Defending Agile: modern world critics
For more than a decade, insurance companies have been increasingly willing to use Agile methodologies, combining their utility across customer experience, claims, underwriting and IT systems. However, in recent years, this very popular approach to software development has been met with much disapproval. While it is important to be alert to criticism, in this case it is premature.
Agility is primarily associated with flexibility, continuous growth, an iterative approach, team collaboration and constant customer feedback. The focus is on direct, mutual communication and the continuous improvement of the implemented product, even at a late stage of the project. It is not a rigid set of rules, but rather a declaration, a proposed direction of software development. How it is accepted, interpreted and implemented depends largely on the organisation and its managers.
Scrum, on the other hand, is a clearly defined structure that enables an organisation to implement Agile. It specifies how people should cooperate and who should implement the tasks. This set of rules that you'd use here, is referred to as the Scrum Guide.
DevOps is an area that has evolved naturally alongside Agile. It is a practical approach that combines software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops). Its purpose is to deliver high-quality code by enabling frequent and reliable releases and enhancing systems quality and stability. DevOps uses a subset that is called Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD), which defines how often developers should merge code, and focuses on automated builds, tests and deployment.
Agile and Scrum have been criticised for promoting a judgemental and hurtful environment with restrictive rules. They allegedly block creative problem-solving, and employees feel tired of the constant sprints, imposed work pace, and frequent changes to the scope of work. On the other hand, it is claimed that developers spend too much time in meetings (unfairly labelled as “social gatherings”) instead of working on the product.
Let's look at some objections and try to answer them.
Team members feel like cogs in a machine under constant micromanagement
Before we address this objection, let's review what the Agile Principles say about team members: Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. And: The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
It’s not a revelation to say that people make a company. When individuals support each other in achieving a common goal, a thriving business is created.
A manager’s duties include ensuring that the job is done properly. They must also foster good working conditions, by providing appropriate resources and support. Team members are responsible for reporting problems and blockers. For this system to work, mutual trust is necessary. Managers must trust that they have chosen the right people for the tasks and give them the freedom to act. Giving up some control will be difficult, but it is worth it. Employees must feel able to share any problems they have, safe in the knowledge that they will get the support they need.
Too many meetings take away from development time
The Agile Principles on meetings say that: Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. And: At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly.
In Scrum meetings are called “events”: Daily, Refinement, Retrospective and Planning. What are they for? They allow you to focus on a specific aspect of the delivery. The entire team’s attention is directed towards a specific task, such as estimating the workload, reflecting on how the team has been working recently or planning the next tasks. Their regularity helps maintain a routine and a steady work pace.
If they are conducted wisely, daily meetings can improve communication. They should not be just 15-minute sessions without deeper focus. The Scrum Master plays a key role in maintaining these events, acting as a skilled leader who covers the cross-section of the team’s tasks and skilfully ties up the loose ends.
Sometimes a company or a team will give up on a meeting, assuming that "everyone knows what to do" or "everyone knows what problems we have". Often that is not the case, as people might be focused on delivering their part. If we don’t give them the opportunity to see the bigger picture, more problems will arise.
A qualified specialist must prove every day that they work sensibly
Yet again, let’s read what Agile Principles say about communication: The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
It is short-sighted not to recognise that the tasks that are performed in the project and their level of advancement change daily. Given our scope of duties and the goal we are aiming for, we should communicate often to achieve it.
Moreover, assignments are intertwined with each other. Keeping information that concerns the whole team to yourself is selfish and harmful to the entire project. The total product is made up of the work accomplished by individual people, but it is not simply the sum of its parts.
Talking about our work enables us to reflect on our own tasks, take a step back and consider what we are doing and why. Additionally, the whole team gains a comprehensive understanding of the tasks they are performing, which will pay off in the future in the form of faster decision-making and the ability to identify issues in the process.
Retrospective meetings in Scrum provide the perfect opportunity to voice any concerns
The Scrum team is cross-functional by nature and consists of both business and IT members. In the insurance industry, for example, it might include claims adjusters, underwriters, developers, a product owner and a Scrum Master. This combination eases problem solving and speeds up the flow of information. However, it also requires from team members to be willing to reach a consensus and have good communication skills.
Interpersonal communication can be difficult and very stressful for many people, increasing mutual distrust, vigilance and a natural readiness to defend oneself. However, this does not release us from our obligation to show mutual respect to colleagues and clients. The team must give each other space to celebrate success, but also to address problems when they arise.
How we embrace them is up to us. Reflecting on what went well and what went wrong gives us an opportunity to learn from our experiences. Checking the mood of the team and clearing the atmosphere is equally important, which in turn leads to team building and improves our performance.
Agile is all about communication. It’s not easy. Implementing this way of working does not happen overnight. It requires skilled leadership, commitment from both superiors and employees, and constant practice.
Experienced Agile teams do not abandon daily meetings or ongoing summaries just because "they already know how to do Agile". They still meet because they recognise the interdependencies between their tasks, and they respect their colleagues and their work by providing them with what they need.
It’s easy to conclude that "Agile has failed" when something stops working. But before we do that, let's consider whether we really understand the principles of Agile and whether our organisation allows us to be agile.
You can dismiss a challenge by saying "This is not Agile", but such a summary solves nothing. You must look at the problem, try to analyse it and draw conclusions.
We should be open to constructive criticism and discussions about Agile, Scrum and other work methods. Conversations provide an opportunity to surface and identify problems that employees struggle with… daily.
Weronika Polniak , Senior Business Analyst at Sollers Consulting
Technology in Insurance: Facts and Comments
Harry Curtis writes in Insurance Post about the AI ambitions of the UK insurer RSA:
“RSA is aiming to be able to quote business within half an hour of a broker sending it a submission within two years.”
Artificial intelligence has become a common topic in the insurance industry, but many projects are still in the experimental phase, testing use cases for business operations to identify areas where AI can deliver the most value. The most important areas of application for AI are underwriting and claims management, with a focus on advanced document management, chatbots/voicebots and the expansion of employee skills.
Aleksander Czarnołęski , Head of UK GI at Sollers Consulting
Rebecca Perkins writes about an Open Letter signed by London Market CEOs to create and expand a single data standard:
“The campaign will run throughout June and includes a call to action from the CEOs of Acord, the International Underwriting Association, the London & International Insurance Brokers Association, Lloyd’s, the Lloyd's Market Association, PlacingPlatform Limited, Velonetic and Verisk."
In parallel, Anthony R. O'Donnell reports about a speech of Pega CEO Alan Trefler :
“He addressed the long-running challenge of data uniformity. Pega’s response is to use AI to normalize data on the fly, applying common rules to variable inputs through a concept he called the Live Data Agent.”
Data and data management have become one of the most important areas in insurance IT, and this is likely to continue in 2025. The main goal is to enhance business intelligence and automation capabilities. Data management supports claims management activities and, increasingly, underwriting and pricing; this is a prerequisite for the effective use of AI.
Lukasz Terlecki , Data Competence Owner at Sollers Consulting
Figure of the month
*of insurers are using or implementing some form of LLMs for the employee support, reveals the Sollers AI Report “Beneath the Surface of AI in Insurance: Insights-Led, Experience-Driven”. The high adoption rate confirms that generative AI is becoming a core component of enterprise environments — not only as an expert tool, but also as a support for everyday work across teams.
Interesting on AI, Aleksander Czarnołęski! Just after the TINtech in London, I can see that getting from experimental phase to scalable solutions is a tricky transition for the UK insurers. We will be observing more discussions on that topic.
"Sapere aude!"
4wWhy do so many companies actuall work with "water scrum fall" methodology? Does it work?
Festina lente
4wagreed and in summary there is not a simple receipt for all situations (even inside the same company), this is why seniority and leadership are fundamental to address the specific problem in the specific context
UK General Insurance 🇬🇧 Lead at Sollers Consulting, Project Manager ⚙,
4wOne of the most common reasons organisations struggle with agile implementation is the tendency to adopt frameworks or guidelines rigidly—treating them as checklists rather than principles. This often happens without a deep understanding of the underlying goals of agile practices or thoughtful consideration of their own organisational context. Agile is fundamentally about adaptability, learning, and delivering value—not about following a prescribed formula. When companies prioritise process over purpose, they risk missing the agility that agile is meant to bring.
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4wIt's good to remind ourselves from time to time of what agility is all about 🙂