Category Archives: Architecture

Agile at Scale is Bullshit by Design – The Guardian

24 Tue Feb 2026

Posted by in agile, agile@scale, All Data, Architecture, Assets, awareness, behaviour, business strategy, Creativity, Dogma, IT strategy, Strategy, structured intellectual capital, Value

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Madrid, Wednesday 25th February 2026.

Seven years on, the verdict is in, and it’s not flattering. Back in 2019, in a Brussels-fuelled rant channelling the incomparable Bob Hoffman, I declared Agile at Scale the next frontier of IT bullshit: immature, ill-conceived, supercilious, and emphatically not agile. It killed communication with jargon, turned criticism into heresy, and mangled history by ignoring what actually worked. I called it a cultish Frankenstein of Scientology zeal, Vatican pomp, and authoritarian quirks – all wrapped in vainglorious slide decks.

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Agile at Scale is Bullshit by Design – Remastered and Revisited – 2026/01/27

07 Sat Feb 2026

Posted by in agile, agile@scale, All Data, Architecture, Assets, awareness, behaviour, business strategy, Creativity, Dogma, IT strategy, Strategy, structured intellectual capital, Value

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Bruxelles, 28th May 2019

To begin at the beginning

To paraphrase the great Bob Hoffman. Just when you feared that Agile evangelists might produce even more nonsense, they surprise you. What do they do? Exceed expectations.

And how did they do that? Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Agile at Scale. It comes with all the miscellaneous, spiced-up, and vainglorious crap-on-the-side that accompanies it.

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How Agentic AI Is Reshaping Work and Life Balance

02 Tue Dec 2025

Posted by in AI, All Data, Analytics, anthropology, Architecture, Artificial Intelligence, Ask Martyn

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones

A Coruña, 2nd December 2025

Agentic AI – The 007 of Computer Bonding

Introduction

Agentic AI refers to advanced AI agents. They are capable of independently chasing ambitious, open-ended objectives. These agents break tasks into steps and reason iteratively. They wield tools and persist through obstacles with minimal human guidance. In summary: think of a less obedient tucan. Imagine a more relentlessly competent understudy. This AI can orchestrate your travel, chase invoices, or conduct desk research. It does all this while you’re on the Amalfi Coast with an Aperol spritz. The phrase du jour in Palo Alto marks a shift. Assistants move from being responsive to becoming genuinely proactive. Your to-do list may soon sort itself out as if by magic.

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AI Agents: Rise of the Silicon Overlords

17 Mon Nov 2025

Posted by in AI, Architecture, awareness, Inform, educate and entertain., professionalism, Strategy, structured intellectual capital

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Martyn Rhisiart Jones

Córdoba, Spain, 17th November 2025

(The Ruthless, No-Bullshit, Slightly Evil Edition)

Chapter 1: Congratulations, You’re Already Obsolete

  • Your boss, clients, or investors heard “agent” on a podcast. Now, they demand an AI agent before lunch on Friday.
  • Accept your role as meat-based middle management for silicon overlords.
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Myth-busting: Data Mesh and Data Warehousing – Revisited

25 Thu Nov 2021

Posted by in agile, anthropology, Architecture, Best principles, Data Mart, data mesh, Data Supply Framework, Data Warehouse, Data Warehousing, hadoop, Inform, educate and entertain.

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To begin at the beginning

I am quite a fan of many aspects that sit under the Data Mesh umbrella. However, when it comes to a proper fact-based understanding and analysis of the history, place and architecture (business, data and technical) of Data Warehousing, the leading exponents of data mesh have it woefully wrong.

Therefore, the purpose of this blog article is to set the record straight.

The data warehouse as a place to copy OLTP exhaust data to?

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Agile at Scale is Bullshit by Design

28 Tue May 2019

Posted by in agile, agile@scale, All Data, Architecture, Assets, awareness, behaviour, business strategy, Creativity, Dogma, IT strategy, Strategy, structured intellectual capital, Value

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cropped-p4010326.jpgMartyn Richard Jones

Bruxelles 28th May 2019

To begin at the beginning

To paraphrase the great Bob Hoffman. Just when you thought that if evangelists for Agile were to generate one more ounce of bullshit the entire fucking solar system would explode, what do they do? Exceed expectations.

And how did they do that? Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Agile at Scale with all the miscellaneous, spiced-up and vainglorious crap-on-the-side that accompanies it.

Continue reading →

Learning to hate Agile-at-scale

11 Sat May 2019

Posted by in agile, All Data, Architecture, business, business strategy, Inform, educate and entertain., Methodology, Process, project management, scrum

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StupidToScaleAfilonius Rex

Cordoba, 12th May 2019

Ladies and gentlemen, the performance is about to start!

In 1998, as Programme, Product and Competence Centre manager at Hewlett-Packard, I signed the Agile Manifesto.

At that time, I had been using elements of the Agile-method mindset for the best part of sixteen years.

Previously, in 1995 I was trained and certified in Iterations, an iterative and agile-like methodology for building, maintaining and expanding data warehouses and data marts. Continue reading →

How to turn data into knowledge

02 Wed Aug 2017

Posted by in All Data, Architecture, Big Data, Big Data Analytics, data architecture, Data governance, data management, Data Supply Framework, Data Warehouse, Data Warehousing, Good Strategy, Inform, educate and entertain., information, Information Management, Information Supply Framework, IT strategy, Knowledge, knowledge management, Marketing, Martyn Jones, Martyn Richard Jones, Sales, structured intellectual capital, wisdom

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Martyn Jones

Zurich, Switzerland – 3rd August 2017

Image2If anyone can turn data into knowledge then that person is me.

Let me explain.

I am a data architecture and management professional. For more than three decades I have been acquiring knowledge and experience in the design and delivery of effective data and solutions architectures for a wide range of projects and in a wide range of (mainly large global or regional) enterprise clients.

Therefore I think I can reasonably presume to have built up quite a good personal body of knowledge when it comes to applied data architecture and management.

As well as being a professional in the management and architecture of data, I have also considerable knowledge and experience in the areas of information management, artificial intelligence and knowledge management (structured intellectual capital).

So, what about turning data or information into knowledge? Continue reading →