecessary and focusing on what truly matters: clear goals, empowered teams, continuous feedback, and incremental delivery.

We’ll see more leaders asking:

  • “What value are we delivering this sprint?”
  • “What’s getting in our way?”
  • “How do we make it simpler?”

Those are the questions that keep agility human — and sustainable.

2. AI as a Co-Pilot, Not a Replacement

The second major theme of this year was AI-driven agility, and this trend will only accelerate in 2026.

We’ve moved beyond the novelty phase. AI isn’t just assisting developers or automating testing — it’s helping coaches, product managers, and entire teams make better decisions.

In my own work, I’ve used ChatGPT to generate epics and user stories from raw ideas, saving hours of prep time and giving my team a strong foundation for backlog refinement. I’ve also piloted this with development and HR tech teams — and the results were impressive.

In 2026, I expect this to become common practice. AI will be a collaborator in the agile process — helping us synthesize data, predict risks, and visualize flow — while humans focus on context, creativity, and connection.

The real opportunity isn’t in automation. It’s in augmentation — using AI to free us from the busywork so we can spend more time on meaningful work.

3. Platform Engineering and the Rise of Outcome-Driven Ops

Another trend reshaping Agile delivery is the evolution of DevOps into Platform Engineering.

In 2025, this shift began to take hold — dedicated platform teams building self-service environments that empower developers and accelerate flow. In 2026, I believe we’ll see this model become the norm for large enterprises.

The key difference is cultural: Platform Engineering isn’t just about infrastructure — it’s about creating leverage. It’s how organizations ensure teams can deliver independently without sacrificing governance or security.

The best platform teams measure success not by uptime or deployments, but by developer experience and time to value — the outcomes that matter most.

4. Value Stream Thinking — The True “Definition of Done”

In 2025, we started reframing “done” to mean value realized, not just code shipped.

That mindset shift — from output to outcome — is profound. It requires courage from leadership and patience from teams. It also demands systems that make value visible, from idea to delivery to customer impact.

In 2026, I believe more organizations will adopt Value Stream Management as a strategic discipline. We’ll see metrics evolve from velocity charts to value metrics — like cycle efficiency, customer satisfaction, and innovation throughput.

The companies that think beyond quarterly numbers will continue to lead. As Simon Sinek reminds us in The Infinite Game, the ones that play for long-term impact are the ones that truly change their industries.

5. The Hybrid Future of Development

The debate between Agile vs. Spec-Driven Development (SDD) is fading. In its place, we’re seeing hybrid models emerge — blending the structure of SDD with the flexibility of Agile.

In 2026, I expect this hybridization to accelerate, especially as AI helps automate specification creation, traceability, and documentation.

It’s not about choosing sides anymore. It’s about choosing what works — a theme that runs through every part of agility’s evolution.

6. Hyper-Agility and Real-Time Collaboration

Teams are becoming faster, more visual, and more connected.

In my teams, we use Lucidspark over Zoom to run real-time collaboration sessions — mapping value streams, visualizing customer journeys, and creating epics on the spot. Lucidspark integrates with Jira and Confluence, allowing us to maintain a single source of truth from ideation to delivery.

In 2026, expect to see more teams working this way — embracing asynchronous collaboration tools powered by AI, and creating seamless bridges between brainstorming and execution.

We’re finally closing the gap between thinking and doing.

7. The Embedded Agile Coach

Finally, we’ve seen the role of the Agile Coach transform.

As I shared in the last post, moving from Scrum Master to embedded coach changed how I viewed the system. Instead of coaching teams in isolation, we began to coach the organization itself — surfacing systemic blockers, aligning strategy to delivery, and enabling agility at scale.

This trend will deepen in 2026. Agile Coaches will become strategic partners, helping shape culture, leadership behaviors, and operating models. They’ll use data, empathy, and AI insights to guide decisions that stick.

The future of coaching isn’t about enforcing ceremonies — it’s about cultivating environments where agility can grow naturally.

So, What’s Next?

If 2025 was the year of rediscovery — of returning to values, rethinking roles, and rehumanizing agility — then 2026 will be the year of integration.

Agility won’t live in a corner of the org chart anymore. It will be embedded in leadership, technology, culture, and operations. AI will be a partner. Platform teams will be enablers. Coaches will be catalysts.

And simplicity — the value we started with — will remain the north star.

As we move into this next era, I’ll continue to ask the same guiding question that’s defined my journey so far:

“What actually works for us, right now, in our context?”

Because that’s the heart of agility — not dogma, not frameworks, but discovery.

Here’s to 2026 — the year we stop talking about doing Agile and start fully being Agile.

Redefining ‘Done’: Embracing Value Stream Thinking

For as long as Agile has been around, teams have measured progress by velocity, burndown, and sprint completion. We celebrate when work is “done.” But over the years, “done” has become one of those words that means everything—and nothing.

It’s time we redefine it.

In 2025, “done” isn’t about completing work. It’s about creating value—measurable, meaningful, and sustainable value that improves outcomes for customers, teams, and organizations.

That’s where Value Stream Thinking comes in.

The Evolution of “Done”

In the early days of Agile, the Definition of Done was simple and tactical: code committed, tested, deployed, documented. It gave teams clarity and accountability. But as organizations scaled, that definition became limited.

Teams were hitting their sprint goals, yet customers weren’t always happier. Projects were finishing on time, but outcomes weren’t improving. We were producing more, but not necessarily better.

I’ve worked in multiple companies where success was measured almost entirely by output—number of features shipped, tickets closed, or sprints completed. Those metrics may look good on dashboards, but they don’t tell you if you’re solving the right problems.

Value Stream Thinking challenges that. It forces us to zoom out from the backlog to the big picture—to focus on flow, impact, and purpose.

What Is Value Stream Thinking?

A value stream is the entire flow of work from idea to outcome—everything it takes to deliver value to a customer.

It’s not just development or delivery. It includes strategy, design, operations, feedback, and learning. Value stream thinking asks us to map that entire system, identify friction points, and optimize the flow of value across it.

Lean and DevOps communities have long embraced this concept, but its relevance to Agile has never been stronger.

When teams think in terms of value streams instead of functions or projects, they break down silos. They start asking questions like:

  • Where does work get stuck?
  • How long does it take for an idea to become customer value?
  • What steps actually add value—and which ones just create busywork?

Those questions don’t just improve delivery. They change the conversation from what are we building? to why are we building it?

Mindshift: From Output to Outcome

To truly adopt value stream thinking, we need a mindset change—and this is where many organizations stumble.

Too many still prioritize activity over impact. They’re driven by quarterly numbers, stakeholder demands, and delivery checkboxes. But optimizing for output creates a false sense of progress. You can ship 100 features that make no difference to your users.

Outcome-driven organizations measure success differently. They focus on customer satisfaction, reduced friction, increased retention, and business adaptability.

In my experience, the hardest part of this transition isn’t the tooling—it’s the thinking. You can’t transform your value streams if leadership still rewards teams for volume instead of value.

Those companies that look beyond quarterly metrics are the ones that change their industries for good.

Simon Sinek describes this perfectly in The Infinite Game when he says,

“Finite players play to beat the people around them. Infinite players play to be better than themselves.”

Companies like Apple, Patagonia, and Costco didn’t win because they moved faster than competitors. They won because they focused on why they existed, who they served, and how they could improve lives—not just balance sheets.

Sinek’s Start With Why, Leaders Eat Last, and The Infinite Game are all essential reads for anyone leading Agile transformation today. He tells the stories of organizations that stopped measuring success by competition and started measuring it by contribution. That’s the essence of value stream thinking.

The Three Pillars of Value Stream Thinking

1. Visibility

You can’t improve what you can’t see. Value stream mapping provides a visual representation of how work flows—and where it doesn’t.

By identifying handoffs, bottlenecks, and redundancies, organizations gain a shared understanding of where time and value are lost.

But visibility isn’t just about data dashboards. It’s about transparency of intent. Everyone—from leadership to engineers—should understand how their work connects to business and customer outcomes.

When teams see how their contributions fit into the larger system, engagement skyrockets.

2. Flow

Flow isn’t just about moving faster. It’s about removing friction and waste so value moves smoothly from idea to delivery.

AI is becoming a valuable ally here. Intelligent observability and workflow tools can now analyze flow efficiency, predict bottlenecks, and recommend optimizations automatically.

For example, I use AI in my own Agile coaching practice to generate and refine epics and user stories for my team. That automation saves time and allows us to focus on what matters, not just how we structure it.

Platform and delivery teams can do the same—using AI to highlight inefficiencies or automate routine steps so humans can focus on creative problem-solving.

That’s the power of pairing flow with focus.

3. Feedback

Every value stream needs feedback loops that connect customer outcomes back to the teams delivering them.

That means looking beyond project retrospectives or sprint reviews—it means continuous measurement of real-world impact.

Are customers adopting the feature we built? Did it improve their experience? Did it align with our purpose?

When teams measure outcomes this way, they start designing with empathy and strategy, not just deadlines.

Why This Requires Cultural Alignment

Value stream thinking can’t thrive in a culture that prizes speed over substance.

It requires psychological safety to question the status quo. It requires leaders who prioritize long-term outcomes over short-term optics. And it requires shared accountability across departments—not “engineering vs. product,” but “we’re all part of the same flow.”

The best organizations I’ve seen practice value stream thinking not as a framework, but as a philosophy. They understand that agility isn’t about delivering faster; it’s about delivering better.

They empower teams to challenge wasteful processes. They reward learning, not just delivery. They understand that simplicity and purpose drive innovation far more than complex frameworks ever could.

The New Definition of Done

If “done” used to mean something is shipped, the new definition should be this:

“Done means we’ve delivered measurable value to the customer—and learned something that helps us deliver even more next time.”

That’s a subtle shift, but it’s everything. It turns Agile back into what it was always meant to be: a feedback-driven, purpose-centered way of working.

And when leaders embrace that mindset—when they stop chasing quarterly wins and start playing the infinite game—they don’t just improve their teams. They transform their industries.

Because in the end, output ends when the sprint ends. Outcome endures.

References

  • Simon Sinek, Start With Why (2009)
  • Simon Sinek, Leaders Eat Last (2014)
  • Simon Sinek, The Infinite Game (2019)
  • Gartner, Agile Outlook 2025: The Age of Contextual Agility
  • DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA), Accelerate State of DevOps Report 2024
  • McKinsey & Company, Value Stream Excellence in Digital Transformation (2024)