The Cult of Agile

Contrary to popular myth, Project Management is not a job, a profession or a career path. It is an illness, a disorder characterized by delusion, specifically a desire to control people and outcomes, and a belief that the future can be accurately predicted if only everyone did what they were supposed to do. Sufferers in the advanced stages of this illness resort to resentment, blame, and fear, and can often be seen pouring over spreadsheets and charts, pulling their hair out in dismay, or pounding their desk... Just as the alcoholic frequents bars and other drinking holes, seeking validation of his or her resentments towards the world, so the Project Manager attends PMI and other certification courses to be reminded, I am right!... Happily, there is a cure. It is a program of recovery called Agile, but because the nature of the program is a complete reassessment of one’s life and career, few are able to engage, seeking, as always a quick-fix solution.

Though I realize that much of this is a tongue-and-cheek jibe at traditional project management, I have seen such rhetoric hurled at traditional project management to advance Agile methods.

In general, I don't think it will help promote Agile in a constructive way, especially amongst those millions of project managers who are tasked with projects that are not always conducive to Agile methods or for those who would like to adopt and incorporate the practices into their day-to-day work.  It could turn them off to the practices, which would be the real loss since there are many benefits to using them.

Any seasoned project management professional (though the quote above and some within the community argue whether a PM is a true professional such as an accountant or lawyer, I believe we are professionals in the general sense) would know that there is no one size fits all to managing projects, but rather the ability to have a broad and deep understanding of the best practices in his/her industry and to apply the best one to their individual projects.
For me its like a sliding scale:  On one end you have pure Agile and on the other your have pure traditional project management.  And depending on your project, team, stakeholders, expectations, and organizational structure, you would see where your project fits within the scale and apply the best practices to make your project succeed.

In the end, all that matters is whether your project was done on time, within budget/scope and most importantly, to customer satisfaction.  No one will care whether you did Agile, traditional or voodoo magic.