Why call it a sprint if it's not supposed to be anything sprinting? We can literally call it anything we want, so why not pick a better metaphor?
I think that many developers who say they dislike Agile really mean they dislike Scrum. I mean, a rugby scrum is pretty violent, and sprinting non-stop is a good way of dying of exhaustion.
Come to think of it, some managers do seem to want the workplace to be a ruthless battleground with worker pitted against worker in a relentless flat-out sprint to seen as a "high performer".
> I think that many developers who say they dislike Agile really mean they dislike Scrum.
True say.
In XP, there was very much the idea of spending time to prepare for a sprint. Get requirements and preconditions worked out, clear out possible distractions.. Then you'd use a 1 - 2 week long sprint (aka actual crunch time) to knock out 80 - 90% of a feature with everyone on the team under high pressure and positive, constructive stress. And then you'd have some time after the sprint to work with low pressure, clean up technical debt, consolidate and build up for the next sprint.
And honestly, that's a pretty effective way to work if you plan and gear up for it.
If you don't like SAFe then please be specific. Which parts of it don't work if actually followed as documented?