Yuval Yeret - The Status of Agile as a Platform and Navigating Career Pivots

Yuval Yeret, founder of Yeret Agility and OG Agile expert, joined me on Ditching Hourly to discuss the current state of Agile as a platform, how it has evolved over the years, and what practitioners should consider when pivoting their careers as the platform matures.

About Yuval

Yuval Yeret is a Product/Scaling/Agility Coach focused on helping product/tech leaders scale their organizations without slowing down, improving outcomes by leveraging flow, agility, and product orientation. (while avoiding the dogma and process BS of Agile Theater). Yuval is a globally recognized expert on scaling w/ agility, a SAFe Fellow, a Professional Scrum Trainer, and a co-author of the Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams. These days Yuval is focused on helping organizations evolve from Feature Factories to Empowered Product Organizations, as well as helping deeper tech organizations develop a pragmatic agility strategy. Yuval shares his insights on scaling w/ agility at https://yuvalyeret.com/scaling-with-agility-newsletter/

Chapters

• (00:00) - Introduction and Guest Welcome
• (00:17) - Yuval's Background and Journey into Agile
• (01:35) - Early Days of Agile
• (03:56) - Transition to Consulting and Coaching
• (07:21) - Agile's Evolution and Current State
• (09:46) - Challenges and Criticisms of Agile
• (17:30) - Future of Agile and Role Adaptation
• (22:18) - Advice for Agile Practitioners
• (30:22) - Reflecting on Agile Leadership
• (31:24) - Anecdote: Transition from FileMaker to Web Development
• (34:57) - The Future of Agile and Product Operating Models
• (39:20) - Adapting Skills for New Opportunities
• (41:48) - Navigating Organizational Change
• (44:47) - Strategies for Career Pivoting
• (48:01) - The Role of Scrum Masters in Modern Organizations
• (52:00) - Consulting and Value Proposition
• (57:55) - Closing Thoughts and Resources

Notable Quotes

• "What happened over the years is... agile has become mainstream for most of corporate America, technology organizations and product companies. And this created the reality where the people that are, the organizations that are currently adopting agile are the late adopters."
• "[Late adopters] are slapping names like Scrum Master and Sprint and User Story and Daily Scrum... on the way that they've been doing things already. And it's like lipstick on a pig. It's not really creating any impact other than a bad name for Agile and a bad name for people in these roles."
• "The biggest issue with Agile... is the over-reliance on specific roles in organizations."
• "We will have a significantly smaller number of people that dedicate their career to something like agile, whatever it's called. You will need to specialize. You will need to start to think like consultants need to start to think and build your content solar system."

Yuval's Links and Other Resources

• Yuval's article on "The Future of Agile Roles and Agility"
• Yuval's private podcast on navigating the landscape of Agile theater, feature factories, and product operating models
• "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey Moore (book on technology adoption)
• Netflix culture book (featuring the "Netflix question")
• The career mini-course that Jonathan mentioned: Unblock Your Career by Shachar Meir

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