Much of agile software development lore exalts the virtue of in-person collaboration. From literal stand-up meetings to at-the-same-desk pair programming. It’s an optimization for the assumption that we’re all going to be in the same place at the same time. Under that assumption, it’s a great set of tactics.

But assumptions change. “Everyone in the same office” is less true now than it ever was. People are waking up to the benefits of remote working. From quality of life to quality of talent. It’s a new world, and thus a new set of assumptions.

The interesting, and tricky, part of choosing a work pattern is comparing these different worlds. What’s the value of a group of people who a) can only be picked from amongst those within a 30-mile radius of a specific office, b) who have to deal with the indignity of a hour-long daily commute, c) but who’s Agile with that capital A?

Versus a team composed of a) the best talent you could find, regardless of where they live, and b) who has the freedom to work their own schedule, c) but can’t do the literal daily stand-up meeting or pair in front of the same physical computer?

Obviously we’ve made our pick, and the latter setup won by a landslide. But it also made discussions about methodology more complicated.

When you’re talking to someone who thinks that the world is already defined by that first “everyone in the same office” assumption, they’ll naturally champion the hacks that makes that setup more workable. Without necessarily rethinking the overall value of the advice outside that assumption-laden context. Local maxima and all that.

It’s time for a reset. We need the same care and diligence that was put into documenting the agile practices of an office-centric world applied to an office-less world. There’s a new global maxima to be found. Let’s chart its path.