What happens when you combine daily mini-retrospectives, Test-Driven Development in absurdly small steps, and Chess Clock Mobbing? You get a radically different iteration on collaboration, continuous improvement, and extreme programming—and that’s exactly what we explore in this episode of the Mob Mentality Show with guests Kevin Vicencio and Alex Bird.

In this lightning-talk-style Mob Mentality Show episode, Austin Chadwick takes you through his real-world evolution from clunky, waterfall-style processes to fully cranked-up Extreme Programming (XP)—a journey defined by failures, breakthroughs, and a relentless pursuit of clean, test-driven code.

In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, we sit down with James Herr from Flexion to explore the dark side of mob programming — the anti-patterns that quietly erode collaboration, learning, and flow in your team.

Can simplicity be your team’s most powerful productivity tool?

In this episode of The Mob Mentality Show, we sit down with Gáspár Nagy and Seb Rose, two highly respected voices in the Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) community, to discuss their brand-new book, Effective Behavior-Driven Development, published by Manning Publications.

Whether you’re a developer, tester, product owner, or agile coach, this episode will help you see BDD not as a buzzword, but as an actual way to turn up the good on collaboration and quality for software delivery.

In this episode of The Mob Mentality Show, hosts Chris Lucian and Austin Chadwick sit down with Joshua (Schwa) Aresty to explore how remote teams thrive through communication, collaboration, and creativity in modern software development.

🧹 In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, we quickly cover the “Code Janitor” anti-pattern — a hidden trap that can quietly undermine team performance. While teams are often formed to maximize collaboration, learning, and flow, certain team dynamics can introduce dysfunctions. The “Code Janitor” role is one of them.

In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, we dive into the growing tension between the fast rise of Agentic AI systems and the foundational principles of Extreme Programming (XP) and Lean Software Development. As more teams experiment with multi-agent LLM orchestrators like Claude, GPT-4, and others, does the risk of generating untested, low-quality "AI slop" increase—unless guided by tight feedback loops, small batch sizes, and real tests?

In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, Chris Lucian is joined by Amy Dredge, Will Munn, and Mike Clement to dive deep into how Open Space Technology (OST) is transforming the way engineering leaders learn, connect, and solve real-world challenges together.

The Engineering Leadership Summit — what it is, why it matters, and how it's unlike traditional conferences.

How Open Space Technology empowers attendees to shape their own agenda and focus on the most pressing leadership challenges.

The shift from passive presentations to active conversations among experienced engineering leaders.

Lessons learned from hosting and attending open space events — from hallway chats to high-trust collaboration.

How tools like GatherTown help replicate the spontaneity of in-person connection in a remote world.

Why this format resonates deeply with Staff+ and senior engineering leaders seeking authenticity, relevance, and practical insight.

We also compare remote vs. in-person open space events, dig into accessibility, and share actionable tips for running your own internal or external open space sessions inside engineering orgs.

Open Space Technology in Engineering

Staff+ and Engineering Manager Peer Learning

Engineering Leadership Summit Preview

GatherTown for Remote Events

Community Building in Tech

Agile Leadership in Practice

Unconference vs. Traditional Conferences

FYI: Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/domldsgqkDs 

In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, we sit down with Henrik Ståhl, a product manager and advocate for collaborative software development, to explore how mob programming, MVPs, and agile leadership can reshape the way teams build products.

How can product managers contribute directly in mob programming?

What does “viable” really mean in MVP?

How do you balance moving fast with building lasting, maintainable products?

How can teams avoid rework, miscommunication, and wasted effort?

…this episode is packed with practical takeaways and perspectives you can use right away.

Mob programming from a product manager’s perspective

The real meaning of MVP and why “Minimum Viable Whatever” fails

Rethinking “Move Fast and Break Things” for sustainable speed

Communication, collaboration, and continuous improvement in agile teams

Knowledge sharing, reducing waste, and eliminating silos

Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/JCZcJ6xT7-8