How the obsession with speed is destroying software and people
After reducing critical incidents by 87% while maintaining 200 systems with just 2 people, I discovered the uncomfortable truth: we're optimizing for the wrong metrics.
Real numbers from the trenches
The same patterns, amplified by new technologies and corporate dogma
Now we have AI generating bad code faster than humans ever could. The technical debt compounds exponentially.
What was meant to liberate became dogma. Question the velocity chart? You're a heretic.
It's not isolated cases anymore. Entire teams, entire organizations burning out simultaneously.
Anxiety, depression, physical illness. The human cost of velocity metrics.
100% sprint completion. 0% user value. Success theater while systems collapse.
It's 9 AM. You join the daily standup—your third meeting of the day, and you haven't written a single line of code yet.
"What did you do yesterday? What will you do today? Any blockers?"
The Scrum Master's eyes scan the velocity chart on the wall. The numbers are down. Again. The tension in the virtual room is palpable. You can feel the unspoken accusation: Why aren't you moving faster?
You try to explain that the "simple feature" requires refactoring three legacy systems, updating twelve database tables, and coordinating with four different teams. But the Product Owner interrupts: "The stakeholders need this by Friday."
Welcome to the Velocity Crisis.
I've worked across multiple projects, industries, and continents. From startups to global banks, the pattern is always the same:
Organizations worldwide have become slaves to velocity.
Sprint velocity is the ultimate measure of success
Story points completed is more important than value delivered
Going faster is always better than going well
Engineers who can't estimate perfectly are failing
And the board loves it. Clean charts. Rising numbers. Predictable delivery dates.
But here's what the dashboard doesn't show:
I'll never forget the day I almost got fired.
We were in the middle of a "major agile transformation." Directors were competing for year-end bonuses tied to "successful implementation of agile practices."
The metrics looked beautiful. But the systems were on fire.
I was told I was being "resistant to change."
Then something unexpected happened.
Microsoft was brought in to analyze our systems. They spent weeks reviewing our architecture, processes, and metrics.
Their verdict? We were doing too much, too fast, with too few people.
That external validation saved my job. And it proved: engineers aren't lazy. The system is broken.
We did something radical: we slowed down.
We didn't go faster. We went better.
And "better" turned out to be faster in the long run.
If you're nodding along, you're not alone. Thousands of developers are trapped in the same pattern.
It's time to choose sustainability over speed. It's time for The Agile Reset.