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Agile Sucks!: When You Do It Wrong
You’re not imagining it—Agile often does suck. But it’s not your fault. It’s the way you were taught.
Instead of exploring why early Agile delivered meaningful gains—and how those principles could be expanded—the industry tried to manage growing pains with layers of process, policy, and rigid frameworks. Along the way, well-meaning practitioners found small improvements and codified them into systems that worked for some but not for others.
These prescriptions grew into a well-defined frameworks that now dominate the conversation. And while transforming into a “traditional Agile organization” can sometimes yield 20–50% improvements, most efforts fall short—or fail entirely. Why? Because if you focus only on surface-level activities, your gains will always be limited.
But when you understand the why—the core principles that made Agile effective in the first place—you unlock the potential for 10X improvement. The principles in this book don’t just fix Agile—they elevate how any organization operates, Agile or not.
In Agile Sucks!, veteran coaches Zac Parker and James Wright expose the well-intentioned missteps that derailed Agile’s promise and reveal a better path forward. With candor, clarity, and real-world experience, they lay out a practical, proven approach grounded in what actually works.
To make it easier to share and apply, they’ve named their principles-based approach REAL. Whether you’re leading a team, scaling a company, or simply trying to get more done, REAL gives you the tools to break free from the noise and build something that truly works.
This isn’t a framework. It’s not a checklist. It’s a return to the principles that drive performance, and a roadmap to results far beyond what most organizations even dare to expect.
Instead of exploring why early Agile delivered meaningful gains—and how those principles could be expanded—the industry tried to manage growing pains with layers of process, policy, and rigid frameworks. Along the way, well-meaning practitioners found small improvements and codified them into systems that worked for some but not for others.
These prescriptions grew into a well-defined frameworks that now dominate the conversation. And while transforming into a “traditional Agile organization” can sometimes yield 20–50% improvements, most efforts fall short—or fail entirely. Why? Because if you focus only on surface-level activities, your gains will always be limited.
But when you understand the why—the core principles that made Agile effective in the first place—you unlock the potential for 10X improvement. The principles in this book don’t just fix Agile—they elevate how any organization operates, Agile or not.
In Agile Sucks!, veteran coaches Zac Parker and James Wright expose the well-intentioned missteps that derailed Agile’s promise and reveal a better path forward. With candor, clarity, and real-world experience, they lay out a practical, proven approach grounded in what actually works.
To make it easier to share and apply, they’ve named their principles-based approach REAL. Whether you’re leading a team, scaling a company, or simply trying to get more done, REAL gives you the tools to break free from the noise and build something that truly works.
This isn’t a framework. It’s not a checklist. It’s a return to the principles that drive performance, and a roadmap to results far beyond what most organizations even dare to expect.
93 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 2, 2025
1 person want to read
About the author
James Wright
511 books105 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
On December 13, 1927, James Arlington Wright was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio. His father worked for fifty years at a glass factory, and his mother left school at fourteen to work in a laundry; neither attended school beyond the eighth grade. While in high school in 1943 Wright suffered a nervous breakdown and missed a year of school. When he graduated in 1946, a year late, he joined the army and was stationed in Japan during the American occupation. He then attended Kenyon College on the G.I. Bill, and studied under John Crowe Ransom. He graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1952, then married another Martins Ferry native, Liberty Kardules. The two traveled to Austria, where, on a Fulbright Fellowship, Wright studied the works of Theodor Storm and Georg Trakl at the University of Vienna. He returned to the U.S. and earned master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Washington, studying with Theodore Roethke and Stanley Kunitz. He went on to teach at The University of Minnesota, Macalester College, and New York City's Hunter College.
On December 13, 1927, James Arlington Wright was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio. His father worked for fifty years at a glass factory, and his mother left school at fourteen to work in a laundry; neither attended school beyond the eighth grade. While in high school in 1943 Wright suffered a nervous breakdown and missed a year of school. When he graduated in 1946, a year late, he joined the army and was stationed in Japan during the American occupation. He then attended Kenyon College on the G.I. Bill, and studied under John Crowe Ransom. He graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1952, then married another Martins Ferry native, Liberty Kardules. The two traveled to Austria, where, on a Fulbright Fellowship, Wright studied the works of Theodor Storm and Georg Trakl at the University of Vienna. He returned to the U.S. and earned master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Washington, studying with Theodore Roethke and Stanley Kunitz. He went on to teach at The University of Minnesota, Macalester College, and New York City's Hunter College.
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