I have just finished reading the 18th State of Agile Report (2025). This year’s edition feels different. For almost 20 years, Digital.ai has been collecting insights from Agile practitioners. The new report shows clear patterns and important signals that are hard to ignore.
What stood out to me is how organisations are changing their approach to agility. Many of the challenges are not new, but they are becoming more visible. Leaders are still not close enough to the work. Teams have more data than ever, but they still struggle with outcomes. AI is growing fast, but governance is not keeping up. Most companies are now using hybrid scaling models instead of one single framework.
These 10 insights show what is really happening inside modern Agile organisations. They also point to what leaders should focus on if they want real progress, not just another process change.
Full Report: Download from stateofagile.com
Here are the points from the report that I believe are the most important.
1. Most organisations are stuck in the middle of their transformation
Only 13% of respondents say Agile is deeply embedded across their business. Meanwhile, 42% describe their culture as “better than nothing but could be more effective.” This basically means admitting that Agile isn’t working as intended. You’ve adopted it, sure, but you haven’t fully transformed how business works.
The most concerning part? This hasn’t changed in nearly a decade. We’ve been doing this for years and barely moved the needle. That tells me adoption hit a ceiling around 2015 and we’ve been standing still ever since.
Fig Q1. How would you describe the current state of Agile across your organization? Source: (Digital.AI 2025)
2. The visibility paradox: More data, Worse outcomes
Here’s the paradox I kept thinking about while reading this: 55% have complete visibility into what’s being developed. 64% have visibility into the DevOps pipeline. 65% say their tools are aligned. And yet 63% say they struggle to deliver reliable, high-quality software. That’s up 12 points from last year. So teams built better dashboards, integrated tools, made everything visible, and outcomes got worse.
This isn’t random. This is structural. When I look deeper, only 15% of business leaders actively shape Agile practices. Technical teams are optimising for metrics that don’t matter to the business. Beautiful dashboards are pointing to the wrong information or are not sold enough to the right people.
Visibility is an enabler of strategic alignment. Without this alignment, companies are losing a significant opportunity; it is like moving faster but in the wrong direction.
Fig 2. Q6 How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements? Source: (Digital.AI 2025)
3. Leadership involvement is low
Only 15% of respondents’ organisations have business leaders actively involved in shaping Agile practices.
Meanwhile, 76% face rising pressure to prove ROI. And 53% can’t prioritise the right work. Over half can’t track business impact.
Executives demand proof that Agile is working, but they’re not actually in the room making decisions about what Agile should deliver. That’s broken.
I see this pattern when I talk to teams. The CEO wants results but never provides feedback. The CFO wants ROI but doesn’t understand what the team is building. Then everyone wonders why things fall apart. Executive buy-in isn’t nice to have. It’s foundational.
4. Hybrid approaches to scaling agility are now the dominant reality
74% of organizations now use hybrid or homegrown approaches. Only 10% years ago used this mix. SAFe is at 44% adoption, but it’s usually mixed with DevOps-first models, platform teams, and custom approaches. Scrum@Scale and LeSS are fading.
What’s actually happening here is that organisations are giving up on “pure play” frameworks and building what actually works for them. And you know what? I think that is a healthy approach. What matters really in a scaling framework is alignment and discipline, and adaptation to the organisation’s context.
5. Your data requires automation before AI can help
44% still rely on spreadsheets for half or more of their insights. Only 6% have AI-powered analytics at scale.
But here’s the killer stat: 53% struggle to prioritise the right work. 52% can’t track business impact. 21% don’t trust their data at all. Many organisations cannot answer a fundamental question: “Is this working?”
I remember working with one team that had seven different tracking systems. Nobody knew which one was right. So they just picked the one that looked best. Sound familiar?
Before you adopt AI, before you add more tools, fix your data foundation. You can’t safely let an AI system make decisions from data you don’t trust. That’s how you scale problems.
6. AI adoption is a strategic challenge
84% of organisations use or plan to use AI tools. But only 49% have clear guardrails in place. That’s half an organisation making autonomous decisions without boundaries.
41% are actively exploring or implementing AI across teams. Another 22% are experimenting with no coordinated strategy.
The most common uses? Saving time (77%), accelerating tasks (41%), and improving quality (35%). All tactical. Very little strategic AI use.
These are still the early days of AI. Excitement, scattered deployment, and governance lagging. Organisations are planning to invite algorithms to make more and more decisions, but there is still a lot to do in that space.
Fig 3. Q14 Which of these statements best describes your organisation’s approach to AI tools? Source: (Digital.AI 2025)
Fig 4 Q15 Which types of AI tools are being used? Source: (Digital.AI 2025)
7. Agentic AI is already Emerging in Early Adopters
Over one-quarter of organisations experimenting with AI are already using Agentic AI. Autonomous systems are already making decisions about workflow execution, risk detection, change management, and planning.These are systems that reason and act. The future isn’t AI as a tool. It’s AI as a teammate. But you need guardrails before you bring a teammate on board.
8. Investment in Agile is rising, but satisfaction is flat
41% increased scaling investments over the past two years. But satisfaction hasn’t budged. Only 27% say Agile is actually enabling them to deliver value.
More money. Same frustration. That’s a recipe for burning through the budget without getting results. You can’t throw money at Agile and expect it to fix itself. More investment without changes in governance simply increases costs without improving outcomes
9. Organisations are beginning to prioritise outcomes
When asked what would help most, 29% said a culture focused on outcomes and adaptability. Another 27% said stronger leadership support. Participants are asking for focus and alignment.
This is actually encouraging because it means people are ready to start thinking like businesses. The industry is maturing. Organisations are focusing on the right question associated with value delivery.
10. Pressure is rising across Cost, innovation, tools, and AI
79% participants face pressure around cost control. 77% face pressure around innovation speed. 78% are dealing with leadership shifts. 69% are managing tool consolidation. 61% are adopting AI.
Multiple pressures are hitting organisations simultaneously. When you’re trying to cut costs AND innovate faster AND adopt new tools AND implement AI AND handle reorganizations all in the same quarter, something’s got to give. Often it’s quality or team morale.
This is about building a product-oriented organisation (more on this topic here (Rola 2025) and here (Rola, pawelrola.com 2025)) that can handle constant change, connect work to outcomes, and stay flexible enough to adapt.
Sample Size Considerations
The number of participants is decreasing, which is somehow interesting. This year’s (2025) survey had 349 respondents. Last year (17th report from 2024) had 788 people. The year before that had 3,220. So the sample size dropped significantly. This doesn’t change what the data shows, but it’s worth keeping in mind when you’re reading the numbers. The findings are still solid, but they represent a smaller slice of the Agile community.
So What Now: The path forward for agile leaders?
The organisations winning right now aren’t the ones with the most tools or the best framework. They’re the ones where business leaders sit at the table, where the data actually means something, and where people understand why they’re building what they’re building.
The next wave of agility isn’t about new frameworks or better tools. It’s about leadership alignment, data you can trust, and governance that enables instead of constrains.
I’ve seen organisations becoming competitive in less than two years. Not because they switched frameworks. Because they got serious about connecting the work they do to outcomes and the right strategy.
For executives, senior leadership, and teams seeking to accelerate organisational transformation, drive leadership development, or receive support in their digital, business, operational, or Agile transformation, visit pawelrola.com or contact me on LinkedIn.
Let’s work together to bring the organisations of the future!
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Bibliography
Digital.AI. 2025. The 1 8th Edition State of Agile Report. Digital.ai.
Rola, Pawel. 2025. https://pawelrola.com. Feb. https://pawelrola.com/7-directions-for-the-pmo-of-the-future/.
Rola, Pawel. 2025. pawelrola.com. April. Accessed Nov 25, 2025. https://pawelrola.com/scrum-team-3d-reality-model-path-to-agile-product-oriented-organisation/.