Lost a $2M deal and nobody discussed why? You're not alone!

Your company is running on hope, not learning.

Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel are discussing the potentially career-limiting topic of asking "why does the organization systematically avoid learning from failures?" 

Thanks! We'll be sure to shut the door on our way out... but before we do, we'll explore why sales and product teams never debrief lost deals together, why customer churn meetings feel like career suicide, and why executives are never held accountable for their predictions..

...as well as:
• Why cross-functional lost deal retrospectives rarely happen (and how to run your first one)
• The cost of ignoring customer churn and how to conduct no-blame churn reviews
• Building prediction accountability systems to track strategic bets against reality
• How organizational silos kill learning and prevent teams from improving
• Why "move fast and break things" culture prevents meaningful learning
• Creating learning backlogs and embedding continuous improvement in fast-moving organizations

Today is all about actionable tips, specific questions to ask in retrospectives, and strategies for navigating the political landmines of organizational learning. Today, we're giving you tools to transform how your organization learns from mistakes!

Referenced Episodes:
• AA235 - Changing the Message
• AA199 - W. Edwards Deming: Profound Knowledge for Transforming Organizations
• AA67 - Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow

#ProductManagement #AgileCoaching #CustomerChurn

Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais, W. Edwards Deming's work on systems thinking and organizational learning, Amazon's six-pager concept, Arguing Agile Episode 235 (Changing the Message), Arguing Agile Episode 199 (W. Edwards Deming), Arguing Agile Episode 67 (Team Topologies), Silicon Valley move fast and break things culture, 996 work culture

LINKS
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: https://arguingagile.com/

Discover how the world's most profitable companies actually make money, from Tesla to Amazon to ChatGPT. 

Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel as they continue to explore the 23 business models from Adrian Slywotzky's "The Art of Profitability." Part 2 continues the examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the remaining 11 business models where the hosts discuss why some companies dominate their industries while others struggle.

Business models covered are: 

• Specialty Product model (CrowdStrike, Beyond Meat)
• Local Leadership (Publix, Dutch Bros)
• Transaction Scale (Visa, Stripe)
• Value Chain Position (Amazon, TSMC)
• Cycle timing (private equity firms)
• After-Sale profits (Apple Care, John Deere)
• New Product innovation (Tesla, OpenAI)
• Relative Market Share (Walmart, Google)
• Experience Curve (Southwest Airlines, TSMC)
• Low-Cost Design (Dropbox, IKEA)
• Scarcity tactics (Ferrari, Nike limited editions)

Whether you're a product manager, startup founder, or business strategist, this episode provides actionable insights on choosing and executing the right business model for your market. 

#ProductManagement #BusinessModels #Strategy

LINKS
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: https://arguingagile.com/

12 proven business models that separate successful products from failures!

Product Manager Brian Orlando & Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel examine 12 real-world business models with real examples of the companies that employ them!

Based on "The Art of Profitability" by Adrian Slywotzky (2002), this part-1-of-2 podcast covers:
• Customer Solution Model (Palantir, SAP, Salesforce)
• Product Pyramid (Apple, Tesla, GM)
• Multi-Component Pricing (Uber, Coca-Cola)
• Switchboard Platforms (Uber, Airbnb, eBay)
• Time & Materials (Consulting firms)
• Blockbuster Model (Pharma, Netflix)
• Profit Multiplier (Microsoft, Disney)
• Entrepreneurial Model
• Specialist Model (Mayo Clinic, Agile Coaches)
• Installed Base (Printers, Razors, K-Cups)
• De Facto Standard (Windows, Adobe PDF)
• Brand Model (Apple, Nike, BMW)

Perfect for product managers, agile coaches, startup founders, and business leaders trying to understand which revenue model fits their product strategy. 💬 Which business model does your company use? Let us know in the comments!

🎯 ...and look out for part 2 - coming soon!

#ProductManagement #BusinessModels #AgileCoaching

The Art of Profitability by Adrian Slywotzky (2002), The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim/Kevin Behr/George Spafford (2013), Palantir, Salesforce, SAP, IBM, Deloitte, PWC, Apple iPhone SE, Tesla Model 3/S/X, General Motors (Chevrolet/Cadillac), Uber, Coca-Cola, Airbnb, eBay, Stripe, PayPal, Amazon, McKinsey, Netflix (Stranger Things, House of Cards, Daredevil, Narcos, Black Mirror), Microsoft Windows, Disney, Google Android, Yeti, Claude AI, Gemini AI, OpenAI, Gillette, HP, Lexmark, Keurig K-Cups, Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, Adobe PDF, Linux, MacOS, PlayStation, Kleenex, BMW, Mercedes, Nike, Adidas, Agile Alliance, PMI, Grab (Asia ride-sharing), Moffitt Cancer Center, Anderson Clinic, Gulf and Western

business models, product management, agile coaching, revenue models, product strategy, startup business models, SaaS business models, subscription business model, platform business model, customer solution model, product pyramid, profit multiplier, entrepreneurial business model, business model canvas, product manager training, agile product development, business strategy, monetization strategy, pricing strategy, Adrian Slywotzky, art of profitability, arguing agile podcast, product leadership, business model innovation, recurring revenue, marketplace business model, consulting business model, brand strategy, competitive advantage

Debating why pricing belongs in product management's hands, not sales or finance.

Product Manager Brian and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om are rankling egos as they discuss a heated debates: who should own pricing decisions? Listen or watch as they argue that pricing is product strategy, not a sales tactic. 

🎯 Topics Covered:
• The financial literacy gap in product management
• How to diagnose pricing authority in your organization
• Why executives resist giving PMs pricing control
• Collaborative pricing models that actually work
• When and how to change prices

Think your organization handles pricing differently? Let us know!!!

#ProductManagement #PricingStrategy #ProductLeadership

LINKS
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com

INTRO MUSIC
Toronto Is My Beat
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

When does adapting your communication style cross the line into manipulation? 

Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel as we examine the differences between translation and transformation of messages.

Together, we provide a framework for communicating effectively across audiences without becoming a "slimy shapeshifter."

Discover the three-point integrity test, learn to spot narrative inconsistency, and understand why your reputation depends on what people say when you're NOT in the room!

Watch this episode to hear/see us explore:
• Difference between changing language vs. changing the message
• Spot political operators who weaponize adaptive communication
• 3 patterns of manipulative communicators
• What bosses say when you're not in the room
• How to maintain integrity across different audiences
• The consistency of storytelling

We're exposing the difference between changing language vs. changing the message and discussing how to maintain integrity!

REFERENCES

• Adam Grant (Think Again), 
• Kim Scott (Radical Candor), 
• Amy Cudd (Harvard Research)

#ProductManagement #Leadership #Communication #Integrity #AgileCoaching #ProfessionalDevelopment

stakeholder communication, political operators, credit claiming, blame shifting, managerial integrity, trust building, adaptive communication

LINKS
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com

INTRO MUSIC
Toronto Is My Beat
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

What do you do when you're assigned to coach a team that clearly doesn't want your help? In this episode, we tackle the uncomfortable reality of coaching unwilling teams—from building trust with resistant groups to knowing when it's time to walk away.

🎯 KEY TOPICS:
• Why teams resist coaching (and what they're really protecting)
• The danger of "meeting teams where they are"
• How to handle power dynamics and surveillance concerns
• Coaching executives vs. development teams
• When coaching is actually meddling in disguise
• Setting explicit success criteria for coaching engagements

📚 REFERENCES:
• Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle
• Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins
• Management 3.0 concepts

💡 Whether you're a coach, manager, or team member dealing with coaching dynamics, this episode offers practical frameworks for navigating these challenging situations.

#AgileCoaching #Leadership #ProductManagement #TeamDynamics #OrganizationalChange #ExecutiveCoaching #TrustBuilding #ChangeManagement

LINKS
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com

INTRO MUSIC
Toronto Is My Beat
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

Building products for yourself sounds like the perfect PM training ground!

At first glance, you get instant feedback, prioritize ruthlessly, and have no bureaucracy to whom you answer... but does it actually prepare you for professional product management, or does it create dangerous blind spots?

In this episode, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel explore several critical dimensions:

1. Learning velocity and skill development
2. User empathy paradoxes
3. Resource management realities
4. Technical vs. strategic balance
5. Failure tolerance
6. Career advancement
7. Business model understanding

Our findings? Set artificial constraints, validate with real users, document your learnings, and use self-building as a supplement to professional experience, not a replacement.

Whether you're considering a side project or wondering if your solo work translates professionally, this episode offers practical frameworks for balancing the best of both worlds.

#ProductManagement #MVP #Solopreneur #ProductStrategy #CareerDevelopment

LINKS
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com

INTRO MUSIC
Toronto Is My Beat
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

Is product sense innate or learnable? We debate the million dollar question in product management.

Brian and Om explore whether great product leaders are born or made, why organizations promote people with weak product intuition, and how to actually develop genuine product sense. We cover the promotion problem, delayed feedback loops, the role of mentorship, balancing data with intuition, and scaling product thinking across contexts.

Key topics: nature vs. nurture in product thinking, why bad product leaders rise, learning challenges, mentorship environments, data vs. intuition, and transferring skills across domains.

Whether you're developing your product intuition or building a product culture, this episode offers practical frameworks for intentional learning.

#ProductManagement #ProductSense #Leadership #ProductStrategy #CareerDevelopment

LINKS
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com

INTRO MUSIC
Toronto Is My Beat
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

You're expected to drive transformation but can't fire anyone. You need to deliver results but don't control budgets. Welcome to the reality of leading software development efforts - all responsibility, zero authority.

Join Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando as we discuss proven strategies for building influence when you have no formal power, including:

• Building relationships before you need them
• Leveraging expertise without becoming a gatekeeper 
• Creating value through results delivery
• Navigating authenticity vs strategic communication
• Why being right isn't enough

Whether you're a product manager caught between stakeholders, a team lead struggling with team dynamics, or an agile coach trying to drive organizational change, this episode gives you tactics that actually work in the real world.

#AgileCoaching #ProductManagement #Leadership

Tags: agile coaching, product management, scrum master, influence without authority, leadership skills, team dynamics, organizational change, agile transformation, product operating model, stakeholder management

LINKS
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com

INTRO MUSIC
Toronto Is My Beat
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

Ever wondered why mergers and acquisitions turn good people against each other? 

In this deep dive, we explore the systematic destruction of workplace relationships after an M&A. 

From sponsors-turned-foes to information warfare, discover why even the most collaborative cultures become pathological survival games.

Key Topics:
• Why M&As create artificial scarcity and paranoia
• The sponsor-turned-foe phenomenon
• Information as currency and weapon
• Blame archaeology and scapegoating
• The performance of fake collaboration
• How PE controls destroy generative cultures

Whether you're facing an acquisition or leading through one, this episode reveals the uncomfortable truths about corporate transformation.

#MergersAcquisitions #Leadership #CorporateCulture

LINKS
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com

REFERENCES

1. Arguing Agile 61: Experiences in Corporate Buyouts (Mergers & Acquisitions)
2. Arguing Agile 96: Stages of Company Decline, or When Companies Hate Their Customers
3. Arguing Agile 217: Extreme Ownership Military Leadership Lessons
4. Arguing Agile 219 - How Private Equity Killed Instant Pot (And Why Your Product Could Be Next)
5. Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games (2008)
6. Marty Cagan - Transformed: Moving to the Product Operating Model (2024)

INTRO MUSIC
Toronto Is My Beat
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)