Agile Theater Humor: How Inner Circles Create “Agility”
- Ravi
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Agile theater humor exists because many organizations don’t become agile by changing how power works. They become agile by redesigning how power moves—and calling it transformation.
Instead of removing hierarchy, they optimize it. Instead of flattening decision-making, they redraw access.
This cartoon captures that uncomfortable truth.
Why Agile Theater Humor Works
1. Agility Is Treated as a Design Problem
The humor comes from treating sluggishness as a structural flaw, not a cultural one.
Instead of asking why decisions move slowly, the organization redesigns who gets early access, faster approvals, and protected pathways.
Agility doesn’t come from empowerment.It comes from architecture.
2. Inner Circles Are Presented as a Solution
The punchline doesn’t accuse anyone of politics. It presents inner circles as a professional fix.
That’s what makes it funny—and accurate.
Agile theater works best when power is reorganized quietly and justified publicly.
3. The Truth Is Never Said Out Loud
The CEO explains the org structure formally. The whiteboard shows a clean, flat design. The real explanation is whispered. That contrast is the joke:
Official narrative vs lived reality
Transformation language vs power mechanics
When “Flat” Organizations Still Feel Slow
Many flat organizations aren’t slow because they lack hierarchy.
They’re slow because:
consensus is expensive
visibility is uneven
access is controlled
Agile theater doesn’t fix these problems. It routes around them.
Inner Circles as a Corporate Optimization
This cartoon isn’t anti-agile. It’s anti-pretence.
It shows how agility is often achieved not by removing barriers—but by deciding who gets to bypass them.
That’s why the solution sounds impressive.And why it works.
More Cartoons on Office Politics
Agile theater is just one expression of workplace power dynamics.
If this cartoon resonates, you’ll find many more examples in my Office Politics archetypes Cartoons collection.
These themes are also part of the broader Office Politics Cartoons series, which explores how organizations really function behind their formal structures.
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