The Agile For Agilists Podcast
By Agile For Agilists
The Agile For Agilists PodcastSep 13, 2023
From Vision to Victory: Defining Success in a Changing Landscape with Dom Michalec
Welcome to a fresh season of The Agile For Agilists Podcast! We're thrilled to have Dom Michalec back as our guest, bringing his wealth of knowledge in behavior design and product management. In this episode, we dive deep into a fundamental but often underestimated aspect of any endeavor – defining success. Dom guides us through essential topics like coaching agreements, securing buy-in, and boosting attendance at your sprint reviews. Plus, we explore the art of crafting compelling product visions. Tune in for invaluable insights and actionable strategies to elevate your projects and transformations. Don't miss this enlightening conversation!
Daniel Vacanti Breaks the Kanban Code: The Underrated Impact of Flow Metrics
Revolutionizing Change: Breaking the Mold with Lean Change, featuring Author Jason Little and Trainer/Coach Ken Rickard
In this exciting episode of The Agile For Agilists Podcast, hosts Drew and Brad are joined by two esteemed guests, author Jason Little and trainer/coach Ken Rickard, to explore the fascinating world of lean change and enterprise coaching. Together, they delve into the principles and practices of lean change management and its potential to revolutionize organizational transformation.
Jason Little, renowned author of "Lean Change Management," brings his deep insights into leveraging lean and agile approaches to drive meaningful change in complex environments. Ken Rickard, a seasoned trainer and coach, offers practical guidance on enterprise coaching and how lean change has helped him to apply an agile approach to agile adoption.
Throughout the episode, our guests provide valuable perspectives, share real-life examples, and offer actionable tips for enterprise coaches and change agents seeking to enhance their change management capabilities. Whether you're a seasoned practitioner or embarking on your change management journey, this episode is a treasure trove of insights and practical wisdom that will inspire and empower you to lead successful transformations within your organization.
Tune in to this episode to expand your knowledge and discover new possibilities for driving effective change in today's dynamic business landscape with this captivating conversation with Jason Little and Ken Rickard.
Episode Links:
https://leanchange.org/
http://www.agilecoach.ca/downloads/
https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/
https://www.corporate-rebels.com/
An Epic Adventure of Agile Transformation: Discover the Path to Agility with Agile Velocity coach, Andy Cleff
In this enlightening episode of "The Agile For Agilists Podcast," our esteemed guest, Andy Cleff, an agile transformation coach at Agile Velocity and co-founder/host of the "Agile Uprising Podcast," leads Brad and Drew on an eye-opening journey down the Path to Agility.
The Path to Agility, a methodology developed by Agile Velocity, transcends frameworks and emphasizes achieving tangible business outcomes. Andy provides a condensed overview of this approach, including its companion tool, Navigator. Furthermore, he delves into the depths of agile transformations and the criticality of embracing business agility.
Our discussion zooms in on the pivotal role of funding models in supporting agile transformations. We shed light on the limitations of conventional funding approaches such as Capex, Opex, profit centers, and cost centers, which often impede organizations from fully embracing business agility. These rigid models, burdened with excessive overhead, pose significant obstacles to swift responses to market changes and user feedback.
Moreover, we explore the intriguing intersection of change management and agile transformations. Traditional change management methodologies, while valuable in their time and specific contexts, often rely on a plan-driven approach that contradicts the iterative and adaptive nature of the agile movement. Andy reveals that the renowned Kotter 8 Step Change Model, developed by Dr. John Kotter, has recently evolved to accommodate this crucial need.
Throughout the episode, Andy Cleff generously shares his wealth of real-world experience and practical insights on successfully achieving business outcomes through impactful change and agile practices across all organizational levels.
Don't miss out on this illuminating episode of "The Agile For Agilists Podcast" as we embark together on the transformative Path to Agility.
#AgilePodcast #BusinessAgility #ChangeManagement #AgileTransformation
How Ford Credit is Investing in ProdOps to Build a Strategic Advantage with Kevin McClure
Ever wondered how creativity and collaboration can ignite your professional journey? We had a blast chatting with our longtime friend, Kevin McClure, Senior Manager in the Digital Experience team at Ford Motor Credit. He revealed the fascinating story of how he transitioned from a finance degree and sales career to a product manager, rekindling his creative spark along the way.
In this riveting conversation, we delved into the importance of visualization skills and empathizing with customers for successful product development. Kevin shared his experiences with powerful tools for mapping out his mind and illustrating the flow of value in a way that is tangible and easily presentable to stakeholders. We also discussed the exciting journey from BA to Scrum Master, the evolution of our partnership, and how treating product development like a business can lead to impactful results.
This episode is jam-packed with valuable insights, from UX maturity to the entrepreneurial spirit and metrics-driven decision-making. Don't miss out on learning from Kevin's experiences and discovering ways to channel your creativity into success. And hey, if you love the episode, post a repost with the hashtag #AgileSticks and tag us for a chance to win a free Agile for Agilist sticker pack! Let's keep the creativity flowing!
Join hosts Drew and Brad on an exciting episode of The Agile for Agilists Podcast, as they welcome special guest Kevin McClure, a Senior Manager at Ford Credit with a wealth of experience as a Product Manager for multiple Fortune 500 companies. In this captivating conversation, Brad and Kevin reflect on their experiences at Meijer and explore the fascinating journey that led Kevin to excel in the field of product management. Gain valuable insights into the power of visualizing work and effectively presenting those visualizations, while also discovering Ford Credit's innovative strategies for deepening their understanding of customers. Tune in to this episode to gain useful perspectives on agile practices, effective product management techniques, and the pivotal role of customer-centric approaches.
Breaking Agile Boundaries: Behavior Design Unleashed for Agile Transformations with Dom Michalec
Welcome to another exciting episode of "The Agile For Agilists Podcast" hosted by Brad Nelson and Drew Podwal. In this episode, we have the pleasure of welcoming our special guest, behavioral design and product coach, Dom Michalec. Join us as we explore the elements of behavioral design and how this method can unlock the potential within your teams and revolutionize the way agile coaches approach facilitating transformation journeys.
During this insightful conversation, Dom shares his wealth of experience in creating user-centric and behavior-driven design solutions in contrast to facilitating organizational change by combining the principles of human behavior and agile methodologies. As an avid student of Dr. BJ Fogg and Tiny Habits Certified Coach, Dom highlights how the Fogg Behavior Model enables coaches to identify and align motivations, abilities, and prompts within individuals, fostering a fertile ground for agile adoption.
Dom shares how this approach can be used both for good and evil, as well as how to apply it in your own life to finally build the habits you have been struggling with for years. While this method is definitely a life hack, Dom assures us that it is not the Jedi Mind Trick. It can be just as powerful though in the right hands!
Throughout the episode, Brad, Drew, and Dom engage in a dynamic conversation that delves into the practical applications of behavioral design principles and how they can be seamlessly integrated into both product design and the agile transformation process. Listeners will gain a high-level understanding of what Behavior Design is, along with actionable tips for integrating these strategies into agile events, such as sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives, to optimize collaboration, enhance productivity, and foster a continuous improvement mindset.
Join us on "The Agile For Agilists Podcast" as we uncover the immense potential of leveraging behavioral design strategies in driving an enterprise's agile transformation. Get ready to transform your organization into an agile powerhouse that thrives on human-centric principles!
Episode Links:
- Dom Michalec - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dommichalec/
- Gary Chapman - The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace https://www.appreciationatwork.com/5-languages-appreciation-workplace-improve-employee-engagement/
- Dr. BJ Fogg - Tiny Habits - https://tinyhabits.com/
- Tiny Habits Academy - https://tinyhabitsacademy.com/
- Waiting Room Experiment - Social Conformity - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6kWygqR0L8
- My Favorite Murder Podcast - https://myfavoritemurder.com/
Story Points vs. No Estimates: A Battle of Agile Philosophies - With Amanda Rae Arseneau
The long-awaited Agile showdown is finally here, Story Points vs No Estimates! Amanda Rae Arseneau is back to team up with co-host Brad Nelson to go head-to-head with Drew Podwal, in a debate that you won’t want to miss! The discussion gets heated as Drew argues in favor of story points, emphasizing the benefits of having a shared language enabling alignment between technical and non-technical members of the team. Meanwhile, Brad and Amanda staunchly defend the no estimates approach, emphasizing an approach that has a lower cognitive load and promotes flow. It’s a duel to the finish with no one holding back as they challenge each other's arguments and offer real-world examples and case studies to support their positions. They tackle tough questions such as: Is the need for metrics holding teams back from true agility? Are story points just a way to appease management, or do they provide real value to teams? Is a no-estimates approach realistic in a business environment that demands predictability? Join us for a thrilling and provocative episode of The Agile for Agilist Podcast’s long-awaited follow-up. Will Drew be swept away by the flow metrics or stand victorious as the only one tracking points? Links from today's episode: 1. https://actionableagile.com/resources/publications/ 2. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-i-use-story-points-planning-brad-nelson/
3. https://itrevolution.com/product/accelerate/
4. https://cloud.google.com/devops
5. https://support.puppet.com/hc/en-us/articles/221368047-The-2023-State-of-DevOps-Report-is-here-
6. https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/news/expert-joshua-kerievsky-discusses-modern-agile-at-ebay/
The Startup Secret Sauce: How Enterprise Companies Can Benefit from the Startup Mentality with Elizabeth O'Neill
Are you tired of office politics and personality clashes standing in the way of your team's or organization's growth of Agile capabilities? In this episode we discuss how to navigate workplace friction reveal how examining startup culture can provide valuable insights for accelerating the delivery of value in larger organizations.
Brad Nelson and Drew Podwal sit down with Organizational Fixer, Entrepreneur Coach, and Culture Consultant Elizabeth O'Neill to unpack the secrets of startup agility, innovation, and behavioral strategies that enable such rapid delivery of value to its customers. We highlight the practices and modalities that enterprise companies can adopt from startups in order to support a more engaged, empowered and customer focused workforce. (Spoiler we talk about culture!)
We wrap up our discussion by examining how self-awareness and active listening help agile coaches manage biases, build trust, and tailor their approach to individual clients. Elizabeth provides insight that allows coaches to connect to their clients and leadership on a deeper level, and identify underlying issues that may be impeding progress.
So, if you're ready to bring some startup culture to your enterprise organization, then you're in the right spot because it's time to think like a startup and take your enterprise to the next level!
Accelerate Your Delivery with FAST Agile: Tips and Tricks from FAST Founder Ron Quartel and Agile Coach Todd Hallowell
Ron provides his expert advice to help you start experimenting with smaller cycle times, and Todd has some colorful commentary that helps unlock the philosophies behind the methodology. Todd walks listeners through his real-world experience applying FAST with his client and, through our discussion, you'll learn all the benefits of FAST Agile, a lightweight approach to both Agile and Scaling Agile. If you're looking for a framework more focused on values and principles than practices and tools, then this is the episode for you.
Tune in for an exploration of the FAST Agile methodology, what it is, and where it comes from, as well as some philosopher levels quotes from Ron Quartel and Todd Hallowell.
Related Links:
www.reinventingorganizations.com/
charlannemeth.com/in-defense-of-troublemakers/
www.fastagile.io/
www.extremeprogramming.org/
The Conference Hangover: Brad's Agile International Conference and Transform 2023 Journey
After two weeks of travel to Miami and Dallas, Brad has returned to the podcast with tales of his travels. In this episode, Drew welcomes Brad home and attempts to tap into his goldfish memory with a discussion on lessons learned, recognition to fellow presenters, and highlights of Brad's presentations "The Velocity Trap" and "Platforms as a Product." The Velocity Trap highlights the dangers of only measuring productivity and shares how to get started with outcomes, whereas Platforms as a Product reveals how Product Thinking can transform component teams from barriers to enablers.
Brad discusses briefly what Transform at Insight is, including Brad's presentation on Platforms as a Product, leading Drew and Brad to have a high-level discussion on scaling with platform teams, guilds and tribes, and SAFe.
Brad also shares AIC highlights from Rick Reguiera's work with the leadership at TracFone, David Hartmann's skill-tree approach to career development, Quincy Jordan creating personal awareness and space with Agile Psychology (and Eminem), and Veronica Stewart treating her agile transformation like a product with Radical Product Thinking and lessons learned from Shark Tank.
Lastly, Brad provides a brief overview of his talk, The Velocity Trap, and Drew and Brad tease the impending but never scheduled talk with Amanda Rae Arseneau on #NoEstimates.
Jump into this episode to hear Brad butcher names, an overview of some great events, and a more casual conversation between Drew and Brad.
Checkout Brad's upcoming conference dates:
- Good Tech Fest virtually on May 4 (Use code "FRIEND100" for a free virtual ticket worth $100 or $100 off your in-person ticket)
- Agile & Beyond in Detroit on June 13-14
Related Links:
- http://www.velocitytrap.com/
- https://solutions.insight.com/Blog/December-2022/Platforms-as-a-Product
- https://www.agileinternational.org/aic2023-presentations
- https://waystones.io/
- https://drewpodwal.com/2022/12/22/what-to-do-on-your-first-month-as-a-scrum-master-with-a-new-team/
- https://www.radicalproduct.com/
- https://www.influenceatwork.com/books-and-publications/
- https://melissaperri.com/blog/2014/08/05/the-build-trap
- https://nicolefv.com/book
From the Classroom to the Boardroom: Teaching a Growth Mindset in Organizations with Patty Aluskewicz
In this episode of Agile for Agilists, we explore the often-overlooked fact that corporations are made up of human beings, and therefore, when we are coaching an organizational transformation we are actually coaching people with emotions and feelings. Hosts Brad Nelson and Drew Podwal team up with former school teacher turned Agile Consultant Patty Aluskewicz to share practical strategies for supporting individuals through the emotional challenges of transformational change.
Knowledge of the Agile values, principles, practices, and tools is what makes a coach an "Agile Coach," but effectively coaching the adoption of Agile is more about creating a safe space for individuals to express their concerns, fears, and uncertainties. Coaches can build trust and mitigate resistance by acknowledging the individual and harnessing a collaborative approach to continuous improvement. With lessons from the classroom and years of experience facilitating the growth of agile environments, this conversation offers a thoughtful and nuanced approach to coaching organizational transformations.
Tune in to discover how recognizing the importance of human emotions can lead to a more successful transformational initiative, how to tailor coaching approaches to support individuals through the transformational process, and the benefits of creating a culture of collaboration and co-creation.
Balancing Chaos and Order Without A Scrum Master: Successful leadership Insights from Engineering Manager Sina Jazayeri on Delivering Customer Value
In this episode, Sina emphasizes the importance of creating a culture where everyone in the company is focused on building the best version of the product, regardless of the absence of a scrum master. He provides practical tips on how to foster values of customer collaboration, and customer centricity, and highlights the benefits of embracing change and unpredictability while maintaining a structure that allows for continuous improvement and autonomy in teams. Sina emphasizes that maintaining an agile mindset becomes everyone's job in environments where scrum masters aren't present.
Is this a taboo subject? Absolutely! Will we get hate mail for even discussing this as a subject? Without a doubt! But, if you're in a situation without the support of an official scrum master or working in a low agile culture environment then this podcast is a must-listen for inspiration, valuable insights and actionable advice.
Tune in now and discover how to maintain the perfect balance of chaos and order in your agile practices, drive innovation that improves customer value in your teams, and maintain a high-level flow, even without a scrum master.
Product-Led Growth - How to Capture a Unicorn with Diego von Sohsten
Having a wildly successful product takes more than solving the right problem for the right users. It also requires paying customers. We are joined in this episode by Director of Product and Growth Strategy Expert, Diego von Sohsten, who shares his experience in his own failed startup and how that has made him a better Product Manager today. Tune in to learn tips and tricks, as well as hear about Diego's journey from Brazil to Canada and from developer to product manager, and his successful quest to capture that mythical unicorn.
Diego von Sohsten - https://www.linkedin.com/in/diego-vs/
Clayton Christensen's Jobs to Be Done - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXYm-CVzPQ0
Bonus Episode: Agile For Agilists Season 1 Retrospective
We did it! We recorded and published our first season of the Agile For Agilists Podcast. In this bonus episode, Drew and Brad reflect on the efforts that have gone into launching a podcast from scratch, the challenges along the way, and the lessons they have learned. If you are interested in hearing more about the behind-the-scenes of the Agile For Agilist Podcast, then tune into this transparent and vulnerable bonus episode where the guys try to live what they preach.
Scrum Master Energy - Banging Bongos and Shaking Tambourines
Does having a continuous improvement mindset make you a negative person? Do people view you as overly critical? Does it make it harder for you to stop and smell the roses? In this episode, Drew and Brad explore these questions and open up about challenges and habits they have in their own lives, teams, and organizations. They touch on agile culture, positive psychology, and energy leadership. Drew ensures we all know how cool he is and self-identifies as a "fun coach," while Brad is against mandatory fun and is a calming force with his stoic presence. More than just a feel-good episode, the Agile Manifesto and its core values emphasize the human aspect over process and tools. Delivering innovative, high-quality software at a steady pace requires motivated, involved, and happy teams. And you know what they say, happy developers equal happy users. Tune in to relate and/or learn some tips and tricks. #GoodVibesOnly
Links from this episode:
1. The Happiness Advantage (https://www.shawnachor.com/happiness-advantage-key-takeaways/)
2. Tiny Habits (https://tinyhabits.com/)
3. Atomic Habits (https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits)
4. Husband reviews scotch while wife leaves him (https://youtu.be/ouGLEtapOX8)
5. iPEC Coaching (https://www.ipeccoaching.com/blog/energy-leadership-explanation)
What the heck is going on at Capital One? w/Former Capital One Agilist, Amanda Rae Arseneau
Leadership skills without the knife hand with former US Air Force EOD Master Sergeant Ken L. Lewis
Each day software developers are responsible for maintaining code bases that support billions of dollars in revenue streams. When decisions need to be made it can often feel like that MacGuyver moment of choosing between the red wire, and the blue one. In this episode, Drew is joined by former USAF Explosive Ordnance Disposal Master Sergeant turned Leadership & Performance consultant Ken Lewis to discuss the contrast and similarities to leading software teams and EOD teams who literally cut red wires.
Military culture is often associated with toughness, discipline, and always being ready to fight, but the reality is that while the military is entrenched in authority, its leadership approach is highly empathetic. Ken’s experience as a US Air Force EOD tech gives him unique insight into how we can apply high-stakes military leadership principles, with empathy and compassion into our daily lives at work and in our personal relationships.
You'll also learn about the "knife hand," and why you probably shouldn't use it.
This episode is packed full of actionable insights you can take back to your own organization today!
How To Get Your Scrum Black Belt With ShuHaRi
Scrum Success: Tales of an early stage agile experiment (Featuring Shaun Bradley)
Agile and Scrum Certifications: Are they worth the investment?
The History of Agile and Scrum: Where did it come from, and why are we still waterfall?
Leadership: A skill the US Military gets right and corporate America still has to learn
Scrum Master 201: Tips, tricks and insights to help your company shift from project to product (featuring Director of Business Agility Mariya Padalko)
Lean Flow: Brad's Lessons from Lean Manufacturing
Let's fight like gentleman, how dare you call me an agile purist!