Hard deadlines are not user-first
I think Agile is the heart of the problem. It is a cargo cult that brings predictability to software projects by ensuring that it&#x27;s always a dumpster fire, that everyone&#x27;s stressed, and that everything takes longer than estimated. Eating up &quot;tickets&quot; and crapping out code is not how you quickly deliver software to customers and iterate in the face of changing needs. It&#x27;s so sad there are generations of developers being raised thinking &quot;Agile&quot; and playing absurd, time-wasting games with &quot;issues&quot; is how to build software. Agile is to the 2020s what the Bobs in &quot;Office Space&quot; was to 2000: &quot;Trendy&quot; corporate management absurdity and fury signifying nothing.<p>The alternative to Agile is Software Engineering, where you do important things like assess your requirements and capabilities, identify how to validate those requirements are functioning properly and support your business requirements, promote testing and QA to a first-class citizen. Most importantly to always have functioning software that is reasonably demonstrated to be correct. That way you release with confidence, people take pride in their work, and the product, team, and schedule all become quite pleasant.