Adaptavist predicts the agile trends for 2025 (Part 2)

Focus- Atlassian's new enterprise strategy and planning solution – provides a different context and perspective on much of the information that gets rolled up in Jira Align or comes out of Jira. It will help organisations link execution more tightly to strategic goals. Rather than strategy being a mere input to tools like Jira Align, it could give strategic teams more guidance to help them achieve success.

"Frameworks and implementation choices often reflect strategic decisions, but without clarity, they create slowdowns," says Phil. "Focus helps by creating feedback loops between strategy and execution. This feedback gives executives the insights needed to refine strategies before problems snowball."

"It could prove particularly useful because, historically, a poor strategy often only reveals itself after failure. With Focus, you catch these issues early and adjust rather than overhaul everything."

Over the last year, we've seen companies being pulled in both directions when it comes to remote and office-based working. “The RTO mandates have exposed that there is a need for colocated work, even if that could cynically be viewed as just a means to apply more traditional management practices. Rather than it being a contentious issue, we should see this as an opportunity for companies to be deliberate and open about their ways of working. In the end, it should benefit everyone by allowing employees and employers alike to ensure this is a match.”

We've seen that depending on the individual people and how they like to work, certain types of collaboration work better in person, and certain types of collaboration work better remotely.

"I think you'll see ways of working adapt to different needs," says Phil. "There's also the same 'voting with your feet' dynamic – people deciding what works for them. Some people want to be around others; others can't imagine not working from home because their lifestyle demands flexibility.

"As we get more experienced with remote and hybrid work, we'll find ways to lean into the strengths and mitigate the challenges for organisations", he continues. "Some companies will signpost their approach, with CEOs saying, 'This is just how we work. We're the team that collaborates in person daily,' or 'We get together once a quarter; the rest is remote.' That clarity helps establish company culture and allows teams to align around shared expectations."

Ultimately, it's about standardising approaches within companies or teams so they have a consistent rhythm. Agile HR will need to adapt to these dynamics, but it's more about people choosing the work environment that suits them.

Agile has become a bit of a victim of its own success. Jon Kern, Digital Transformation Consultant at Adaptavist and Co-author of the Agile Manifesto, calls it the "agile industrial complex", referring to all the certifications and courses churned out without much focus on practical application.

"What I think we'll see is a separation of the wheat from the chaff," says Phil. "There will be people who truly understand how to apply agile in ways that deliver business value, and then there will be others just going through the motions, sticking to dogmatic interpretations like, 'The Scrum Guide says this must be done in two weeks, so we're doing it no matter what.'"

"The more pragmatic school of thought – which I like to think we're part of – focuses less on labels. Sometimes, the best approach is not to call it agile at all but to simply explain what works, why, and how it helps. We've even had clients say, 'We need all these agile principles; just don't call it agile.' That's fine."