A Manifesto for Modern Agile: Here’s My Vision for the Future of Agile and Software Engineering
The opening speech at the First Global Agile Summit in Tallinn, 2025. Setting the Vision for the future of the software industry.
On May19th, 2025. I opened the First Global Agile Summit in Tallinn—a gathering of passionate practitioners, leaders, and change-makers from across the world.
This opening speech was more than just a welcome. It was a call to reclaim the heart of Agile: not as a set of rituals, but as a living, evolving commitment to craft, collaboration, and real impact.
If you couldn’t join us in Tallinn, I hope this written version brings the same spark of inspiration and clarity we felt in that room.
Welcome to the First Global Agile Summit in Tallinn.
What a joy to see this space filled with brilliant minds—from over 20 countries and more than 50 companies—all united by a shared commitment to better ways of developing software, and to a better future for the software industry.
And where better to gather than Estonia? A nation that transformed itself into one of the world’s most digitally advanced societies. It reminds us that real change is possible.
This is even more encouraging as we—software and agile practitioners—stand at a crossroads.
Our community has lost its lighthouse
After the Agile Alliance was absorbed into the Project Management Institute (PMI), it became clear that our former leaders had moved on—leaving us, the Global Agile Community, to chart our own course.
At the same time, the world’s attention and investment have shifted—from agile to artificial intelligence. If we don’t adapt, someone else will define our future. And that’s already happening.
We’ve been training teams—but the world now demands leaders. Not just well-run sprints and fun retrospectives—but true, visionary Agile leadership.
And that responsibility? It falls on all of us.
We need more champions.
And they’re already among us. Our speakers: Sven Ditz, Ismo Aro, Toni Kortepohja, Martti Kuldma, are CTOs and CEOs who live the Agile message every day. They remind us that it’s not only possible—it’s essential—to step up.
This Summit is where we connect. Where we learn out loud. Where we get inspired to impact.
We need to change ourselves
But let’s be honest… just look at Bob.
Our beloved mascot—once a spark of curiosity and innovation—is now lost in the noise. Today, Bob spends more time arguing on LinkedIn than building anything meaningful.
And if we’re not careful, we’ll follow him.
We need to be more like Alice.
We need to be more like Alice.
Alice asks questions. She lifts others up. She doesn’t hide behind jargon or process—she connects, creates, and leads with heart.
Alice is who we aspire to be: courageous, curious, and grounded in community.
This Summit isn’t just a series of talks—it’s an invitation to reimagine software leadership from the ground up. Technical. Visionary. People-focused.
As Mike and Pete’s book reminds us: Shift from product to people.
Just like Alice, we must become the leaders our teams and organizations need. Curious. Courageous. Committed to genuine change and continuous learning.
It’s not easy. But it is our calling.
I’m a recovering Project Manager
A quick shoutout to all the project managers in the room: I’m a recovering Project Manager.
We honor the order you brought to the chaos that software used to live in. Your work was vital at a critical time in our industry’s history.
Now, both project management and agile communities share a challenge: to bring the best of both approaches together to deliver software that helps our societies, instead of breaking the bank.
I wish that we can now work together across these 2 communities to develop a way of working that embraces the complexity of software.
Transformation is happening around us, even today
And I say that because I’ve seen transformation happen.
I’ve seen Gojko Adzic challenge conventions. Jurgen Appelo ignite new thinking.
And Mirette Kangas—our keynote tomorrow—demonstrate what true Agile leadership looks like.
Their journeys light the path ahead. If they can break free, so can we.
Let’s carry their courage—and their vision—back to our teams.
And we start today.
Software is too important to leave to big-design-up-front, slow, waterfallish approaches.
We’re reclaiming Agile—bringing craft and continuous value delivery back to the core. That means engineering excellence, as Mooly Beeri will share today, and human-centered practices, like the software teaming Woody Zuill brings tomorrow.
You are not alone in this mission. This community is behind you. All of you.
The four challenges we must meet
As we move forward, we face four great challenges:
1. Reclaim Quality & Mastery
We must return to clean code, relentless automation, and a refusal to cut corners—not just for quality, but for trust.
2. Overcome Outdated Management
It’s time to replace command-and-control with adaptive, decentralized leadership.
We must be the example.
3. Overhaul Bad Accounting
No more stuffing software into capital expense boxes.
We need operational funding models that treat code as a living product—not a one-off win for the CEO, while the CTO and CIO are left cleaning up the cost-cutting aftermath.
4. Move Beyond Project Management
Great software is grown—like a garden or a complex protein—through continuous adaptation and feedback.
Traditional project management simply doesn’t fit the future of software.
Five wishes for a better software industry
On the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, I’ve put forward 5 wishes for 2025:
Stop building houses—start growing gardens.
We trade monolithic software delivery—modeled after construction projects—for ecosystems of small, living solutions that evolve.#NoBacklogs: Keep your backlogs microscopic.
We want to banish bloat, carrying only the most critical work so we stay nimble and focused, while continuously delivering working software.Run experiments instead of managing tasks.
We abandon task lists in favor of hypothesis-driven deliveries, testing our way toward clarity, and valueEmbrace flow as a metaphor for software delivery.
Continuous Delivery for instant feedback, Incremental Funding to empower teams, and Goal-Oriented Teams to align purpose with outcome.Think like investors.
We fund software as we fund innovations: with small bets, fast learning, and constant adaptability.
Let’s create the future together!
Come on the podcast (contact me!), write guest articles for our newsletter—and start preparing your presentation for the next Global Agile Summit!
The Global Agile Summit is just the beginning
This Summit is not our finish line—it’s our launchpad.
In the next two days, we’ll collect insights, forge deep connections, and return to our teams as mentors, collaborators, and innovators.
Because our software shapes the systems that shape society—healthcare, education, infrastructure.
We must—as software leaders—take responsibility over the disasters of the last fifty years.
It’s on us to build frameworks that ensure reliability, fairness, and value for every stakeholder.
The Global Agile Community is stepping up. This Summit is just the start.
As agile software practitioners, we are moving away from being passive adopters, to taking the responsibility for being architects of the future of our industry.
Let the learning begin
This First Global Agile Summit is just the beginning.
Enjoy these days of learning out loud, forging deep connections, and sparking ideas that ripple far beyond this room.
Together, we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.
Let the learning begin.
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