GOOD STRATEGY REBELLION

Category: IT strategy

  • STRAIGHT TALK: Agile at Scale is Bullshit by Design – The Guardian

    STRAIGHT TALK: Agile at Scale is Bullshit by Design – The Guardian

    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.

    (more…)
  • CEO BRIEFING: Agile at Scale is Bullshit by Design – Remastered and Revisited – 2026/01/27

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

    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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  • Understanding Data-Less Apps: The Future of IT

    Understanding Data-Less Apps: The Future of IT

    Image1Martyn Rhisiart Jones

    Dublin 9th May 2017 –  revised 21st December 2025

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  • Energising the Agile Way of Working brand and mindset

    Energising the Agile Way of Working brand and mindset

    On my way to Léon

    Martyn Richard Jones

    Brussels 10th June 2019

    Today I want to talk with you about energising the Agile Way of Working brand.

    Sadly, the Agile Way of Working movement seems to be temporarily on the wane. The adoption rate of AWOW has not risen in line with expectations. It’s stuck in the doldrums between Scylla and Charybdis. Which makes for frowns all around.

    But, me being me, I didn’t leave it at that. That’s a challenge, right there! Let’s go for it! Let’s turn those frowns upside-down

    As result, I searched for a way to help the Agile@Scale crowd out, and I eventually came up with ten amazing pieces of incredible advice on how to easily make ‘Agile Way of Working’ truly something worth having around.

    So, here we have it:

    1. First, change its name from the
      Agile Way of Working to the Agile Way of Whacking Off (Agile WOWO), you know, a
      touchy-feely way to “sex up” requirements. Bush and Blair style.
    2. Epics will be referred to as
      Dodgy Dossiers, User Stories will become Curated Jokes and Sprints will become Streaks.
    3. People working on Streaks will
      be known as Streakers, chapter members will be known as Schleppers and guild
      members will be known as Schmucks, everyone else will be referred to as Bernie
      or Helen.
    4. Every morning Dodgy Dossier Owners
      must repeat the term “Agile Operating Model” until they puke their
      guts out.
    5. All Scrum and Kanban boards are
      be replaced with life-sized wack-a-mole models.
    6. Only those kitted out as My Little
      Pony or Princess Line can use coloured post-it notes.
    7. Anyone caught using the names
      Google, Spotify, Netflix or Zappos.com will be denied the oxygen of publicity.
    8. Anyone evidenced repeating the terms
      “by design”, “learning journey” and “minimum viable
      product” will be denied the oxygen of oxygen.
    9. Anyone caught using comic images
      of rockets, astronauts or planets (including the sun) anywhere in their
      “content” will be forever referred to as a feckin space-cadet.
    10. If you can’t defecate rainbows on
      demand then you have no right being involved in Agile at Scale or the Agile Way
      of Whacking Off.

    There you have it. Ten jolly and sensible policies for a happy world of Agile at Scale and Agile WOWO.

    Many thanks for reading,

    This is Martyn Jones of goodstrat.com – THE GOOD STRATEGY COMPANY

    Until next time.

    Contact me at martyn dot jones at goodstrat dot com

  • Leadership 7s – Episode 1 – S01E01

    Leadership 7s S01E01

    This is the first in a series of management talking points. The name Leadership 7s has been influenced by the great game of rugby, which is was the emblematic game of my youth and a passion of the home country of my Mom and Dad, Wales.

    In fact, much of what I learned about leadership in my formative years came from fundamentally social influences such as rugby union.

    So, today I want to address seven talking points that deal with aspects of leadership, coaching and management.

  • Deep learning; shallow understanding.

    Deep learning; shallow understanding.

    Deep learning, shallow understanding.

    The original article is here: https://goodstrat.com/2019/05/11/deep-learning-and-shallow-understanding/

  • STRAIGHT TALK: Agile at Scale is Bullshit by Design

    STRAIGHT TALK: Agile at Scale is Bullshit by Design

    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.

    (more…)

  • Consider this: Clueless in IT! Can‘t listen. Aren‘t learning. Won‘t win.

    Consider this: Clueless in IT! Can‘t listen. Aren‘t learning. Won‘t win.

    OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
    Aranjuez, Spain

    Martyn Richard Jones

    Bruxelles 19th May 2019

    Listen well

    I am a big fan of listening well and in continually improving listening skills. Yes, there are times when we can over-listen but this is also linked with skills of diplomacy and politics. How we listen should inform us a lot about what we and others really are.

    So, whilst I am a big advocate of listening well I see that the world of business, and especially the sub-world of IT, is plagued with vain, impulsive and badly informed vote-takers who stubbornly resist the need to listen well and who will attempt to deftly fill the whole of the available time bashing their gums in communicating what are to all intents and purposes vacuous inanities and long litanies of meaningless clichés, full of terms that they either abuse or misunderstand; or even a bit of both.

    And, as anyone who has worked with IT will know, I am not making this up. We used to call this charlatanry now we simply call it consulting. It still isn’t turning a pig’s ear into a silk purse, no matter how much people insist. But, there it is, in all its magnificent mediocrity.

    Some people tell me it’s because IT attracts people with autism and Asperger’s syndrome; whatever that is.

    I tend to put this refusal to listen down to other things; my money is firmly on arrogance and ignorance.

    But, they just don’t get it, do they? (more…)

  • Postmodern Digital Stories: We’ve never seen anything like this before

    Postmodern Digital Stories: We’ve never seen anything like this before

    Picture2Martyn Richard Jones

    Dunny on the Wold, 23rd August 2017

    The prevailing conventional wisdom is that innovative technologies and their novel use are having an effect on many peoples’ lives. Indeed, the fascination with the possibilities offered by social media, the internet and the age of data is becoming all pervasive. Of course, not all is goodness and light. Some aspects, such as Denial of Service attacks, phishing without a permit and creatively-ambiguous chimping, mark the down side of this story. (more…)

  • STRAIGHT TALK: How to turn data into knowledge

    STRAIGHT TALK: How to turn data into knowledge

    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? (more…)