[xs83]

I've been on both sides of the software cycle as a stream lead and as a developer and ultimately I think this is it. Agile gets bastardised as soon as specific reporting structures and deadlines come into place "What do we need to plan for this increment?" etc

A team with a good work ethic and some milestone goals to go to and a "Take from the top" mentality, Kanban is perfect for what needs to be done.

Can't take from the top "because of reasons"? Thats a conversation with the people that particular problem involves and things are re-prioritised.

I'll never understand removing a whole day of productivity for ceremonies to plan being more productive.

Async standups via Slack using Geekbot are absolutely fine, A daily simple async retro for teams on a different timezone also help massively for synchronisation, discipline to update tickets with progress and a push regularly mentality all helps with the sync problem if across timezones!