Agile was meant to strip out bureaucracy. In most IT teams it has done the opposite. You now have more meetings, more roles and more process than ever, all wrapped in the language of empowerment. The people who benefit are the product owners, agile coaches, and product managers who get to run the machine. The people who pay the price are the team members who actually keep the engine alive and orchestrating the necessary.
It is also deeply unfair to normal team members. The whole setup seem to be rewarding extroverts who thrive in meetings and know how to perform. They get the lime light in stand‑ups, planning sessions and retros, where sounding confident often matters more than being right. Meanwhile introverts are pushed to the sidelines, then told in a condescending way that they are too shy, need to speak up more or should make their presence known. Their quiet focus and deep work are treated as a problem to fix instead of a strength to protect. Either way, the system is unfair to all parties.
The result is a rotten culture where visibility trumps value. People who are good at marketing their work in ceremonies get praised, while those who quietly prevent incidents, automate toil and keep platforms stable go unnoticed or shunted aside. Over time this pushes competent, reflective memebers to the edges and rewards those who are best at playing the Agile game.
Hence, the curseful way of working.
AI Disclosure: Generative AI (Preplexity) was used to brainstorm topic ideas and structure this article’s outline. The final text was entirely written, verified, and edited by a human.