Let's Talk Agile: Why Most Software Projects Fail | Max Guernsey & Luniel de Beer
Why do so many software projects fail — even when teams follow Agile and Scrum?
In this episode of Let’s Talk Agile, I speak with Max Guernsey III ( / maxguernseyiii ) and Luniel de Beer ( / luniel ) , authors of the book Ready: Why Most Software Projects Fail and How to Fix It. (https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Most-Sof...)
We discuss a problem most teams experience but rarely diagnose correctly: work starts before it’s truly ready. The result is churn, rework, missed expectations, and teams that appear busy but struggle to deliver meaningful progress.
In this conversation we explore:
• Why many Agile teams start work too early
• The difference between Definition of Ready vs Definition of Done
• Why velocity metrics often create dysfunction
• The role of readiness work, spikes, and analysis
• Why Scrum alone doesn’t define a complete software delivery system
• How better preparation improves delivery flow and predictability
If you’ve seen teams constantly carry work across sprints, rewrite features, or struggle with unclear requirements, this discussion will resonate.
00:00 — Why Teams Keep Starting Too Early
00:53 — Meet the Authors of Ready
01:42 — The Client Disaster That Sparked the Book
03:02 — How Product Discovery Changed Everything
05:30 — Where Scrum Breaks Down in Real Life
08:24 — The Core Idea Behind Ready
09:20 — “Just Start” Is Costing Teams More Than They Think
11:06 — The Shared Understanding Problem
13:24 — Definition of Ready Starts with Definition of Done
16:54 — What Actually Matters Before You Begin
19:26 — Spikes, Readiness Work, and Why They Matter
22:16 — The Work You Can’t Estimate Up Front
28:00 — Why Readiness Helps Leaders Too
30:30 — Skip Analysis, Pay for It Later
31:21 — The Velocity Trap
37:24 — Speed Without Direction Is Fake Progress
39:23 — The Task Decomposition Debate
47:08 — How to Explain Readiness to a CFO
48:54 — The Chef Analogy That Makes Ready Click
51:46 — What Scrum Purists Need to Hear
54:35 — Final Takeaways