Thanks for this thoughtful reply.

I agree with all of this. There is one nuance though, about software being a team sport. It is sometimes, but sometimes not. And people differ.

Most programmers like to work on their own when they code. Programmers tend to be somewhat solitary. But they also need to collaborate about issues. So at times it is a team sport, but most of the time it is not. And when integration fails, it becomes a team issue again. But very few people can pair program (I cannot).

There are also lone wolves - a lot of them. One fellow I know is the most brilliant programmer I have ever known. But he _cannot_ work with others. When I met him in the 80s, he singlehandedly created an entirely new product for the company (a 30 person startup), and that product went on to define the company. It would have taken a team of 5+ to create the product, but Daniel did it himself in two months, and it was brilliantly engineered.

Linus Torvalds is not a team player either, but he transformed the industry.

In fact, if one looks at game-changing software, it often was created by a lone individual.

There is a narrative in the Agile community that only the team matters, but individuals matter too. And some are team players, and some are not - and they are not misfits.

We need to be inclusive and learn how to empower lone wolves just as the Agile community seeks to empower teams. The Manifesto's first value begins with "Individuals" but somehow it has become all about the team, and the individual has been lost.