Agile Community Network Podcast: A Look Back at 2025

As 2025 draws to a close, I have been reflecting on the conversations we shared this year on the Agile Community Network Podcast. Each episode opened a doorway into real experiences across our teams, organizations, and the broader Agile community. Instead of focusing on tools or trends, the discussions kept returning to the human side of work and the deeper purpose behind our practices. It became a year shaped by honesty, curiosity, and community.

Below is a look at the themes that defined this year and the episodes that brought them to life.

Culture, Structure, and the Organizations We Inhabit

A central theme this year was organizational reality. We explored how Agile interacts with culture, hierarchy, and the broader conditions that shape people’s ability to do meaningful work. Episodes such as Agile in Mergers and Acquisitions and Fixing a Broken Culture invited us to examine the structural forces that influence team health long before a backlog is written.

We also took a deeper look at the concept of flow in Creating Flow, exploring how clarity, alignment, and smooth work patterns can transform outcomes. Together, these conversations reminded us that Agile is always part of a larger system and that the system matters.

Leadership, Influence, and Speaking Across Boundaries

Another strong theme this year centered on how Agile practitioners communicate with leaders. Talking to the C Suite and Does Your Boss Understand What You Do brought forward stories about influence, translation, and bridging the gap between Agile practice and executive expectations.

We continued this thread in Policy or Empowerment, which examined the tension leaders feel when choosing between relying on policies or trusting teams to navigate complexity on their own. What emerged from these episodes was a clear insight. Leadership is not merely a role; it is an ongoing pattern of communication, clarity, and trust that shapes the ecosystem in which teams operate.

Community, Collaboration, and the Human Side of Practice

Community itself came back into focus in powerful ways this year. Rebuilding Communities of Practice reminded us of the essential role of belonging and shared purpose in sustaining learning and engagement. Many listeners resonated with the call to revitalize spaces where practitioners can learn, experiment, and grow together.

In Tools Over People, we confronted the subtle ways tooling can overshadow collaboration, even when intended to help. These conversations encouraged listeners to slow down, reconnect, and bring humanity back into the center of their work.

Resilience, Energy, and the Experience of Work

The most personal and emotional theme of the year revolved around resilience. Agile Burnout opened an honest discussion about emotional fatigue, systemic pressure, and the need for healthier work environments.

We continued that exploration with Staying Resilient in a Layoff Era, which gave people space to talk about uncertainty, instability, and how to stay grounded during difficult times. These episodes highlighted a key truth. Agility begins with the people doing the work, and their well-being is not optional. It is foundational.

A Year of Learning Together

Looking across all of these themes, 2025 revealed Agile as something far more expansive than frameworks or ceremonies. Agility is cultural. It is relational. It is deeply human. It is shaped by the systems we inhabit, the leadership patterns around us, the communities we nurture, and the energy we can sustain.

None of this would come to life without the people who show up each month to share their stories. I am incredibly grateful to everyone who participated, listened, asked questions, and challenged assumptions.

And I want to give a heartfelt thank you to my co-hosts — Diana Larsen, April Mills, Hendrik Esser, Jörg Pietruszka, Shawna Cullinan, Sheila Eckert, and Sheila McGrath. Your insight and generosity shape the show's tone and strengthen the community we serve.

I also want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the sponsors who supported the Agile Community Network throughout 2025. Their generosity enabled us to keep ACN free, open, and accessible to practitioners worldwide. A special thank you to Agile Alliance, Cicada Organizational Agility, Diana Larson.com, Engine for Change, along with the many individual donors and community supporters who contributed this year to nuAgility. Your belief in this work helps sustain a community that continues to learn, adapt, and grow together, and we are truly grateful for your partnership.

As we look ahead to 2026, I am excited to continue exploring the edges of Agile practice and the evolving realities of modern work. If this year taught us anything, it is that the conversation is far from over and that our best learning still happens together.

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