Arguing Agile

In this episode, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel put the controversial topic of centralized corporate structures (aka. the Ivory Tower) on trial.

Listen or watch as the hosts explore the pros and cons, including:

• The pitfalls of consolidating specialized roles into "ivory towers"
• How centralization affects team autonomy and decision-making
• How to measure effectiveness of centralization
• The importance of aligning with business goals and maintaining accountability
• Alternatives to traditional hierarchical structures 

#BusinessAgility #TeamAutonomy #OrganizationalDesign #ProductManagement #Leadership #ConwaysLaw #ServiceManagement

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In this episode of the Arguing Agile Podcast, school is in session as Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel helps Product Manager Brian Orlando understand the ways of successfully transitioning a team from Scrum (or whatever) to Kanban! 

We cover key Kanban concepts, like: 

• Adapting and Reducing events and meetings
• Understanding flow and pull systems
• Setting effective WIP limits
• Creating common-sense policies
• Managing backlogs and estimations
• Measuring success with Kanban metrics

Whether you're considering the switch or already using Kanban, this episode will help you optimize your flow!

Kanban, agile, Scrum, workflow management, WIP limits, pull system, flow, backlog refinement, continuous improvement, agile metrics

#Kanban #ContinuousImprovement #ProductManagement #SoftwareDevelopment

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By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
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In this episode of the Arguing Agile podcast, Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando open a door into the world of W. Edwards Deming by exploring his 14 principles for management from his seminal book "Out of the Crisis". 

Whether you're in software development or manufacturing; whether you're a leader looking to transform your organization, a QA professional seeking to improve quality, or a product manager looking to delight customers - this episode is for you! As applicable today as they were in the 1980s, Deming's points provide a roadmap to improve the effectiveness of a business or organization.

Listen or watch (links in the comments) as we discuss ways to implement Deming's principles of creating constancy of purpose, ceasing dependence on inspection, driving out fear, and removing barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship. 

#Deming #Management #QualityManagement #Transformation #Leadership 

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Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
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Do You Really Need a UX Researcher on Your Product Team? 

There are no easy answers on this podcast as we react to a provocative LinkedIn post. 

On this episode, Product Manager Brian and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om debate the merits and challenges of having dedicated UX researchers on product teams. 

Listen as we explore:

• Are UX researchers a must-have or a luxury? 
• Can product managers develop research skills?
• Does short-term thinking undervalue the impact of UX research?
• Could UX researchers upskill product teams?

Join us for a delightfully balanced discussion about product management, UX professionals, and agile teams.

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Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)
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In this episode of the Arguing Agile podcast, Product Manager Nisha Patel joins hosts Om Patel and Brian Orlando to discuss how to develop effective product strategies.

They break down real-world examples from companies like Dropbox, Airbnb, Stripe, and more to illustrate the key components of a strong strategy. Learn practical tips for defining the right problem to solve, creating a guiding policy, and identifying measurable actions to test your strategy.

Whether you're a product manager, agile coach, or aspiring entrepreneur, you'll gain insights to help you craft strategies that drive results.

0:00 Podcast Intro
0:11 Podcast Intro: Nisha Patel & Strategy
0:45 Discussion on Product Strategies
1:15 Common Advice
2:10 Why We Don't Write It Down
3:37 Importance of Visualizing Strategies
6:11 Where Are Our Strategies?
10:23 Tools for Strategy Management
12:32 Strategy Review Cadence
14:25 Tactical Advice on Strategy
17:23 Brainstorming Strategy
19:19 Case Study: Dropbox
21:56 Building a Guiding Policy
26:36 Case Study: Doordash
29:05 Case Study: AirBnB
31:24 Testing Ideas & Strategies
35:44 The Crazy Idea Behind Uber
36:43 Case Study: Robinhood
37:56 Case Study: Kickstarter
41:29 Case Study: Zapier
42:49 Case Study: Stripe
44:33 Early Adoption of Stripe
49:12 The Importance of Defining the 'Why'
50:14 Empowering Developers and Agile Collaboration
51:55 Summary and Future Podcasts
53:16 Advice for People Stuck as a Cog in a Machine
58:41 Customer Centricity
59:55 Two Future Podcasts
1:01:17 Wrap-Up

product strategy, agile product management, product management case studies, Dropbox product strategy, Airbnb product strategy, Stripe API strategy, lean startup, product market fit, customer discovery, minimum viable product (MVP), product management tips

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

In this episode of the Arguing Agile podcast, Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando are joined by Alex Polyakov, CEO of Project Simple (https://projectsimple.ai) for an immersive discussion of the complex topic of technical debt. 

They discuss what technical debt really means, when it can be beneficial vs harmful, and strategies for prioritizing and paying down tech debt while still delivering value to users. Learn how to have productive conversations about technical debt with your development teams and stakeholders.

technical debt, agile development, product management, refactoring, software architecture, prioritization, user needs, agile transformation, arguing agile podcast

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Subscribe to our YouTube Channel:
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Apple Podcasts:
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Spotify:
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Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

In this episode of the Arguing Agile podcast, Enterprise Agile Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando dive into the often misunderstood concept of platform teams. They discuss:

- The definition and purpose of a platform team
- How platform teams differ from stream-aligned feature teams
- Key behaviors of effective platform teams
- Common anti-patterns and mistakes made with platform teams
- How platform teams enable greater business agility when implemented well

Whether you're a product manager, agile coach, or tech leader, understanding platform teams is critical for building high-performing organizations. Tune in to learn the do's and don'ts of platform teams.

0:00 Podcast Intro
0:11 Topic Intro: What is a Platform Team?
0:58 What is a Platform?
2:26 Stream-Aligned or Durable Teams
3:22 What the Platform Team Does
6:06 Good Behaviors: Collaboration
8:04 Good Behaviors: Fast Feedback Loops
9:57 Good Behaviors: Focus on Usability & Reliability
12:25 Bottcher's Points: the Source Article
16:36 Platform Confusion
19:15 Platform Team Product Management
21:17 Transferring or Sabotaging Cognitive Load
23:49 No Dedicated Platform Team
26:18 Customer Focus vs Platform Work
30:23 Normal (Platform) Business
32:13 Wrap-Up

platform team, platform as a product, stream-aligned teams, team topologies, cognitive load, business agility, product management, devops, enterprise agile

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

In this episode of the Arguing Agile podcast, Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando debate the pros and cons of using shared services teams versus fully dedicated, cross-functional teams (otherwise known in Marty Cagan circles as "durable teams").

They explore common arguments made for shared services models, such as resource utilization, cost efficiency, and standardization. Om and Brian then counter these points, discussing the negative impacts on team cohesion, context switching, and ability to deliver customer value quickly.

Understand the organizational and cultural forces that lead to shared services, and arm yourself to advocate for stable, durable agile teams.

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

In this episode of the Arguing Agile podcast, Enterprise Agile Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando dive into the concept of cognitive load and how it impacts agile software development teams. Drawing from the 1988 paper "Cognitive Load During Problem Solving" by John Sweller, they discuss:

• What is cognitive load and how does it manifest on agile teams?
• Why the mental effort required for day-to-day problem solving doesn't necessarily lead to learning new skills 
• The importance of making space for developers to acquire new "schemas" or patterns through activities like communities of practice and pair programming
• How an overemphasis on utilization and treating problem solving as the primary means of learning can hamper a team's ability to grow their expertise
• Ideas for measuring and managing cognitive load on agile teams

If you're a product manager, agile leader or coach looking to enable your teams to continuously learn and improve, this is the episode for you!

0:00 Podcast Intro
0:11 Topic Intro: Cognitive Load
1:16 What is Cognitive Load
2:36 Claim #1: Problem Solving is Heavy Stuff
6:08 A Software Development Example, #1
8:11 Claim #2 Distinctly Different Learning Mechanisms
10:48 We're Too Busy to Improve
12:27 Being More Effective
14:35 Time to Innovate
15:55 Claim #3 - Normal Work Doesn't Lend to Learning
18:32 Sprint Goals
19:45 Claim #4 - Expertise Development
22:27 Making Space for Learning
24:06 Surprise: Taylorism
25:31 Utilization & Overhead
27:24 Claim #5 - Modification is Required
28:54 Pair Programming
30:33 Measuring Cognitive Load
34:20 Wrap-Up

cognitive load agile development, agile team learning, problem solving vs skill acquisition, managing cognitive load software teams, developer utilization agile, pair programming, communities of practice agile

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

In this episode of the Arguing Agile podcast we welcome Lenar Mukhamadiev!

Lenar shares his fascinating career path from starting as a QA intern at age 20 to founding his own software development company, iDelsoft: https://idelsoft.com

Lenar discusses the challenges of being an entrepreneur, the importance of embracing failure as learning opportunities, his thoughts on the future of QA, and advice he would give his younger self.

Tune in for insights on leadership, accountability, hiring, and more!

0:00 Podcast Intro
0:12 Guest Intro: Lenar Mukhamadiev
0:56 Lenar's Background
2:14 Life at Idelsoft
4:16 QA Progression
5:39 Moving to Software Engineering
7:15 Brian's QA Journey
10:01 Challenges
12:31 Where to Play...
13:38 Success & Value
15:58 Testing Skill
17:25 Owned Outcomes
19:24 Accountability
23:06 Communication
25:11 Failure & Iterating
27:29 Interviewing
29:40 Work Experience
33:56 Future of QA
37:51 Advice for Your Younger Self
38:49 Wrap-Up

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Subscribe to our YouTube Channel:
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Apple Podcasts:
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Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)