Practiqual Is Not Agile
It can help a leader fix their broken agile.
I want to be clear from the start. Practiqual® is not Agile.
Practiqual does not subscribe to the values and principles outlined in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. It is not a framework, a method, or a delivery playbook.
Practiqual is a leadership approach to leading complex products in complex organisations and/or marketplaces.
That distinction matters because much of the confusion and frustration in organisations comes from applying delivery ideas where leadership judgment is required.
Practiqual is About Leadership
Agile was born in a very specific context: small teams, software delivery, short feedback loops, and a focus on responding to change. In that space, many agile practices are genuinely useful. Agile is a value system that has four values and twelve principles for software development. These are sound and still make sense today.
But not all things are software development, not all teams need agile, and organisational structures vary and pose different types of challenges.
There are problems of:
competing priorities across portfolios
complex operating models
legacy systems and organisational constraints
regulatory and governance obligations
human behaviour, incentives, and power structures
Scale and size of organisation
interconnected ecosystems of vendors, platforms, and products
Practiqual exists to help leaders operate in that reality. But it does not mandate any single method or framework. Its fundamental design is to build one’s own framework or way of working that suits the organisation's context.
It focuses on how leaders think, turn up, decide, and act when the problem is not obvious, the solution is unclear, and the consequences are real.
Yes, Agile Has Useful Ideas
Many good practices emerged from agile thinking.
You can absolutely use them.
You can build feedback loops.
You can limit work in progress.
You can create transparency.
You can shorten learning cycles.
You can empower teams.
You can even choose to subscribe to the agile values and principles if they genuinely align with your context.
Practiqual does not reject agile practices.
What it rejects is blind allegiance and dogmatism in the agile marketplace.
Practiqual encourages leaders to deliberately choose practices that fit their situation, rather than inheriting someone else’s ideology and hoping it works.
Practiqual Is Not Here to Fix Agile
This is important. Practiqual is not an attempt to “fix agile”, rebrand it, or offer a better version of it.
It deliberately distances itself from the toxic agile marketplace and what is now the “Agile Brand”.
The space that is full of:
certifications without accountability
cargo cult implementations
dogmatic enforcement of ceremonies
frameworks sold as universal solutions
snake-oil organisations with low skill in the market to make a buck
leaders not engaging and hiding behind the process
old management styles enforced on agile
low skill and barrier to entry of agile coaches, scrum masters and the like
eroded trust
Operating in that world no longer interests me. I cannot deny the good in the market and what I have seen, experienced and done. The good, however, is overshadowed by a toxic marketplace.
I do not relate to it, and I do not want Practiqual associated with it.
Ideas Come From Many Places
Yes, Practiqual uses ideas that are often labelled as agile.
It also uses ideas from:
systems thinking
complexity theory
theory of constraints
product management
organisational design
risk management
change leadership
governance and decision theory
lived experience leading real organisations
And some ideas are simply my own, shaped by years of seeing what actually works and what repeatedly fails.
Practiqual is not trying to be pure. It is trying to be useful.
Built for Complex Organisations
Practiqual is targeted at leaders operating in environments where:
Products that are complex
Teams do not exist in neat, autonomous bubbles
Technology is deeply entangled with process and policy
Change cannot be delegated and forgotten
Leadership decisions shape outcomes more than ceremonies ever will
There is no one solution for every situation, even in the same organisation
These are complex organisations with complex products and complex ecosystems.
They do not need another delivery framework.
They need leaders who can think clearly, act deliberately, and take responsibility for shaping the system they lead. The world has changed, and leaders need to step out of outdated management thinking.
That is what Practiqual is for.
Use What Helps. Leave the Rest.
If agile practices help you, use them.
If they do not, do not force them.
If they fit your context today but not tomorrow, adapt.
Practiqual gives leaders permission to stop pretending there is a single right answer and start building an approach that actually fits their reality.
It is not agile. It can help a leader fix their broken agile.
And that is entirely the point.