It can sometimes feel that Agile is a Cult. Question I wonder, what's the true motivation behind provocative statements like this - what's not being said? And even if it is true, what can be learned from that?
There's no evidence that Agile methodologies lead to better performance or business value - and that actually all that's needed psychologically is a willingness for process improvements
The certification mill, combined with one of the certification bodies requiring yearly subscriptions, is off-putting. "pay to play" and status symbols but with little demonstrable value of practical learning or experience - Agile Industrial Complex
Agile is often seen as an proselytizing movement with evangelists
A dogmatic feel to running ceremonies
The way that we quote the manifesto, very often, reminds me of the way that priests quote chapter and verse.
Faith in "the process" to produce results, unspecified emergent effects hitherto unknown
It's a superstition in that correlation is not causation but is positively reinforced
If there are problems, it is because the process is working and making these visible, or that the team aren't doing agile correctly or that there's not buy in from a resistant/hesitant group
I have observed a somewhat cynical sentiment arising from poor processes that cannot lead to working with agility and do not deliver on the outcomes Agile claims to possess. For many my age, Scrum is the way of doing things, more than waterfall. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." (Agile in Name Only)
In large organisations, where agile processes are tacked onto existing governance structures (ITIL), it can be difficult for the team to actually work in a way that will allow for continuous improvements. This is where morale starts to sink and people think that agile is just a bunch of ceremonies, people talking but not doing, and without "business buy-in" there's little point. User stories are just new names for requirements.
'Extreme'
Financial aspect
Control, lack of questioning
Religions, like all communities, have a foundational set of values. Religious service places structure and regularity to teaching these values and applying them to current context.
Scrum describes itself as an empirical framework and its events, accountabilities and artefacts are designed to promote empirical thinking.
What's special about the manifesto is it hit the zeitgeist, but that's about it. It's actually deliberately vague and avoids being seen as commandments by acknowledging there's value on both sides of "X over Y"
Deliver sooner, not faster
http://www.agilekiwi.com/other/agile/faith-doubt-and-evidence-agile-as-religion-versus-agile-as-social-science/
https://jhall.io/archive/2021/04/24/agile-isnt-a-religion/
http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/10/egomania-itself.html?m=1
http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2006/09/good-agile-bad-agile_27.html?m=1
https://georgobermayr.com/articles/agile-is-not-a-religion
https://pikilon.medium.com/agile-the-right-way-religion-b3b6182cce75
https://agilegnostic.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/i-think-agile-as-a-religion/
Agile Uncertified - Philosophy over Rituals