Agile Journeys is an ongoing series of candid conversations with Agile professionals from across the spectrum — from technical leads and enterprise architects to Scrum Masters, Agile coaches, and transformation leaders. Each conversation dives into the realities of Agile transformations, adoption, and scaling: the frameworks that work (and the ones that don’t), the processes and tools that enable change, the techniques and tips that make a difference, and the challenges teams face along the way.
Our goal is simple: share unfiltered, practical insights from people living Agile every day — so you can learn, adapt, and help your own teams thrive. Read the full series here.
In this installment, we sat down with Addam Tait (LinkedIn), Enterprise Solutions Consultant at Atlassian and long-time Agile transformation practitioner. With over a decade of experience working across government programs, Fortune 50 enterprises, and startups, Addam brings a pragmatic, data-driven, and people-centered perspective to scaling agility.
What stood out in our conversation: his strong belief that visibility and transparency are the true foundation of business agility — and that without them, even the best intentions collapse.
Addam’s first exposure to Agile and Atlassian tools didn’t happen in a flashy Silicon Valley startup.
It happened at a tiny government contractor outside Washington, D.C.
“I was wearing a lot of hats. I set up Jira, ran standups, coordinated developers, and tried Agile because I had learned a bit about it in college. I figured — why not try doing it this way?”
In practice, that meant acting simultaneously as:
That hands-on chaos became a powerful learning experience.
From there, Addam moved into larger consulting environments, including Booz Allen and CapTech, where he deepened his focus on Agile coaching, enterprise transformations, and eventually program- and portfolio-level work.
Today, his work spans:
When asked what remains consistent across government, enterprise, and startup environments, Addam didn’t hesitate:
“The very first thing I do, no matter where I am, is get visibility into the work. What’s being done? What are the priorities? What does flow look like? What metrics exist?”
Without visibility, improvement is guesswork.
Addam acknowledges the Agile principle of people over process and tools, but adds an important nuance:
“At enterprise scale, you absolutely need tools. If you can’t see what’s happening from strategy all the way down to developers, how can you adapt strategy? How can you actually be agile?”
Visibility becomes the bridge between:
One engagement permanently shaped Addam’s approach.
At a large hospitality company’s data & analytics department (~150 people), teams felt constantly busy, miserable, and undervalued. Work lived in spreadsheets — lots of them.
The first move: put everything into Jira.
Once work became visible, Addam introduced a simple experiment: tag “flyby requests” — urgent executive asks that interrupt planned work.
A few months later, the data revealed something shocking:
35% of the team’s capacity was spent on flyby requests.
That single metric changed leadership behavior.
The department VP stepped in to control intake, protect capacity, and reset priorities.
“That’s when it really clicked for me — without visibility, you can’t improve. You can’t even have the right conversations.”
Many organizations adopt Agile hoping it will magically increase speed.
Addam reframes the expectation:
“Yes, we’re going to move faster. But that means some things won’t get done. We’re going to do the most important things faster.”
Servant leadership doesn’t conflict with delivery speed — it enables it.
But it requires:
Speed comes from prioritization and clarity, not pressure.
According to Addam:
“Executives focus on ceremonies and process. But real success starts with principles and values.”
If leaders don’t understand:
Then teams struggle to commit.
Buy-in doesn’t come from Jira workflows.
It comes from shared understanding of purpose.
Addam warns against “weaponized metrics”:
“You don’t want the metric to become the goal.”
Telling teams to increase velocity by 5% quarter-over-quarter leads to gaming.
Instead:
Less is more. Learn more in our Agile Retrospectives for jira page.
One of the most powerful stories Addam shared came from working with teams heavily composed of H1B visa holders.
In retrospectives, no one spoke.
Not because nothing was wrong — but because speaking up felt risky.
“One person told me afterward: no one on an H1B visa is going to say something is wrong in a group setting.”
That insight reinforced how:
shape participation.
It also explains why features like anonymous input in retrospectives can dramatically change engagement for some teams.
There is no one-size-fits-all Agile. Check out more on our DevEx page.
Addam sees AI as a powerful assistant — not a replacement.
He’s particularly interested in AI’s potential to:
“AI could notice that if you move a specialist from Team A to Team B, you unlock a high-priority initiative. Not to decide — but to prompt better conversations.”
AI won’t solve culture.
But it can augment human sensemaking.
Addam’s definition is refreshingly human:
What it takes:
And perhaps most importantly:
“If you’re not world-class yet, the least you can do is always try to get better.”
“You have to be really good at building relationships.”
You can have perfect frameworks, slides, and certifications.
None of it matters if people don’t trust you.
Influence starts with connection.
Addam’s journey — from small government projects to enterprise-scale transformations to Atlassian — highlights a core truth:
Visibility + alignment + trust create the conditions for agility.
Tools matter.
Metrics matter.
But they only work when paired with servant leadership and strong relationships.
That’s how teams move from busy… to effective.