"Styles tend to not only separate men - because they have their own doctrines and then the doctrine became the gospel truth that you cannot change. But if you do not have a style, if you just say: Well, here I am as a human being, how can I express myself totally and completely? Now, that way you won't create a style, because style is a crystallization. That way, it's a process of continuing growth."- Bruce Lee

This is kind of how I see software development.

What I enjoyed in the the early days of Agile, things seemed very dynamic, people were working out all manner of ways of doing things. It was technique oriented, it was very fluid and people were finding all kinds of good ways of doing things. 

Now when I look at the world of “Agile” it seems more crystalized.  In fact that seemed to be a goal, to crystalize the goodness so everyone can share.   I think mainly because it seems a heck of a lot easier to market.  People are more willing to accept a well defined doctrine and drink the Kool Aid.   Its more “corporate” or “professional”.

But the process of crystalizing the goodness actually makes it bad.  

But luckily in the world of software development there are still many people who are more focused on “how can I express myself totally and completely”.   We are seeing expressive languages, expressive frameworks, tooling that helps you to better express yourself, design techniques that allow you to better express your intent.    I love that stuff!

So beware, be very cautious of anyone offering you new age wisdom based on crystals!