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

Do you consider yourself an advocate for agile and for positive change?

On this episode, Product Owner and Registered Nurse Stormy Dickson joins Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Agile Coach Om Patel to talk about what makes a good agile advocate.

0:00 Intro - Being a Good Advocate
0:08 Om's Take
1:15 Stormy's Take
2:32 Metrics
3:36 Keeping People Busy
4:54 An Experience (Keeping People Busy)
6:34 Scientific Method, By Another Name
8:42 Being Empowered
11:22 Deeper Thinking on Culture
13:54 Thinking on Motives
16:07 Who Advocates for Agile
18:51 By Developers for Developers
21:28 How the SM Role was Designed
22:21 Reading Tweets
23:45 Continuing, Hostile Territory
24:52 Tweet 22
25:07 Project Manager By Another Name
27:38 Tactics for Advocating
31:31 Steps for Success
35:21 An Alternate Take
37:33 Gambling Big
39:46 Getting Outside Help

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AA93 - Being a Positive Advocate for Agile

Does your team or org have a Scrum Master or Agile Coach?

Many do not.

Organizations without Scrum Masters have many common challenges and in this episode we discuss those challenges in-depth!

Listen as Product Manager and Registered Nurse Stormy Dickson joins Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Agile Coach Om Patel to discuss what life is like without a Scrum Master.

0:00 Topic Intro
0:23 Metaphors!
2:26 Challenging the Analogy
3:30 Team Development
5:10 Who is Leadership? Small Companies.
7:07 Who is Leadership? SMBs.
8:14 Segue: Scaling Bad Practices
8:55 Who is Leadership? SMBs. (Part 2)
10:06 Now, We Are Going to Be Agile
12:02 Brian's Response
14:40 The Cost of No Scrum Master
15:51 Product with No Scrum Master
17:19 Separating Product from Process
19:46 ...sCrUm MaStErS sHoUlD bE tEcHnIcAl
22:50 Process vs Product and Operations
24:53 Cognitive Load
26:57 What Really Matters?
29:33 Sharing Learnings
30:59 Product Involvement in Process
35:42 Being Comfortable Letting Go
38:11 Qualitative and Quantitative Questions
41:40 Part Time Scrum Masters
43:14 Definition of Done
45:55 Soft Skills and Checklists
48:01 "Work Yourself Out of a Job"
50:45 Wrap-Up

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AA92 - Life without a Scrum Master

Do you want to be a Product Manager and have been doing the role of Product Owner on a Scrum Team?

On this episode, Product Manager and Registered Nurse Stormy Dickson joins Product Manager Brian Orlando to talk about her transition from being a Product Owner (as a job title and role) to being a Product Manager and the difference she has noticed.

0:00 Topic Intro
0:25 Starting with Teams
2:16 Stormy's Experiences with Self Managing Teams
5:26 Brian's Questions...
6:48 Change Triggered by Crisis
9:20 Brian's Take: PO vs PM Job Roles
10:29 Strategy
11:42 Learning New Skills
13:54 Stunted Growth
18:30 Coordinating Strategy
21:17 Communicate Like a Doctor
22:10 View on Career Paths in Product
23:29 Product Responsibilities (with Graphics)
25:28 Continuous Discovery, Customer Empathy
26:51 Validate the Most Important Problems
29:06 A Typical Product Situation
30:53 Being Overextended
32:02 Lobbying for Change
34:06 Bob Galen's 4 Quadrants of Product Ownership
34:38 Good Business Metrics
36:08 Brian's Experiences
39:54 Suggestions for Transitioning from PO to PM
42:38 Taking a Leap
44:27 Mentorship and Sponsorship

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AA91 - Going from Product Owner to Product Manager

On this episode, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Agile Coach Om Patel are joined by Product Manager Stormy Dickson to talk about culture, incentives, and the challenges of trying to change organizations.

0:00 Topic Intro
0:50 Engrained in the Culture
4:52 Pondering Large Companies
7:40 Challenging Organizations
10:31 Big Cultural Red Flags
11:50 Changing Your Organization
13:35 Sidebar on Dunbar's Number
15:08 Start with Yourself
17:52 Bad Apples
20:41 Incentives
23:39 Diversity
25:32 Walk the Gemba
26:59 Breaking Down the Org (Dunbar's Number, Part 2)
30:54 Same Company, Different Cultures
33:39 Training
37:57 Incentives & Erosion
39:36 Long Term vs Short Term
43:15 Product Incentives vs Process Incentives

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AA90 - Org Culture (with Stormy Dickson)

Today, we're joined by Product Lead Tricia Barnes and our favorite Scrum Master Surprise Mystery Guest to talk about red flags to watch out for when interviewing for roles on agile teams.

0:00 Topic Intro
0:14 No Scrum Peers in the Interview
1:59 When Product "Runs Things"
3:19 First Scrum Master Hire
6:07 Being "Methodology Agnostic"
7:36 Putting the Interviewer to Work
10:25 Different Perspectives
12:42 Recognizing Burn-Out & Chaos
16:29 Conflating Velocity and Business Value
20:33 Showcasing Business Value
22:37 No Passion for Project
27:33 Lack of Leadership Buy-In
30:23 Segue on Hardware
32:26 Scrum - It's Not for Everyone
34:29 Agreeableness / People Pleasers
37:33 Jessica's Summary

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AA89 - Agile Interviewing Red Flags (with Tricia Barnes & Surprise Mystery Guest)

There's a line in the Agile Manifesto: "Customer collaboration over contract negotiation."

This episode will help familiarize you with contracts because contracts are not just something that should be "done by somebody else."

0:00 Topic Intro
0:45 Master Service Agreements
3:13 Three Agreements Types
7:09 Time & Materials
8:58 Fixed Price Contracts & Agile
12:52 Boot-making Example (Fixed Price)
16:24 Grades of Service
18:54 Grades of Service & Agile
20:23 Fixed Price - Penalties
23:23 Fixed Price - Incentives
24:33 Fixed Price - Simplistic Approach
26:41 Minimizing Risk - Paying for Value Delivery
28:30 Pivoting? Build it In!
32:55 Agile & Contracting - A Common Theme
36:52 Time & Materials
41:06 Mitigating Risks with "Plus, Plus"
42:47 Shifting Goalposts
44:57 Spirit of Agile in Contracts
47:50 Wrap-Up

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AA88 - Contracts in Agile Software Development

On this episode, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Agile Coach Om Patel read through and discuss a recent article authored by a (clearly burnt-out) Product Manager.

0:00 Topic Intro
0:28 Reading the Post
3:38 Meaningless Work
8:42 Building the Wrong Thing (aka. Failure)
10:32 Building the Wrong Thing, Continued
13:33 Blame Game
17:28 Burn-out or Failure to Coach?
20:38 Culture Eats Strategy
23:14 Continuous Discovery
27:10 Being Not Good at Anything
29:46 Never Read the Comments
32:09 Making a Case with Data
34:55 Getting Cut
40:48 Wrap-up

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AA87 - Burnt-Out Product Managers

You've been either hired or promoted as a new Product Manager or Owner. Congratulations!

What should you do next? What might you expect? What can you do to ensure success?

On this episode, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Agile Coach Om Patel talk about what it's like to be a new Product Owner or Product Manager.

0:00 Topic Intro
0:35 Why/What
3:59 Starting with Why
6:16 Starting Points
11:27 Crossing the Chasm
14:08 Do You Have the Skills?
19:44 Being a Good Leader
24:07 Starting Fresh/New
30:26 Feature Parity with Competitors
35:31 Feature Toggles & A/B Testing
38:42 Starting without a Team
45:11 A Different Spin on this Podcast
48:27 Wrap-up

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AA86 - New Product Owners and Product Managers

Let's talk about deadlines!

Why do people say that agile doesn't do deadlines? Why do people commit to dates without engaging the team? Finally, what are better ways to handle deadlines?

On this episode, join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Agile Coach Om Patel as they talk through deadlines.

0:00 Intro
0:22 Why Deadlines
1:33 Agile Can't Do Deadlines
5:02 Committing when You Can't Deliver
6:58 WIFM
9:22 Seemingly Random Dates
13:17 Sales as an Example
18:34 Roadmap for Sales
21:52 A History of Milestones...
24:30 Phase 2: What to Do?
26:13 Reframing Deadlines (Brian's Bad Advice)
28:57 Exploring Through Refinements
32:33 Enabling Teams from Team Topologies
35:18 Pushback
38:33 Bring in the Customer
47:51 The Cutting Room Floor

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AA85 - Deadlines in Agile

Have you ever been asked to invite someone outside of the Scrum Team to one or more of the Scrum Team's Events?

On this episode, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Agile Coach Om Patel go event by event to talk about when it is right to invite stakeholders to your Scrum Events, and when it is "not right!"

0:00 Topic Intro
0:20 Daily Scrum, by the Book
2:48 Daily Scrum, the Real World
6:49 Uninvited Guests
9:58 Disciplined & Undisciplined Stakeholders
14:35 Sprint Retrospective
16:56 Outsiders in the Retro
18:51 Sprint Review
23:03 External vs Internal Stakeholders
26:48 Sprint Planning, by the Book
28:05 Sprint Planning, the Real World
31:47 Backlog Refinement
34:42 Optional Scrum Team Attendees at Refinement
37:22 Wrap-up

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AA84 - Stakeholders in the Scrum Events