Picture this: a brand-new team forms around an exciting product or project. There’s enthusiasm, ambition, and a clear goal in sight. Senior leadership decides to introduce Agile ways of working—perhaps Scrum or another framework—to deliver this product faster, better, and with more adaptability. It sounds like the perfect match, doesn’t it? But here’s where things start to unravel.

Many of the team members have never used Agile before. For some, it’s their first exposure to terms like sprints, backlogs, and user stories. The Scrum Master is new to the role, still trying to find their footing, while the Product Owner has been elevated from another role without much formal training. Instead of focusing on the product, the team’s energy shifts to understanding an unfamiliar way of working.

In theory, Agile is meant to empower teams to deliver value incrementally. But in practice, when everything is new—the product, the team, and the process—the learning curve can be steep. The team ends up dedicating valuable time and mental bandwidth to simply figuring out how to function within this Agile framework. The product itself starts to take a back seat.

This dual focus on learning the Agile process and understanding the new product creates a situation where progress feels slow, clunky, and frustrating. Team members who should be building, testing, and refining the product are instead spending time deciphering the mechanics of Agile ceremonies, roles, and responsibilities. And even as they begin to gain confidence in the process, there’s a real risk that this newfound comfort comes at the expense of the product’s quality or success.

From a leadership perspective, this can be disheartening. They see Agile as a means to an end—a tool to accelerate product development and achieve business goals. But when the team’s attention is divided, the product’s progress stalls. The excitement around Agile fades, and skepticism creeps in. Suddenly, what was meant to be a journey of innovation feels more like a frustrating detour.

And this challenge only amplifies when scaling Agile across multiple teams or, even more dauntingly, shifting to an Enterprise Agile model like SAFe, LeSS, or Disciplined Agile. It’s a car crash waiting to happen, where the learning curve becomes more of a wall than a slope.

Is it any wonder, then, that many people are skeptical about Agile? When teams are expected to master a new product while simultaneously adopting a new way of working, it’s no surprise that frustration and uncertainty emerge. For Agile to succeed, we must recognize that it’s not just about the process—it’s about giving teams the space, support, and time to grow into their roles without losing sight of the true goal: delivering a great product.