References

Academic research, industry perspectives, and thought leadership on the evolution beyond traditional Agile.

Key Articles

Industry Thought Leaders

Dave Thomas — “Time to Kill Agile”

Link: pragdave.me/blog/2014/03/04/time-to-kill-agile.html

Key Points:

  • Agile Manifesto co-author calls for moving past “Agile Industrial Complex”

  • Distinguishes between agile (lowercase-a, the values) and Agile (capital-A, the industry)

  • Argues process frameworks have become too rigid and prescriptive

  • Advocates for returning to core principles of adaptation

Notable Quote:

“The word ‘agile’ has been subverted to the point where it is effectively meaningless, and what passes for an agile community seems to be largely an arena for consultants and vendors to hawk services and products.”

Harvard Business Review — “Have We Taken Agile Too Far?”

Link: hbr.org/2021/04/have-we-taken-agile-too-far

Key Points:

  • Questions whether Agile has become too formalized

  • Examines unintended consequences of widespread Agile adoption

  • Discusses tension between agility and stability

  • Explores when Agile frameworks may hinder rather than help

Insights:

  • Agile can create as much bureaucracy as it eliminates

  • Constant change can exhaust teams

  • Not all work benefits from Agile approaches

TechBeacon — “The End of Agile”

Link: techbeacon.com/app-dev-testing/end-agile-why-agile-should-be-replaced

Key Points:

  • Explores why Agile may not fit modern development

  • Discusses DevOps and continuous delivery as evolution

  • Examines role of automation in replacing manual Agile practices

  • Argues for principles over frameworks

Themes:

  • Automation changes what humans need to do

  • Continuous delivery supersedes sprint-based releases

  • Modern tools enable better approaches

Books

Radical Therapy for Software Teams

Link: apress.com/gp/book/9781484294933

Author: Buildly’s founder

Topics Covered:

  • Origins of the RAD process

  • Transitioning from Agile to RAD

  • AI-assisted development practices

  • Case studies and real-world examples

  • Implementation strategies

Recommended For:

  • Engineering leaders

  • Product managers

  • Agile coaches looking to evolve

  • Teams feeling constrained by Agile frameworks

The Agile Manifesto (2001)

Link: agilemanifesto.org

Historical Importance:

  • Foundation document for Agile movement

  • Core values still relevant

  • Principles that inspired RAD

Why Still Relevant:

RAD builds on these values, not against them. Understanding the original intent helps appreciate the evolution.

Research Papers

“Agile Software Development: The Business of Innovation”

Authors: Various academic researchers

Key Findings:

  • Agile practices improve innovation in certain contexts

  • Effectiveness depends on team size, project type

  • Ceremonies can become overhead at scale

  • Need for adaptation to organizational context

“The Impact of AI on Software Development Practices”

Recent Studies:

  • AI can reduce estimation error by 40-60%

  • Automated testing coverage improves with AI assistance

  • Developer productivity increases with AI coding assistants

  • Context switching reduced by intelligent automation

Industry Reports

State of DevOps Report (Annual)

Publisher: DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment)

Key Metrics:

  • Elite performers deploy multiple times per day

  • Lead time for changes: less than one hour

  • Change failure rate: 0-15%

  • Time to restore service: less than one hour

Relevance to RAD:

These metrics align with RAD’s adaptive cadence and continuous delivery principles.

State of Agile Report

Publisher: Digital.ai (formerly CollabNet VersionOne)

Annual Trends:

  • Growing adoption of DevOps practices

  • Shift toward continuous delivery

  • Increased use of automation

  • Recognition of Agile scaling challenges

Additional Perspectives

Blog Posts & Articles

Buildly Blog

Community Discussions

  • Hacker News threads on Agile criticism

  • Reddit r/programming discussions

  • Dev.to articles on post-Agile practices

Podcasts & Talks

Recommended Listening:

  • “Beyond Agile” - Software Engineering Radio

  • “The Future of Software Development” - Podcast.__init__

  • Conference talks on DevOps and continuous delivery

Critical Perspectives

Counterarguments to “Post-Agile”

Not everyone agrees Agile needs replacement. Common counterarguments:

“Agile Still Works”

  • Many teams successfully use Scrum/Kanban

  • Problem is poor implementation, not the framework

  • Simplicity of Agile is its strength

RAD Response:

We agree Agile works for many teams. RAD is for teams ready to evolve further, not a replacement for all Agile.

“This is Just Agile Done Right”

  • RAD sounds like Agile with better tooling

  • Agile Manifesto doesn’t mandate sprints

  • True agility adapts to tools available

RAD Response:

Fair point. RAD is agile (lowercase-a) but moves beyond Agile (capital-A) frameworks and ceremonies.

“Too Much Automation Reduces Human Judgment”

  • AI can’t replace human creativity

  • Automated decisions lack context

  • Teams lose control to algorithms

RAD Response:

RAD emphasizes “automation as collaboration,” not replacement. Humans make decisions, AI provides data and handles repetition.

Further Reading

Books on Software Process Evolution:

  • Accelerate by Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, Gene Kim

  • The DevOps Handbook by Gene Kim, et al.

  • Continuous Delivery by Jez Humble, David Farley

  • Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais

Online Resources:

Academic Journals:

  • IEEE Software

  • ACM Transactions on Software Engineering

  • Journal of Systems and Software

Contributing to the Discussion

Share Your Experience:

  • Write about your team’s evolution beyond Agile

  • Present at conferences on RAD adoption

  • Contribute to open discussions

  • Share metrics and results

Join the Community:

  • Buildly community forums

  • RAD process discussion groups

  • DevOps and continuous delivery meetups

Note

This field is actively evolving. New research, case studies, and perspectives emerge regularly. Check back for updates.

See also