Doers, Not Reviewers— THE LEADERSHIP ROLE IN AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT by DAVID KURODA
Manifesto formalized a set of values and principles prioritizing working software, customer collaboration, and adaptability to change. Commercial firms embraced agile quickly. Teams operated with autonomy, product owners represented end-users, and capabilities were delivered incremen- tally. In commercial environments, lead- ership alignment is essential because speed to market often determines competitive advantage. Agile teams rely on rapid decisions, clear priori- ties, and minimal friction between functions. When cybersecurity, legal, finance, and compliance are not in- tegrated into development cycles, delivery stalls and customers look elsewhere. Leadership in these firms is not ceremonial; it is operational. Executives and managers embed with product teams, facilitate decision- making across silos, and drive shared ownership of delivery outcomes. Agile succeeds in industry because leader- ship makes it everyone’s job to ensure that software reaches users quickly and effectively. In contrast, senior leaders in gov- ernment programs—particularly general officers, Senior Executive Service (SES) members, and senior acquisition authorities—frequently operate at a distance from the team, assuming their role is to approve, review, or evaluate. But software delivery, especially in Scrum-based environments, cannot succeed if leadership treats itself as outside the team. Agile demands that those with decision-making authority embed directly in the development rhythm, participate in backlog prioritization, and take personal ownership of out- comes. Leadership is not a separate layer—it is a contributing role within the delivery team. DoW Adoption and Structural Constraints The Software Acquisition Pathway (SWP), introduced in 2020 under the Adaptive Acquisition Framework, codified a structure for faster, iterative
and instead take direct responsibility for delivery outcomes as active par- ticipants within agile teams. To lead and support agile efforts effectively, program managers and senior leaders must move beyond compliance and oversight. They must focus on enabling delivery. This means understanding agile principles, ap- preciating how they apply within the
warfighting environment, and aligning leadership actions with the needs of high-performing software develop- ment teams. The Agile Imperative Agile software development emerged in the 1990s as a response to the rigidity of traditional, sequential software life cycles. The 2001 Agile
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