[EliRivers]

But a good PM has to be able to manage projects using more than one methodology. Agile (or at least, agile as it is commonly practised, because I just know that someone is itching to say "No, the reason that's not working is because you're doing agile wrong") is inappropriate for many projects.

[copsarebastards]

Starting your post with "But" makes it seem like you're disagreeing with what I said.

"Agile as it is practiced" is not what I was talking about and has very little relation to the agile manifesto. The agile manifesto isn't a methodology, it's a philosophy. I would go so far as to say that "Agile process" and "Agile methodology" are oxymorons if you're using "agile" in the "agile manifesto" sense.

Everything you said in your post is a direct consequence of prioritizing individuals and interactions over processes and procedures: the first statement of the agile manifesto.

I realize I am being one of those "you're doing agile wrong" people, but only because I feel that it's worth rescuing "agile" from "Agile" because otherwise we're just rediscovering the same principles under a different name. I would rather fight to remove the pollution of "Agile methodologies" from the actual meaning of the agile manifesto than reinvent the wheel, and run into the same issues where people coopt the principles and pretend they support whatever flavor-of-the-week methodology they are espousing.

[ska]

This is important. The idea that some sort of methodological silver bullet exists that will solve your projects problems "for you" is as pervasive as it is naive.

A big part of a good PM's role is knowing what approach is appropriate for which project(s) and knowing how to implement it practically with the team(s) they have.

[copsarebastards]

You've just described "individuals and interactions over processes and procedures".

The agile manifesto isn't the cluster fuck that Agile has become. Agile methodologies directly violate the agile philosophy, but that's no reason to pretend that we're just now discovering that methodologies suck. It's in the manifesto.

[munchbunny]

The difficult part of being a good PM in a team is that Agile is hard to do right with real humans. Even if it can be reduced to the Agile Manifesto, putting it in practice is difficult and takes work, time, and skill. The ability to consistently create good practices are what differentiates the good from bad PMs.

So while I agree with you that it does reduce to the Agile Manifesto, I'd also say that from a PM's perspective, that's not the point.

[ska]

What I've described are ideas that predate the agile manifesto, and are not subsumed by it.

[copsarebastards]

Of course the agile manifesto didn't arise ex-nihilo. But it's a much clearer, more concise statement of what you said.