Who are the real Agile Influencers?

Implemental people.

Agile is now a huge movement, industry or whatever you like to categorise it as.

How big? Well, it’s difficult to get exact figures, but we do have some strong indicators.

So it’s a fair guess that there are tens of millions of people worldwide trying, using, doing or being Agile.

As in many groups, there are many different voices and opinions in the Agile world. But some tend to carry more weight than others. We may not like it, but that’s the way it is.

Who is influencing Agile?

From our research, we’ve compiled this list of the people we believe carry the most influence in the world of Agile, and those who hold the most influence over the future directions of Agility.

Putting together a list like this is fraught with peril. The likelihood that we overlooked someone is high. And there are always going to be some people who don’t agree with who made the cut, and who didn’t. Like the old adage says, “You can’t please all the people, all the time”.

However, we still believe that this list is valuable as an indicator of who is steering the ship. And please let us know if you want to nominate someone who you think we missed.

The Agile Influencers

Ahmed Sidky profile picture

Dr. Ahmed Sidky

"Agile is a mindset"

Company: Riot Games

Website: DrAgile.com

LinkedIn: Ahmed Sidky

Twitter: @asidky

Videos: 

The Agile Mindset: The Key To Being Agile Not Just Doing Agile

Conversation with Ahmed Sidky on scaling Agile

Dr. Alistair Cockburn

"Agile is an attitude, not a technique with boundaries. An attitude has no boundaries, so we wouldn't ask 'can I use agile here', but rather 'how would I act in the agile way here?' or 'how agile can we be, here?'"

Website: Heart Of Agile

LinkedIn: Alistair Cockburn

Twitter: @TotherAlistair

Videos: 

Why Agile?

Returning to the Heart of Agile

Bas Vodde profile picture

Source: less.works

Bas Vodde

"Agile does not mean delivering faster. Agile does not mean fewer defect or higher quality. Agile does not mean higher productivity. Agile means agile – the ability to move with quick easy grace, to be nimble and adaptable. To embrace change and become masters of change – to compete through adaptability by being able to change faster than your competition can."

Company: Odd-e

LinkedIn: Bas Vodde

Twitter: @basvodde

Videos: 

The Story of LeSS

Large Scale Scrum - LeSS - A fireside story

Ben Linders profile picture

Ben Linders

"Agile is a journey. Don’t pack too much, travel light and be flexible!"

Website: BenLinders.com

LinkedIn: Ben Linders

Twitter: @BenLinders

Videos: 

Sustainable Improvement Through Agile Retrospectives

The Need for Continuous Improvement in Agile

Bob Galen profile picture

Bob Galen

"Effective feedback should be measured by the outcomes that it inspires and not by the simple fact of saying it"

LinkedIn: Bob Galen

Twitter: @bobgalen

Podcast: Meta-cast

Videos: 

The 3 Pillars Approach to Agile Testing Strategy

Everyone is an Agile Coach

Robert Martin profile picture

(Uncle) Bob Martin

"The only way to go fast, is to go well."

  • One of the original 17 authors of the Agile Manifesto
  • Served as the first chairman of the Agile Alliance
  • Author of 6 books on software development

Website: Cleancoder.com

LinkedIn: Robert Martin

Twitter: @unclebobmartin

Videos: 

The Future of Programming

The Principles of Clean Architecture

Chet Hendrickson profile picture

Chet Hendrickson

"Yes, I use the Fibonacci sequence, I just stop at 1"

LinkedIn: Chet Hendrickson

Twitter: @chethendrickson

Videos: 

Interview with Ron Jeffries & Chet Hendrickson @ LeSS NYC

Twenty Years of XP - Now What?

Craig Smith profile picture

Craig Smith

"Our job is not to do quality Agile, it is to deliver quality software or solutions"

Company: SoftEd

Website: Craig Smith

LinkedIn: Craig Smith

Twitter: @smithcdau

Videos: 

40 Agile Methods in 40 Minutes

Agile Coaching Nightmares

Dave Snowden profile picture

UXBrighton / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

Dave Snowden

"Seeking the ideal has a long history, it produces many saints but few paradigm changes."

  • Developer of the Cynefin framework
  • Associate professor extraordinaire at the University of Stellenbosch Business School

Company: Cognitive Edge

LinkedIn: Dave Snowden

Twitter: @snowded

Videos: 

The Cynefin Framework

How to organise a Children's Party

David J Anderson profile picture

David J. Anderson

"Of course, speed is most useful if it is in the correct direction."

Company: Mauvius Group dba Kanban University

LinkedIn: David Anderson

Twitter: @lki_dja

Videos: 

Kanban - An Alternative Path to Agility

Deep Kanban. Worth the Investment?

Dean Leffingwell profile picture

Dean Leffingwell

“Agile is only a tool – it’s not a religion”

  • Creator of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).
  • Former Chief Methodologist at Rally Software
  • Former Sr. Vice President at Rational Software (now part of IBM)
  • Author of several books on Scaled Agile and software requirements.

Company: Scaled Agile

LinkedIn: Dean Leffingwell

Twitter: @deanleffingwell

Videos: 

What is SAFe

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Foundations

Diana Larsen profile picture

Diana Larsen

"You know you have the best work for you when you think, 'I’d rather do this and fail than not do it at all.'"

Company: Agile Fluency

LinkedIn: Diana Larsen

Twitter: @DianaOfPortland

Videos: 

Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great!

Dancing Along the Agile Fluency Path

Henrik Kniberg profile picture 

Henrik Kniberg

"The only real failure is the failure to learn from failure"

  • Former member of the board of directors of the Agile Alliance
  • Popularised Spotify’s engineering culture
  • Author of three books on Scrum, Lean, Kanban and XP.

Company: crisp

LinkedIn: Henrik Kniberg

Twitter: @henrikkniberg

Videos: 

Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell

Spotify Engineering Culture

James Shore profile picture

James Shore

"There's no way to force someone to be energized. However, you can remove roadblocks."

  • Co-creator of the Agile Fluency model
  • Co-Author of The Art of Agile Development
  • Recipient of the Agile Alliance’s Gordon Pask Award for Contributions to Agile Practice

Website: JamesShore.com

LinkedIn: James Shore

Twitter: @jamesshore

Videos: 

Agile Fluency

Agile Without Dedicated QA

Jeff Sutherland profile picture

Anders Wegge Keller / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Jeff Sutherland

"The people who multitask the most just can’t focus"

Company: Scrum Inc

LinkedIn: Jeff Sutherland

Twitter: @jeffsutherland

Wikipedia: Jeff Sutherland

Videos: 

Scrum: How to do twice as much in half the time (TEDx)

Scrum Tuning: Lessons learned at Google

Jurgen Appelo profile picture

Jurgen Appelo

"Internal conflict is a natural aspect of complex systems and a prerequisite for creativity and innovation."

Company: Agility Scales

Website: jurgenappelo.com

LinkedIn: Jurgen Appelo

Twitter: Jurgen Appelo

Videos: 

Managing for Happiness

How to Fix Your Failed Agile Transformation

Ken Schwaber profile picture

Anders Wegge Keller / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Ken Schwaber

"The people who multitask the most just can’t focus"

Company: Scrum.org

LinkedIn: Ken Schwaber

Twitter: @kschwaber

Wikipedia: Ken Schwaber 

Videos: 

Scrum et al. (GoogleTechTalks)

What is Scaled Scrum?

Kent Beck profile picture

Kent Beck

"Do The Simplest Thing That Could Possibly Work"

Company: Gusto

Website: KentBeck.com

LinkedIn: Kent Beck

Twitter: @KentBeck

Wikipedia: Kent Beck

Videos: 

Extreme Programming 20 years later

3X

Lyssa Adkins profile picture.

Lyssa Adkins

"a true natural servant automatically responds to any problem by listening first"

Website: lyssaadkins.com

LinkedIn: Lyssa Adkins

Twitter: @CoachAgileTeams

Videos: 

The Road from Project Manager to Agile Coach

The High Performance Tree

Martin Fowler profile picture

Webysther Nunes / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Martin Fowler

"One of the big dangers is to pretend that you can follow a predictable process when you can't"

Company: Thoughtworks

Website: martinfowler.com

LinkedIn: Martin Fowler

Twitter: @martinfowler

Wikipedia: Martin Fowler

Videos: 

Explaining Agile

Continuous Delivery

Mike Cohn profile picture

Mike Cohn

"Changing practices is one thing; changing minds is quite another"

  • Co-founder and former Board member of the Agile Alliance
  • Co-founder and former Chairman of the Board of the Scrum Alliance
  • Author of several books on Agile and software development

LinkedIn: Mike Cohn

Twitter: @mikewcohn

Wikipedia: Mike Cohn 

Videos: 

User Stories

Agile Estimating

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"Quote"

  • Claims to fame

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Ethann Castell profile picture

Ethann Castell

Ethann Castell is an Agile Coach and Trainer with over 10 years of experience coaching teams across various industries. He is a Certified Agile Coach (ACP-ACC), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), and ICAgile Authorized Instructor. Ethann has authored two books on Agile methodologies and frequently shares his insights through speaking engagements and training programs. Connect with him on LinkedIn.