The Agile Coach Podcast

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek is joined by Laurin Lukas Stahl, Head of Product at Trality, to discuss the world of product management, exploring its definition, differences from project management, and its essential role in the product development process. Laurin, a guest on the show, shares valuable insights into the skills, mindset, and structured thinking needed to become an effective product manager. The conversation also touches on the potential of AI tools like Chat GPT in assisting product managers with tasks such as generating frameworks, facilitating communication, and accelerating product development. Vivek and Laurin emphasize the importance of continuous learning and provide resources for further exploration.

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

Product Management: Delivering Products and Building Solutions - Laurin Lukas Stahl: “Product management is the idea that there is a central person within a product squad embedded in the overall idea of what the product needs, whose responsibility is finally to deliver the product, to shepherd it throughout each and every stage.”

Product vs. Project Management: Understanding the Difference - Laurin Lukas Stahl: “The main difference is that projects have defined scopes or timelines, whereas products aim to continuously deliver value to users and strive for improvement.”

Structured Thinking: Unlocking Effective Product Management - Laurin Lukas Stahl: “Structured thinking involves approaching problems with a clear process, using frameworks specific to the problem at hand, and communicating ideas effectively.”

Get to know Laurin and what he’s up to:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurin-stahl/

Connect with Vivek and Pabitra to find out more about what they're up to:

VIvek’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivekkhattri/

Pabitra’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pabitrakhanal/

The Agile Coach LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-coach-llc/

Agile Coach Website: https://theagilecoach.com/

If you enjoy The Agile Coach and are interested in learning more, you can check us out at our website 

https://theagilecoach.com/

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek is joined by Jonaed Iqbal, the CEO and Founder of NoDegree.com. Jonaed talks about social media, branding, and helping people pursue roles even without a college degree.

He walks us through the No Degree platform and how he creates content and interacts with people without degrees and helping them take the roles that best fit them. He shares key insights on constant learning especially when you don't have the "advantage" of having a degree.

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

You can learn so much by being proactive - Jonaed: "You've got a degree? Ten years later and new technology comes out, what are you going to do? Lean in on your degree? No, you have to get involved. Things are always changing so immerse yourself."

Understand the role of recruiters - Jonaed: "The recruiter's job is not to help you out, their job is to help their clients fill roles. If you are their target market and they have a job for you, they'll be helpful. If not they will not be. This is a misconception people have because, the fact is, they're busy and they have their quota so you have to make it easy for them."

Get to know Jonaed and what he’s up to:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonaed/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NoDegreeDotCom

Connect with Vivek and Pabitra to find out more about what they're up to:

• About Vivek
• About Pabitra
• About The Agile Coach
• Agile Coach Website

If you enjoy The Agile Coach and are interested in learning more, you can check us out at the link below:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-coach-llc

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek is joined by Priyanka Gyawali, the Chief Technology Officer at Belong Technology. Priyanka digs into her journey in tech from software engineer to CTO and the immense value of upskilling to get there.

She shares her thoughts on what makes a good product owner/manager and the changes ChatGPT is ushering in the way we process work for the better. For agile, Priyanka also champions giving people space to be creative to bring their ideas to reality.

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

Changing and overlapping roles after going agile - Priyanka: "Things have changed like the number of roles in a project have changed. Previously it was the developer doing the designing as well, doing the QA, doing the BA, and then there was like a product owner. But like over time when things are more agile now, we have several roles, like people wear different hats, especially in my experience in the startup world."

Leaders should take the lead on implementing innovation - Priyanka: "Someone being a leader, they might not think about the things that are in the market, but then a developer who has hands-on experience and who might have already done that in another project, we can utilize their skill on that. So I guess it's about giving space to people in the team."

Get to know Priyanka and what she’s up to:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Vivek and Pabitra to find out more about what they're up to:

• About Vivek
• About Pabitra
• About The Agile Coach
• Agile Coach Website

If you enjoy The Agile Coach and are interested in learning more, you can check us out at the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-coach-llc

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek is joined by Joe Ziadeh, Chief Story Teller and Innovation Artist at Balanced Agility. They play around with ChatGPT to test if it can think and act like a scrum master in realistic situations.

Vivek and Joe run a few prompts and are definitely impressed by some of the answers. Although some are a bit drawn out, the AI has produced impressive results throughout the session.

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

How does ChatGPT produce specific answers? - Joe: "After this is done, I want to try and give it something more generic. Because I feel like it could've picked this up off the web. But if it's coming up with these things, I am in shock."

Get to know Joe and what he’s up to:

• About Joe
• About Balanced Agility
• Balanced Academy  Website

Connect with Vivek and Pabitra to find out more about what they're up to:

• About Vivek
• About Pabitra
• About The Agile Coach
• Agile Coach Website

If you enjoy The Agile Coach and are interested in learning more, you can check us out at the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-coach-llc

Welcome to another episode and today, Vivek welcomes Rye Hawley, a Scrum Master at Net Health. They discuss Rye's current role, his transition to tech, and his advice for his past and current self. Rye emphasizes the importance of continuous learning, identifying and resolving impediments, and striving for excellence in personal and professional growth. Learn more about Rye and his work in this latest episode of The Agile Coach.

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

Acing an interview with less experience - Rye: “I'd recommend when people are in this interviewing stage, is really focusing on what you're bringing to a company, but also like how you're adding value to them, and also you have to think like the company's in a position where they need someone to fill this gap that they have, and so what can you bring to the table, focusing on the specifics there, I think that's what really helped and leveraged by success in interviews.”

Defining what is an impediment - Rye: “Impediments can come in the form of many things, especially in this day and age, I think we'll just talk about my teams and what impediments look like it could be anything from a failed server, or a database or some technical blockage that our developers experiencing. So that could simply mean connecting that individual with a subject matter expert that can help troubleshoot it. That could be an example of an impediment.”

Get to know Rye and Net Health:

• LinkedIn
• Net Health

Connect with Vivek and Pabitra to find out more about what they're up to:

• About Vivek
• About Pabitra
• About The Agile Coach
• Agile Coach Website

If you enjoy The Agile Coach and are interested in learning more, you can check us out at the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-coach-llc

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek sits down with Haley Prestwood, Scrum Master at Kroger Technology & Digital. Haley talks about her early experience in Agile and her transition from planning to go to law school to becoming a scrum master today.

She shares her insights on how to reaffirm yourself and excel in your role even if you don't initially have any background in IT or software development. She highlights the importance of learning and continuing to grow and how essential this can be in the Agile environment.

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

Don't be afraid to ask questions - Haley: "Don't be afraid to ask questions and get off mute in meetings. When I first started in my first role, I was so scared to come off mute and ask questions but that's really how you're going to improve and grow."

Lean on the Agile coach community - Haley: "That has been so supportive for me is just staying connected. I've been in IT for 3 years now but I still stay in touch with so many people in the program and that's been very beneficial and helps me continuously grow my knowledge and improve."

Get to know Haley and check out the book she recommended:

• LinkedIn
• How to do the Work

Connect with Vivek and Pabitra to find out more about what they're up to:

• About Vivek
• About Pabitra
• About The Agile Coach
• Agile Coach Website

If you enjoy The Agile Coach and are interested in learning more, you can check us out at the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-coach-llc

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek sits down with Joe Justice, CEO of WIKISPEED and Chairman of the Agile Business Institute. Joe talks about all that he has learned about innovation and how it relates to Agile after working with Elon Musk.

He gives us an inside look at a few processes at the Musk companies and the processes they implement for cost reduction and innovation. Joe shares his insights on scrum and how effectively it helps in calling different roleplayers to collaborate and work seamlessly all throughout.

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

What is Agility? - Joe: "Agility is making change cheaper in time, money, and emotional willpower like making it less draining and even more fun. That is the game. How Elon says, it is "Pace of innovation is the only thing that matters in the long run." And that's working really well for Elon from a business perspective. Agility is that."

Agile is to reduce the cost to make a change - Joe: "Change is expensive in a traditional mindset and then disruption increases the cost of your existing plan. If you're able to respond quickly to change, then change is a cost-advantage to you."

Get to know Joe and what he’s up to:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• About WIKISPEED

Connect with Vivek and Pabitra to find out more about what they're up to:

• About Vivek
• About Pabitra
• About The Agile Coach
• Agile Coach Website

If you enjoy The Agile Coach and are interested in learning more, you can check us out at the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-coach-llc

This episode of The Agile Coach is the second part of our conversation with Mikaylah McCarty, Scrum Master at Universal Parks & Resorts. She shares the best practices when building the resume, improving LinkedIn, and other aspects to focus on when interviewing or applying for an Agile role.

Mikaylah talks about the importance of starting the role right and adopting the right mindset once you start doing what's needed from you. She also highlights the need to continue learning and that you are never confined to just one role as a scrum master.

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

Understand your story so you don't have to lie - Mikaylah: "You can embellish, you can make something sound bigger, but never lie on your resume because that's cheap. A true scrum master when you're interviewing can see straight through that. I'd know you don't know what you're talking about."

Show up with your best self every day - Mikaylah: "There are thousands of people who want to take my job at Universal and I remind myself that every single day. I am replaceable and I think that is the biggest mentality to note and that stems to everything."

Get to know Mikaylah and what she’s up to:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Vivek and Pabitra to find out more about what they're up to:

• About Vivek
• About Pabitra
• About The Agile Coach
• Agile Coach Website

If you enjoy The Agile Coach and are interested in learning more, you can check us out at the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-coach-llc

The Agile Coach with Vivek and Pabitra sits down with Mikaylah McCarty, Scrum Master at Universal Parks & Resorts. Scrum Masters lead cross-functional and agile teams. They provide the how to the what and deliver realistic outcomes quickly to customers.

She shares her journey to becoming a Scrum Master and how to capitalize on networking opportunities. Mikaylah advises aspiring Scrum Masters to seek out a mentor to guide them and to double down on the skill of communication as creating a safe space but also commanding the room is the role of a Scrum Master. 

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

Scrum Masters provide the HOW to the WHAT - Mikaylah: "A Scrum Master's role is to then take whatever they're prioritizing and say, how are we going to get it done? Product owner is the what in the team. The Scrum Masters are the how, that's the value that we provide to the team is okay, they're saying we got to get this done. We have the team members ready to do the work. The scrum master will then say, this is how it's going to work."

Lead from the front and add skills to your tool belt - Mikaylah: "Get down there with your team. If you don't know it, learn it. If all you can do is sit there, sit next to them and rub their back and give them a donut, like do that. Supporting your team. Never saying, it's not my job. Never say you can't do it, and gaining as many skills in your tool belt as you can."

Get to know Mikaylah and what she’s up to:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Vivek and Pabitra to find out more about what they're up to:

• About Vivek
• About Pabitra
• About The Agile Coach
• Agile Coach Website

If you enjoy The Agile Coach and are interested in learning more, you can check us out at the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-coach-llc

In this episode of The Agile Coach Podcast, Vivek talks with Angela Johnson, Chief Change Officer & Certified Scrum Trainer at Collaborative Leadership Team and author of The Scrum Master Files. She talks about working with leadership as an Agile coach and working through resistance Agile transformation in organizations.

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

You have to have a handle on what you're trying to measure  - Angela: "People will say things like, 'we have to go faster' or 'we can't keep up with the competition.' But all of those reasons I firmly believe that they're sincere, they're just not measurable."

It's okay to assume some leaders don't have clarity - Angela: "Even leaders who think they have a clear vision of where they're going, they may be assuming that people are doing what they think is the top goal but that's not necessarily the case until they follow up or verify."

Get to know Angela and check out her book:

• About Angela
• The Scrum Master Files

Connect with Vivek and Pabitra to find out more about what they're up to:

• About Vivek
• About Pabitra
• About The Agile Coach
• Agile Coach Website

If you enjoy The Agile Coach and are interested in learning more, you can check us out at the link below:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-agile-coach-llc