It happens quietly, almost invisibly. The stand-ups are still on the calendar. Backlogs are still groomed. Leaders still reference “agility” in town halls. But the air has gone out of the room. Real momentum is missing, and glancing around, no one wants to say it: “This just... isn’t working like it used to.”

Scene One: Signs of Stagnation

The new way of working began with buzz. Labels were changed, walls papered with sticky notes, teams moved to sprints. For a while, delivery felt faster: fewer blockers, more feedback, less bureaucracy. But now…

  • Stand-ups echo with routine check-ins, not breakthroughs.
  • Retrospectives happen less, and when they do, surface only generic fixes.
  • The customer’s needs? Still there, but further in the background.
  • “Velocity” is up, yet it’s measured in features shipped, not problems solved.
  • Quietly, people wonder if they’re a little more rigid than before.

Agile, once liberating, has started to feel like another box to tick.

Scene Two: Under the Surface

How do teams reach this point? The answer is rarely a single misstep. Instead, familiar patterns surface.

You might recognise the “ritual without reason” effect. Ceremonies held because that’s what the book says, not because they solve a real problem. Or a leadership change that quietly shifts priorities, “just deliver, we’ll figure out the rest later.” Coaches move on, new teams are formed, but the curiosity and care that fuelled progress are absent. Silos reassert themselves, and experiments slow to a trickle.

Agile was not built for autopilot. It feeds on energy, intent, and presence.

Scene Three: Interrupt the Drift

Breaking the plateau means interrupting these invisible currents deliberately, collaboratively, and sometimes disruptively. Here are some provocations rather than prescriptions:

  • Drop a ceremony for a month. Replace it with something built around an immediate problem, such as customer calls, a cross-functional jam, or an “experiment day.” Reconnect to lived needs, not the textbook.
  • Ask new questions. Instead of “How do we increase velocity?” try “What outcome did we change for the customer this sprint?” and “Who discovered something new?”
  • Show your rough edges. Have a leader talk openly about a failed experiment or an unexpected frustration. Give teams permission to try and stumble.
  • Make retrospectives visual. Ditch the PowerPoint. Try post-it dot voting, a “fail wall,” or mapping the emotional journey of the last release.
  • Bring in outside eyes. Invite someone from another team, a customer, or even a supplier to observe a planning session and ask blunt questions.
  • Shorten the horizon. For four weeks, run “micro-sprints.” Pick one goal, finish it, reflect, then repeat. Shrink the change until it feels truly manageable.

Scene Four: Rediscovering Pace and Purpose

If things have stalled, the answer is not more process but more presence. Sustainable agility is not about moving faster but about moving with intent. When teams reclaim agency to question, adjust, scrap, and reinvent, they rediscover the sense of flow that made agile compelling in the first place.

Momentum returns not through sprint charts but through visible outcomes, laughter in the room, and the satisfaction of solving what actually matters. The plateau is not a dead end; it is a turning point and an invitation to make agile your own again.

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What our customers say about us

"One of Ant's strengths is relating to owners in a visionary sense and talking to people who are on the ground...[Ant has a] wide understanding of different systems, processes and applications and can articulate where we're going and what the possibilities are...working with Ant has changed the way we make decisions about IT structures and support systems."

Felicity Hopkins, Director - Research Review

We hired Ant to support us with an important project after he was highly recommended by colleagues. Ant was responsive, speedy, super-helpful and helped us to make key decisions. We appreciated his broad experience, and his ability to hold a high level strategic view alongside expert advice on details. We will definitely be consulting with Ant again and are happy to recommend him.

Gaynor Parkin, CEO at Umbrella Wellbeing

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James Armstrong, Director - MediData

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"No question has ever been too silly. Ant's been accommodating and helped me understand. I've valued that he understands the charitable sector really well. He can look through the experience that he has with larger organisations and what's the reality for a small and mighty charity where you don't have teams of people that can come in and project manage an IT project"

Nicola Keen-Biggelar, Chief Executive Drowning Prevention Auckland

"Having Anthony was really valuable – to lean in on his skillset – and his connections. He was able to provide impartial advice about the different strengths [of the providers]. It was important that we undertook a good due diligence process. Having Anthony there meant we had impartial selection as well, which is very important to us and [something] other not-for-profits [could benefit from]."

Rose Hiha-Agnew, Program Director - Community Governance

Unlike outsourced IT providers who often operate without deep business knowledge, Target State acted as our strategic partner to ensure technology was purposefully aligned with our business goals, driving real value and growth.

Nathan Barrett, COO Delta Insurance

Ant has a clear, no-nonsense approach to technology. He focuses on outcomes, not hype, and always keeps the business context front and centre. In a world full of AI buzzwords and distractions, he’s someone who brings clarity and direction.

Rohit Kashikar - Head of Technology, Delta Insurance

Although we’ve only just started working with Ant, it’s already clear he brings a thoughtful and structured approach. He quickly grasped the context and asked the right questions to get us moving in the right direction. I’m looking forward to seeing where we can take things from here, especially to ensure we cut out waste and hold vendors to account.

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