Arguing Agile: Product Management, Business Leadership, & Org Design

What creates bad experiences with agile; what do they look like, and how to we deal with them? On this episode of Arguing Agile, Curtis Lembke is back, joining Brian Orlando and Om Patel to talk through Bad Agile Experiences and why some people just totally against agile.  0:00 User-First Mindset 4:44 Introductory Banter 5:14 Topic Intro - Bad Agile Experiences 9:09 Why People Resist 12:25 Laggard...

Do you feel Scrum is not helping you to more effectively create software or solve problems? Do you feel Scrum is just another form of managerial control? Do you feel Scrum is not helping your organization be or remain agile? On this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel discuss experiences and share tips to make scrum more effective - thereby producing more value. 0:00 Topic Intro 0:21 Seek First to...

On this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel talk about what occurs when a team fails to meet the agreed on Sprint Goal. What do you do when a team does not meet the Sprint goal? How do you decide if a Sprint has failed or not? Does your culture promote learning from failures, or is failure a four letter word? We talk through all these things, and more! 0:00 Intro 1:09 Sprint Goals 4:18 Quality of...

On this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel talk through their experiences in corporate buyouts (aka. a merger or acquisition). Why do they typically happen? How do you know they're about to happen? What to expect when they do happen? ...and, most importantly, what we've seen in our combined 8 experiences going through M&As on both the acquiring side and the acquiree side. Also, acqu...

On this episode, Curtis Lembke returns to talk about change! We all know change is hard -  successful change cannot be managed, it requires capable and driven leaders. Curtis and Brian talk through (most of) John Kotter's eight-step change process, outlined in his 1995 book, "Leading Change." Find Curtis on LinkedIn ! 0:00 Intro & Banter 0:24 John Kotter: Leading Change 1:55 1.)...

On this episode, Agile Coach Caurie Waddell stops by to discuss her experiences working with new teams. 0:00 Topic Intro 0:38 Newly Formed Teams 4:23 Changing Behavior 7:39 Fix the Problems 12:16 Planning Improvement 14:57 Just Tell Me What to Do 17:09 The WoLF (Working on Latest Fire) 20:07 New Team (with Agile Experience) 22:46 The Hard Work is Outside the Team(s) 24:43 Middle Managers 27:36 Dis...

Episode 57 is very special for us because we got to sit down with one of our favorite agilists - an individual who has quite literally been on our guest list since episode ONE - Brent Breaux! In this episode, we discuss the Certification Industry and the different ways that it fails the typical team member. We also muse on what a "better" or more helpful training regimen might look like...

In this episode, Brian and Om read through an article making its rounds on LinkedIn right now titled: "Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt on why in-office work is better: 'I don't know how you build great management' virtually." Listen as we discuss the points of the article, react to its contents, and argue about what it all means (or doesn't mean). Will Om be able to talk B...

Are you a Product Manager or Owner who needs a metric separate from Velocity that better represents value delivered to the customer? Well then, this episode is for you! In this episode, we discuss Business Value - what is it, how to use it, why to use it, when to use it, and who assigns it.   0:00 Topic Intro - Business Value 1:22 A Different Kind of Metric 4:28 Business Value = 0 10:15 Jira-Relat...

On this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel are joined by our favorite Special Mystery Guest to ponder an important question that does not get asked enough - does a Scrum Master really need to attend every single Scrum event (and every non-scrum event) that involves their team? 0:00 Intro & Topic Intro 0:32 What Else Are You Doing? 3:58 Scrum Events without the Scrum Master 6:12 Scrum Master a...

On this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel talk with Sr. Product Owner Anitra Pavka about her experiences across the software development and agility field - from Web Developer, to Business Analyst, to Scrum Master and Agile Coach, to Product Owner/Manager and beyond. ...and BEYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOND! 0:00 Intro 0:22 Anitra's Background 3:57 Exploring Cultures 6:48 Agility Enters the Picture...

What is a Service Manager? What do they do? On this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel are joined by Brian Fidalgo to talk about what it is like to be a Service Manager. 0:00 Intro 0:18 What is a Service Manager? 2:49 Is it a Large Company Thing? 6:37 Is It Like Scaled Product? 12:53 Organizational Alignment 16:10 Day in the Life 19:24 Quality and Control/Influence 23:24 Similarities in Dance &am...

This episode of the Agile Podcast is all about Frederick Winslow Taylor and his invention: Scientific Management. The father of Management Consulting, Taylor wrote a book called the Principles of Scientific Management which became (in our opinion) the cornerstone of management theory for the majority of the post-Industrial era into the current day. Join Brian Orlando and Om Patel, with special gue...

On this Episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel are joined by VP of Product Tricia Barnes for a brief discussion about challenges frequently encountered by Product Managers. = = = = = = = = = = = = Watch us on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QXQDXX_HHYM Please Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8XUSoJPxGPI8EtuUAHOb6g?sub_confirmation=1 = = = = = = = = = = = =  Apple Podcasts...

In this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel discuss the dreaded topic of estimation in agile software development. We discuss the pros and cons of each type of estimation, starting with time/hours-based estimates, then moving to story points and finally flow (or #noestimates). 0:00 Intro 0:18 Topic Intro 1:28 Why Estimate? 3:15 Real Deadlines... Sometimes... 5:13 Why Estimate? A Product Viewpoint...

In this very special episode of the Agile Podcast, Brian Orlando and Om Patel discuss a question that we have all heard many, many times: "Should a Scrum Master be Technical." We discuss this question in-depth, and why its the wrong question to ask. We also talk about the underlying "real" question fueling this inquiry and explore what it really might mean! 0:00 Topic Intro 0:5...

In this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel sit down with our favorite mystery guest - Jessica! Doing the hard work for us (as normal), Jessica brings the patterns she has observed emerging as trends throughout her career that hold back or damage agility... and we do our best to discuss both sides of each! 0:00 Intro (but, a real intro) 0:25 Scrum Master Managers (but, evil ones) 7:25 Non-Evil Scr...

In this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel discuss Acceptance Criteria! Focusing on the most granular part of a Story, we discuss what Acceptance Criteria is and what it is not. We also discuss how Acceptance Criteria can be used to empower or improve your Sprint Reviews and discussion with users or stakeholders. 0:00 Intro 0:01 Today's Topic: Acceptance Criteria 1:36 Backlog Items and Negot...

On this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel take a look at an interesting article titled: "We Should Stop Trying to Make Scrum Fit for Every Situation" by Willem-Jan Ageling. Link to the Article: https://medium.com/serious-scrum/we-should-stop-trying-to-make-scrum-fit-for-every-situation-f04d90cdd117 Source: https://seriousscrum.com/ 0:00 THEME MUSIC! 0:16 Topic Intro - SeriousScrum 1:05...

In this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel discuss the glue that holds programs, scaled teams of teams, and even small groups of teams together - collaboration! Even small companies and teams have problems talking, working with, and coordinating with other teams. If you've had issues getting teams to work together, this episode is for you! 0:00 Topic Intro 1:31 Challenges to Teams of Integra...

On this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel sit down to discuss Product Manager focused ways of doing business where the only constant on the Scrum Teams are the Product Manager and the Developers. We discuss shared services supporting this model of development and talk about examples where divorcing the discovery work from the team led to disaster! 0:00 Intro 0:05 Team Structures 3:13 The Plan fo...

Brian Orlando sits down with Alfonso Guerra to discuss the similarities between software development and animation. While in-flight, we also discuss an array of developer-centric topics such as bad metrics, good and bad dev leads, making time to be creative, and how developers learn. 0:00 Alfonso's Introduction/Background 0:49 Brian's Background 2:36 Measuring Development 5:50 Programmin...

On this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel discuss the product that is the Agile Podcast! We discuss what we've learned this year, what future ideas do we have up our sleeves for shows and guests, and what changes to the product are we thinking about... 0:00 Topic Intro 0:35 Clip-show VS Podcasting 3:30 Product Discussion: 5-Minute Monologue 5:15 Clips from the Agile Podcast 6:42 Takeaway -...

On this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel talk about the discipline of testing in agile software development. 0:00 Topic Intro 1:08 Scrum Only Has Developers, Right? 2:56 Developers and Testers, Working Together 4:50 How the Best Teams Work 7:48 When to do Estimation? 10:00 Cross-Functional Transition 14:11 Componentized Feature Teams - a New Nightmare 19:23 Business Alignment of Testers 22:33 T...

On this episode, Brian Orlando and Om Patel sit down with our favorite Agile Coach - Caurie Waddell. We talk through topics such as having a rockstar vs. collaborator team member, dealing with management, Scrum Masters having (or not having) technical skills, as well as negative and positive experiences in Product. 0:00 Intro 0:32 We Only Hire Rockstars 3:25 Example of a Dysfunctional Rockstar 7:1...