Arguing Agile

We're arguing about agile so that you don't have to!

We seek to better prepare you to deal with real-life challenges by presenting both sides of the real arguments you will encounter in your professional career.

On this podcast, working professionals explore topics and learnings from their experiences and share the stories of Agilists at all stages of their careers. We seek to do so while maintaining an unbiased position from any financial interest.

Last refreshed: July 15th, 2025 at 9:53 AM ⓘ

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Episodes

Agile Podcast E9 - Working within the PMO

Brian Orlando and Om Patel talk about working within the confines of the PMO! Whether it is the Project Management Office, the Product Management Office, or some combination thereof, in this episode, we cover it all. 0:00 What is a PMO (Project Management Office) 7:45 Traditional PMO, Day in the Life 13:12 An Agile PMO 18:38 Retrofitting a PMO to encompass Agility 25:13 Nobody wants to do Maintenance Forever 30:50 Agile PMO Operations 40:22 Changing the PMO 47:03 What is a PMO (Product Managemen...

Jun 11, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 9

Agile Podcast E8 - Sprint Reviews and Sprint Planning (and Backlog Refinement)

Brian Orlando and Om Patel go back to basics in part two of our walkthrough of each of the Scrum Events! In this episode, we talk about the Sprint Review and Sprint Planning. We discuss our experiences and the different ways to approach and facilitate each event. We also briefly discuss Backlog Refinement which it totally not an "event." 0:00 Design Thinking & the Sprint Review 10:48 Musings on the Sprint Review Purpose 17:40 Summarizing the Sprint Review 27:27 Mainly Nonsensical Banter 28:2...

Jun 11, 2021•54 min•Season 1Ep. 8

Agile Podcast E7 - The Daily Scrum and the Sprint Retrospective

Brian Orlando and Om Patel go back to basics in part one of our walkthrough of each of the Scrum Events! In this episode, we talk about the Daily Scrum and the Sprint Retrospective. We discuss our experiences and the different ways to approach and facilitate each event. 0:00 Daily Scrum - 3 Questions 13:36 Daily Scrum - Walk the Board 19:37 Why Do the Daily Scrum at All? 28:47 Daily Scrum for a New Team 33:44 Retrospectives 42:45 On-Demand Retro May Have Helped 51:00 Faux Statuses 56:06 Stopping...

Jun 11, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 7

Agile Podcast E6 - Agile Budgeting

Brian Orlando and Om Patel discuss the riveting topic of Agile Budgeting! In this episode, we compare and contrast Agile budgets versus Traditional budgets. We also discuss the effects budgets have on timelines as well as walk through several examples that could affect budgets (some more than once). 0:00 Budgeting for New Projects 4:01 Old School Budgeting 12:40 The Value Stream Approach 17:10 The Start-Up Scenario 26:26 Timeline effect on Budgets 30:54 Team Stability effect on Budgets 35:42 Cap...

Jun 11, 2021•53 min•Season 1Ep. 6

Agile Podcast E5 - All About Agile Teams

Brian Orlando and Om Patel discuss topics related to Agile Teams. In this episode, we talk about team size and its effect on team effectiveness, as well as how to measure the business value of the teams' output. 0:00 Utilization Fallacies 8:25 Team Size (Sub-Optimizing) 16:31 Team Size (When to Divide) 21:55 Tracking Business Value 29:28 Effects of Changing Team Members 37:40 Dedicated vs. Distributed Scrum Master 42:25 Agile Testers Also available on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1H...

Jun 11, 2021•50 min•Season 1Ep. 5

Agile Podcast E4 - Psychological Safety

Brian Orlando and Om Patel talk at length about Psychological Safety. Later on, Brian and Om are joined by a Special Surprise Guest to talk about the challenges of joining a new team and about unlearning habits as a Scrum Master. Also, our apologies for the audio/video sync problems that plagued this episode. There were some gear issues that will be resolved after some changes. Contents: 0:00 Psychological Safety 9:02 Jarring pivot to talk "about the podcast" 12:21 Psychological Safety, Part 2 1...

May 20, 2021•59 min•Season 1Ep. 4

Agile Podcast E3 - Organizational Agility & Scrum Masters

Brian Orlando and Om Patel discuss Agility and some common challenges that organizations face before Brian takes off on a rant for the rest of the Episode about Scrum Masters; why we need them, and why people think they don't. 0:00 Agility & Toyota 12:23 Organizational Challenges 17:26 Can't Afford a Scrum Master 26:06 Let's Rotate our Scrum Master 36:59 More things a Scrum Master helps with... 44:45 Personal/Professional Disappointments 57:12 Final Thoughts on the Scrum Master This American...

May 14, 2021•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 3

Agile Podcast E2 - New POs, Not Getting Fired, and Meet them Where They Are

Brian sits down with Om for ROUND 2! In this Episode, we discuss some different methods to handling Sprint Planning, how not to get fired as a "effective" Scrum Master (hopefully), and "Meet them Where they Are" as a mantra. 0:00 Intro 2:26 Sprint Planning & a New PO 15:33 Division of Planning What & How 35:05 Leads outside of the Teams 47:54 Tips for Not Getting Fired 1:05:25 Agile Delivery Lead 1:16:48 Brian Hates on Spotify's App (not the model) 1:23:40 Meet Them Where They Are... 1:4...

Apr 03, 2021•1 hr 46 min•Season 1Ep. 2

Agile Podcast E1 - The First Episode

Brian Orlando and Om Patel sit down to talk about anything and everything; including Story Mapping, Story writing, roles in SAFe, and offshore Scrum Masters. 0:00 Product Owners and Scrum Masters 10:11 Story Mapping (Part 1) 25:38 As a System Stories 31:55 Story Mapping (Part 2) 39:18 Coaching Tools 42:22 Nerdy BA Stuff 46:00 LinkedIn Click-baiting 48:57 SAFe 58:18 Hiring the Right People 1:10:46 Offshore Scrum Masters 1:24:40 Wrap-Up and Future Guests...

Mar 28, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 1

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