@jzillw obsessively trying to do agile “by the book” is one of the banes of software-related companies and projects. The essence of agile is that no rule is set in stone and every part of the process should be scrutinized for its value. Anecdotally, I've been on a dozen of projects where switching from sprints to kanban at one point was one of the best decisions a team (and PM) could make.