I’ve been thinking about what Friedrich Nietzsche would make of modern software development practices. The more I think about it, the more convinced I become: he would have despised Agile.
Let me explain.
The Eternal Recurrence of the Sprint
Nietzsche’s concept of eternal recurrence asks: would you live your life exactly the same way, infinite times over? It’s a test of affirmation — do you love your life enough to embrace its infinite repetition?
Now consider the sprint cycle:
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Two weeks. Forever. The same ceremonies, the same standups, the same velocity calculations stretching into eternity.
Would Nietzsche affirm this? Would he say yes to the infinite sprint?
I don’t think so.
The Last Man Ships Features
In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche warns of the “Last Man” — a creature of comfort and conformity who has abandoned all aspiration for safety and predictability:
“We have invented happiness,” say the Last Men, and blink.
Compare this to the Agile Industrial Complex:
- Velocity metrics
- Story point estimation
- Burndown charts
- Predictable increments
We’ve invented productivity metrics. We’ve invented happiness. And we blink.
The Last Man doesn’t create — he ships features. He doesn’t aspire — he meets sprint goals. He doesn’t struggle — he follows the process.
The Will to Product-Market Fit
Nietzsche’s Will to Power isn’t about domination. It’s about self-overcoming, about growth through struggle, about becoming who you are.
But Agile optimizes for something different: predictable delivery. The methodology exists to reduce variance, manage risk, and ensure steady output.
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There’s wisdom in risk management. But there’s also a kind of death.
Slaves and Masters of the Backlog
Nietzsche distinguished between “master morality” (values created by the strong) and “slave morality” (values created in reaction to the strong).
The Product Owner creates the backlog. The team reacts to the backlog.
Who is the master here?
The framework says the team is “self-organizing.” But within what constraints? The team organizes within the sprint, within the backlog, within the ceremonies. Freedom bounded by process.
Is this autonomy, or is it a more sophisticated form of control?
But Wait — Isn’t There Truth Here?
Before you accuse me of being that guy who brings up Nietzsche at standups (okay, I am that guy), let me steelman Agile.
Nietzsche valued discipline. He wasn’t advocating chaos. He practiced rigorous self-discipline in his writing and thinking. The Übermensch isn’t formless — they create their own forms.
Iteration is creation. The sculptor chips away at the marble. The writer revises. Perhaps the sprint is a form of disciplined creation?
Process can enable. Maybe you need the constraint of the sprint to actually ship. Maybe “move fast and break things” is just another kind of Last Man — one who mistakes chaos for vitality.
The Übermensch Developer
What would Nietzschean software development look like?
Maybe it’s the developer who:
- Questions the framework, but from understanding, not ignorance
- Ships not because of the sprint but because of internal drive
- Creates their own values around quality and craft
- Says yes to their work — not resignedly, but affirmatively
Maybe the point isn’t to reject Agile but to transcend it. To use the framework without being used by it. To make sprints a choice, not a cage.
“He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.”
Perhaps the methodology doesn’t matter. Perhaps what matters is whether you have a why.
Nietzsche’s Software Maxims
- “God is dead, and we have killed him — but the sprint goes on.”
- “Become who you are — unless it breaks the build.”
- “There are no facts, only interpretations — and product requirements.”
- “Man is a rope stretched between the junior dev and the senior — a rope over an abyss.”
Disclaimer: Nietzsche would probably hate this blog post too. He hated most things.