We absolutely learned something since the 90s that was beneficial. Corporative software projects now have about a two times higher chance of success than they had back then.
Also, we almost certainly learned that thing from Agile. There is no other credible source.
But the article has a clear point that places where people say they are practicing Agile has an even lower success rate than the overall one from the 90s. So it seems that the actual lesson from the Agile manifest was only learned by the people who don't claim to practice it.
> We absolutely learned something since the 90s that was beneficial.
Yes, software engineering has evolved, but to attribute its successes to the methodology used is like attributing higher cancer survival rates to better hospital management. In reality, it's due to the availability of better drugs, more understanding, and a lot of R&D, and it has 0 to do with management. Same with software engineering: we use better tooling, libraries, hardware is more commodified, and a lot of things we don't have to do ourselves. All things that have nothing to do with the methodology.
> So it seems that the actual lesson from the Agile manifest was only learned by the people who don't claim to practice it.
No methodology/manifest and no amount of management can compete with smart, qualified adult people being invested in their craft, and having autonomy and ownership on what they are building. The projects that succeeded are projects having those people, regardless of the methodology. In a way, people succeeded despite Agile, not because of it.
We absolutely learned something since the 90s that was beneficial. Corporative software projects now have about a two times higher chance of success than they had back then.
Also, we almost certainly learned that thing from Agile. There is no other credible source.
But the article has a clear point that places where people say they are practicing Agile has an even lower success rate than the overall one from the 90s. So it seems that the actual lesson from the Agile manifest was only learned by the people who don't claim to practice it.