It's not that they're incompetent - it's that they don't think about their work abstractly. They're intently focused on cranking out code, and anyone who pops his head up and says "Wait a second, is this the right thing to do?" gets taken aside by management and told: "I need you to focus on meeting your deadlines, not that other stuff".
Agile has to start with management adoption. And not Fake-Agile™ either. I've seen a PowerPoint slide a few times now that lists "Iteration 0 - Envisioning" as a bullet point. It's like RUP got painted with Agile terminology. And everyone in the room nods their heads knowingly because it's what they've been doing all along, only now they're Agile.
Agile has to start with management adoption. And not Fake-Agile™ either. I've seen a PowerPoint slide a few times now that lists "Iteration 0 - Envisioning" as a bullet point. It's like RUP got painted with Agile terminology. And everyone in the room nods their heads knowingly because it's what they've been doing all along, only now they're Agile.