The Evolution of Agile - How Product Teams Are Adapting in 2017

As we move deeper into 2017, product teams across the technology landscape are reimagining Agile methodologies to meet the demands of increasingly complex product ecosystems. The rigid adherence to "by-the-book" Scrum is giving way to more flexible, customized approaches that prioritize outcomes over process.

Beyond Traditional Frameworks

The most innovative product teams are no longer debating "Scrum vs. Kanban" but instead creating hybrid methodologies that borrow elements from multiple frameworks:

• Scrumban: Combining Scrum's structured sprints with Kanban's visual workflow management and WIP limits
• Lean UX: Integrating user experience design directly into the Agile process through rapid prototyping and validation
• DevOps Integration: Breaking down the traditional barriers between development and operations teams

Spotify's "Squad" model continues to gain traction, with cross-functional teams organized around product features rather than technical specialties, challenging traditional organizational structures.

Continuous Delivery Becomes Mainstream

In early 2017, continuous delivery practices are moving from cutting-edge to standard practice:

1. Automated Testing: Investment in test automation has reached new heights, with many organizations achieving 80%+ test coverage
2. Feature Flagging: Sophisticated feature flag systems allow teams to deploy code to production while controlling feature availability
3. Microservices Architecture: Breaking monolithic applications into smaller, independently deployable services

These practices are enabling leading organizations to deploy multiple times per day while maintaining stability—a capability once exclusive to tech giants like Amazon and Google.

The Rise of Product Discovery Techniques

While delivery practices have matured, product teams are increasingly focusing on discovery techniques to ensure they're building the right things:

1. Dual-Track Agile

The separation of discovery and delivery tracks is gaining popularity, with dedicated time allocated for problem exploration before committing to solutions. This approach helps teams avoid the common pitfall of building features that don't address real user needs.

2. Hypothesis-Driven Development

Product decisions are increasingly framed as testable hypotheses:

• "We believe [this feature] will achieve [this outcome]"
• "We'll know we're right when we see [this measurement]"

This framework forces teams to clarify their assumptions and define success metrics before development begins.

3. User Story Mapping

Jeff Patton's user story mapping technique has gained significant traction as teams seek better ways to organize backlog items around user journeys rather than isolated features.

Challenges in Scaling Agile

As organizations grow, scaling Agile practices presents significant challenges:

• Coordinating multiple teams working on related products
• Maintaining alignment with business strategy across distributed teams
• Balancing autonomy with organizational consistency
• Integrating non-technical stakeholders into the Agile process

Frameworks like SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), LeSS (Large-Scale Scrum), and Nexus are competing to address these challenges, though many organizations are creating custom approaches tailored to their specific needs.

Tools Evolving to Support New Practices

The tooling landscape is evolving to support these emerging practices:

1. Integrated Platforms: Tools like Atlassian's suite and Microsoft's Visual Studio Team Services are expanding to cover the entire product development lifecycle
2. Collaboration Tools: Slack has become ubiquitous, changing how teams communicate and coordinate
3. Analytics Integration: Product analytics tools are being directly integrated into development workflows

Looking Forward: The Agile Landscape in 2017

As we continue through 2017, several trends are likely to shape the evolution of Agile practices:

1. AI-Assisted Development: Early applications of machine learning to assist with code quality and testing
2. Remote-First Methodologies: Adapting Agile practices for increasingly distributed teams
3. Outcome-Focused Metrics: Moving beyond velocity to measure business impact and customer value

Conclusion: Pragmatism Over Purism

The most successful product teams in 2017 are embracing pragmatism over purism, focusing on the principles behind Agile rather than rigid adherence to specific methodologies. This flexibility allows organizations to adapt their processes to their unique contexts while maintaining the core values of customer focus, iterative development, and continuous improvement.

As product complexity continues to increase, we can expect further evolution of these practices, with the most successful teams being those that can balance process discipline with adaptability to changing market conditions.

This article was written by Nguyen Tuan Si, a product management specialist with experience implementing Agile methodologies across various organization types and sizes.