The Agile Coach Podcast

Today, we feature the most impactful, thought-provoking, and actionable tips from our conversation with Joe Ziadeh, the Chief Story Teller and Innovation Artist at Balanced Agility. He shares how to facilitate team retrospectives by creating trust within the team first and using games and improv to actually brainstorm. These games can be used to overcome power plays in a team and create a space where it is safe to address problems and find solutions for them.

Get to know Joe and what he’s up to:

• About Joe
• About Balanced Agility
• Balanced Agility Website

Connect with Vivek and find out more about what he’s up to:

• About Vivek
• 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

What roles does the product manager actually take in the company? Neha believes that, more than the job description, product managers play a huge role in enabling teams in overall processes even if we don't see it directly. In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek and Neha dive deep into the skills that are unnecessary and those that are important in order to become an effective product manager.

AGILE HIGHLIGHTS

• Neha's transition from medical school to product manager
• Core skillsets needed in product management
• Things you don't need to become a product manager
• You have to be able to put things into perspective as you progress
• Emotional intelligence is needed to ask the right questions
• Connection before correction

AGILE MOMENTS

On what made Neha choose the path of product management: 

“Ultimately, it all came down to the impact that product managers have on decision-making within the company. You hear a lot of the time “product and CEO of the company” and I don't believe that as true. It's really that product people are enablers for their team.”

Neha's on critical thinking as a core skill:

“I think one skill that's also very important for a product manager is having critical thinking skills. So, really look at what the problem is at hand and work collaboratively with your teams to come up with the solution that balances need of the customer, the business, and why it's technically feasible.”

Neha on how data can best back you up:

“Everything that we mentioned, stakeholder management, all of that I think is basically the cherry on top if you have this to back you up which is data-driven. I think it's really important to use whatever data you have at hand to make the right decisions”

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

• About Neha

Connect with Vivek through the links below:

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

I

f 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 of The Agile Coach! We have a special episode for you today as we bring back some of the best moments of our amazing guest, Parth Detroja, Product Manager at Facebook and author of Swipe to Unlock.

Tune in for some of the best insights and highlights in our previous interview with Parth!

HIGHLIGHTS

• Can people become product managers without going to college?
• Being a product manager and the tradeoffs you should make
• Why Facebook bought a VR company

“Showing that you've helped tangibly shape real products is the biggest thing that will open doors for you. Take any elite university, there are thousands of students at that same university so it's kind of hard to stand out in that regard.”-Parth on where the college degree adds value

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

• About Parth

Connect with Vivek and find out more about what he’s up to:

• About Vivek
• 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, Pabitra talks about assessing Agile teams in the sense of a Japanese martial arts concept which is the Su Ha Ri. She dives deep into each of the three stages, how scrum masters can work most effectively in each stage, and how you can also assess yourself and identify which stage you're in.

AGILE HIGHLIGHTS

• Exploring the stages of Su Ha Ri
• Su is the beginning stage where the student follows one master
• Ha is where the student begins to branch out
• Ri is the stage where students learn from their own practice
• How the scrum master can show up in each of these stages
• Assessing yourself through the Su-Ha-Ri

AGILE MOMENTS

Pabitra - When the team reaches the Ri stage:

“This is a beautiful stage to be in and for a coach to see the team get to this stage is amazing to witness. If these are true and your team is at a Ri stage, you really need to let them go in a way.”

Pabitra - Seeing the team become a high-performing team:

“There are always different approaches to get the same results. So at this stage, the team can come up with their own solutions, they just need a coach to help them find different ways to achieve what they need.”

Pabitra - Moving between the three stages as a scrum master:

“Am I showing up as a teacher? A coach? An advisor? And that is what a true coach does is consistently evaluating and uncovering better ways of helping the team at the end of the day.

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

• About Pabitra

Connect with Vivek and find out more about what he’s up to:

• About Vivek
• 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 of The Agile Coach! We have a special episode for you today as we bring some of the best moments of our amazing guest, Diana Larsen, President and Leadership Agility Advisor at Eos House Consulting and author of Agile Retrospectives.

Tune in for some of the most notable highlights and learning points in our previous interview with Diana!

HIGHLIGHTS

• The creation of the book Agile Retrospectives and its core points
• How you should use gathered data for learning and generating insight
• Having a shared understanding with your team and deciding what to do after that
• How long should we plan for a retrospective?

“It's not about individual performance. It's about how we work together to create a system where we can make sure that people's best is good enough for what we need. ”

-Diana on being able to push your team to their best

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

• About Diana

Connect with Vivek and find out more about what he’s up to:

• About Vivek
• 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, Pabitra continues the talk about identifying the anti-patterns for the different roles in a scrum team. This time, she discusses specifically about common anti-patterns of a scrum master. Tune in to find out and avoid these anti-patterns early on in your journey as a scrum master or improve if you've already been one for a long time.

AGILE HIGHLIGHTS

• The critical role of the scrum master
• Anti-Pattern #1: Scrum master acting like a project manager
• Anti-Pattern #2: Being a scrum cop
• Anti-Pattern #3: Making everything a teachable moment
• Anti-Pattern #4: Not prioritizing connection
• Anti-Pattern #5: Being a scrum mom
• Better practices for a scrum master to improve

AGILE MOMENTS

Pabitra - Believe in Agile in order to bring the necessary change:

“If somebody is a scrum master or Agile practitioner, I believe that the person has to be passionate about Agile because it's so much about you uncovering yourself. ”

Pabitra - On why prioritizing connection is important:

“As a scrum master or change agent, when you come into an organization you have to understand that change is hard. There is a lot of fear when a lot of changes are happening in an organization.”

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

• About Pabitra

Connect with Vivek and find out more about what he’s up to:

• About Vivek
• 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 of The Agile Coach! We have a special episode for you today as we bring some of the best moments of our amazing guest, Adam Miner, Founder of Miner Legacy Group and Agile Coach at Huntington National Bank.

Tune in for some valuable nuggets of insight and information in our past two interviews with Adam!

HIGHLIGHTS

• Adam relates the importance of communication in sports and the corporate world
• Moving around impediments as a Scrum Master
• Building relationships and forming a high-performing team
• Celebrate your team's success and efforts

“Number one is that I have to be the ultimate example of being transparent. Part of this is about not necessarily playing the bureaucratic, political game in organizations. My personality and style with my teams is not to be the stubborn optimist. If something is going wrong and it's on fire, I'll empathize with that and I'll say this is not a good situation to be in.”

-Adam on fostering transparency in teams

Get to know Adam and what he’s up to:

• About Adam

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

• About Pabitra

Connect with Vivek and find out more about what he’s up to:

• About Vivek
• 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, Pabitra talks about identifying the anti-patterns for the different roles in a scrum team. She dives deep into the usual anti-patterns observed for anyone in a product owner role so you can identify these and get rid of them as early as you can. Tune in to find out the common signs of these anti-patterns and the most effective solutions you can apply.

AGILE HIGHLIGHTS

• The primary roles of a product owner
• Common anti-patterns for the product owner role
• Having multiple decision-makers for one product
• Not knowing when and how to step away from your role
• Product backlogs not being ready
• The better practices for a product owner

AGILE MOMENTS

Pabitra - When product owners step into the role of a scrum master:

“If they take the role too seriously and don't necessarily understand that a scrum master is not necessarily a project manager or manager for the developers, this can backfire and they mind end up being more controlling and interfering more than helping the team.”

Pabitra - A solution for backlogs not being ready:

“As a product owner, you always want to be thinking ahead. If the development team is working on starting user stories for whatever time box your company may have, you want to be thinking about the next sprint or iteration.”

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

• About Pabitra

Connect with Vivek and find out more about what he’s up to:

• About Vivek
• 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

A TEAM THAT GROWS TOGETHER, STAYS TOGETHER

In this special episode of The Agile Coach, Pabitra goes solo to discuss the 5 stages of team development. As a scrum master, it is very important to be intact with your team and Pabitra is here to help you. Tune in to find out which stage is most crucial, and how you can get more ideas and feedback from your team.

AGILE HIGHLIGHTS

• The 5 Stages Of Teams
• The Forming Stage
• The Storming Stage
• The Norming Stage
• The Performing Stage
• The Adjourning Stage

AGILE MOMENTS

Pabitra - The most crucial stage of a team

“Second is storming stage two of the five and it's considered the most critical and also the most difficult stage to go through. It can be riddled with conflicts such as individual personalities and working styles really clashing within the team.”

Pabitra - Empower your team and let them be heard

“Instead of thinking you have to have all the answers and give it to them, empower them to come up with your own answers, and do it as a team to facilitate those conversations. That way the team feels like they're being heard. And they feel like they can come and share their ideas and feedback.”

Connect with Vivek & Pabitra and find out more about what he’s 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 of The Agile Coach, and today will be special, as we will be bringing you some of the best moments of our guest, Matthew Philip, Senior Director, Agile Coaching and Kaizen Lead at Pfizer. 

Tune in and find out what’s the best moment in our interview with Matt, and watch out for more highlights in the coming episodes.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Measuring outcome vs output
• You can build, but think if it's the right thing to build
• Remember that the features are still just a hypothesis

“The idea of focusing on outcomes to me is really putting the most important thing out there and saying, it's also a way of acknowledging that we don't know we work in a complex environment, and it's essentially putting us in a mindset of experimentation and hypothesis making.” -Matthew on focusing on outcomes and not outputs

Get to know Matt and what he’s up to:

• About Matthew
• About Pfizer
• Pfizer.com

Connect with Vivek and find out more about what he’s up to:

• About Vivek
• 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