In this episode, hosts Hemant (Om) Patel and Brian Orlando are joined by special guest Bob Crews , co-founder and CEO of Checkpoint Technologies. Listen as we dive deep into the critical role quality assurance plays in the agile development process, including: The difference between QA and QC and how they fit into agile How QA has evolved over the past 20 years The importance of risk analysis as a QA function How QA can bridge the gap The impact of AI on software testing Tips for spotting and de...
Apr 10, 2024•37 min•Season 1Ep. 159
What is a product philosophy and why does it matter? In this insightful episode, Ed Martin joins hosts Om Patel and Brian Orlando to discuss how clarifying your product principles and values can align your team and improve decision-making. Discover the difference between product philosophy, vision, and principles. Learn practical tips for formalizing your philosophy and applying it to real-world tradeoffs in features, technical debt, and go-to-market plans. Walk away with an understanding of how...
Apr 03, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 158
"Fail fast" is used so often, it has become a cliché! In this episode, we tackle rebranding the term "fail fast" to "learn fast" within organizational cultures. Is this a step towards promoting psychological safety and open conversations, or does it undermine the essence of embracing failure as a catalyst for growth? Whether you're a leader, manager, or part of a self-organizing team, this episode offers valuable insights into cultivating a culture that truly values experimentation, iteration, a...
Mar 27, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 157
In this episode, our favorite special mystery guest joins the podcast for a comprehensive walkthrough of the PI Planning agenda so that our resident Product Manager, Brian, can be "sold" on the idea. SAFe P.I. Planning is a critical event that aligns teams with business objectives and fosters collaboration across the organization... ...or is it? Drawing from extensive experience, we delve into the benefits of PI Planning, including fostering relationships, securing leadership buy-in, and mitigat...
Mar 20, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 156
Standardization. It's the battle-cry of managers, the world, over! This episode explores a parallel track to our Weaponizing Efficiency episode where we explore the dark side of standardization. In this episode, the hosts share their experiences and insights on topics such as: The potential stifling effects of rigid processes and monocultures on innovation The dangers of groupthink and bureaucracy in organizations The impact of standardization on individual learning and development The complexit...
Mar 13, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 155
Some people say you can't build products without being guided by evidence. Some people say you can't build products without strong intuition. We're arguing about the balance so you don't have to! This episode, we also welcome back friend of the show Alex Polyakov, CEO and Founder of Project Simple. Alex and his company are on a mission to make Teams better by building the first ever AI Agile Software Management Platform. Go see what Project Simple is all about by visiting them at projectsimple.a...
Mar 06, 2024•47 min•Season 1Ep. 154
In agile software development, everyone loves to say they know what the customer needs... but who do you really need to listen to, and what are they really saying? This podcast explores the different roles and their interpretations of "customer needs", from product managers to founders to the actual customer! 0:00 Topic Intro: It's What the Customer Needs 0:33 When the Product Manager or Owner Tells You 1:57 Jumping to Solutions (vs Exploring Problems) 6:43 "The Customer Said" Defense 10:04 When...
Feb 28, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 153
Weaponizing Efficiency: Is it really helping your software development, product, and teams? Efficiency is crucial, but at what cost? This episode digs deep into the dark side of "weaponized efficiency" in software development, product management, and team & business agility. We discuss how seemingly well-intentioned practices can stifle creativity, breed fear, and ultimately hurt value creation. Join us for a thought-provoking discussion that will challenge assumptions about efficiency and e...
Feb 21, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 152
If your product has a combination of hardware and software, this is the podcast for you! This podcast is all about agile in the manufacturing world with manufacturing expert and consultant to the stars, Clint Murt! Clint joins Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando for an exploration of a realm where just creating great software isn't enough. We quickly discover that, when hardware enters the picture, complex compounds exponentially. Special shout out to the...
Feb 14, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 151
Senior Product Coach Mike Miller is back on the Podcast, joining Brian & Om for a fun and lightweight podcast discussion about the unspoken realities of agile software development! Get ready to talk about all those elephants in corners - from the unspoken challenges teams experience, to budgeting woes, to inflated titles, to unclear goals and value propositions! 0:00 Topic Intro: Things You Don't Say Out Loud in Agile 0:19 Project Managers Retitled to Product Manager 2:40 Product vs Project ...
Feb 09, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 150
In this episode, we answer an interview question that Brian has started to notice Product Managers stumbling over: "What are some indicators you would look for to know if an agile team is working effectively?" 0:00 Topic Intro 1:49 Velocity 4:39 Delivery and Forecasting 6:21 Flow Metrics (Cycle Time, Lead Time, WIP) 7:50 Say-Do Ratio 10:17 Different Uses for Say-Do 11:31 Retro Improvements 14:48 Impediment Resolution 16:45 Roadmap Categorization & Finance 19:54 Backlog Health 22:51 Customer ...
Jan 31, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 149
This podcast is your ultimate introduction to the cryptic, mysterious, and sometimes clandestine world of software development finance. Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel as they explore the finance-side of the house with special guest and CPA, Newton Owi! Listen as we discuss the ins-and-outs of software-finance, including an explanation of Capex vs Opex, an overview of capitalization, an in-depth review of Internal vs External Use Software, and a ...
Jan 24, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 148
Have a world-changing product idea but don't know how to get it to users? This no-nonsense episode of the Arguing Agile podcast breaks down the REALITY of building products from the ground up. Listen as two industry veterans discuss market research, MVPs, user feedback, and go-to-market strategies so that you can avoid costly mistakes and boost your chances of success. 0:00 Topic Intro: 0 to 1 0:36 Hey Kid, I Got This New Idea! 1:55 What Problem Are We Trying to Solve? 3:42 Identifying a Market ...
Jan 17, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 147
Ever wondered about why you hunger for an episode on Release Planning or why Brian's Spotify rant struck a chord? Get the inside scoop at this retrospective feast! We'll examine the recipes for our most popular content from 2024, revealing the juicy trends and themes that tickled your fancy. Plus, we are giving a sneak peek into future episodes, inspired by your binge-worthy favorites! 0:00 Topic Intro 0:46 AP17: Scrum Master's Role in Release Planning 2:41 Back-up Communicator 6:27 Playing the ...
Jan 10, 2024•46 min•Season 1Ep. 146
Why Do Incompetent Men Rise to the Top? ️ This week's #ArguingAgile #Podcast tackles Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic's 2013 HBR article on this very real issue with #leadership. Read the Article: https://hbr.org/2013/08/why-do-so-many-incompetent-men 0:00 Topic: Incompetent Men in Leadership 0:37 Ratios of Men to Women in Management 3:03 Management vs Leadership 5:04 We Can't Measure Leadership 7:53 Downfall of Bad Managers 10:10 Personality Disorders 11:50 Short Term Thinking 13:31 Women Leaders 14:55 ...
Jan 04, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 145
Buckle up fellow agilists because this episode we're asking the question - should your next Scrum Master be your Manager? Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando are breaking the working agreement for this week's podcast to review an article posted on Scrum.org by Ryan Ripley titled: "Your Next Scrum Master Should Be Your Manager." Read the Article: https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/your-next-scrum-master-should-be-your-manager 0:00 Topic Intro 1:16 Article Premise...
Dec 27, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 144
Is ego the silent assassin in your team's success story? Tag a friend who needs to hear this conversation! In this blistering episode of the Arguing Agile Podcast, Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando crack open the Pandora's box of ego in the workplace and its devastating impact on team dynamics, product development, and overall success. A big thank you to Jeff Gothelf whose recent article titled: "Ego Killed the Empowered Product Team" served as the inspiration a...
Dec 20, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 143
The question came up recently at a community event: "What Technical Skills Should a Scrum Master Have?" Brian didn't answer the originally posed question, turning it into "What skills should a SM have," and that bugged him so much, he wanted to turn the actual question into a podcast! On this episode, Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando discuss the corporate atmosphere that may be behind this question, as well as answering the re-worded question, and even delving ...
Dec 13, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 142
Minimum Viable Product as made famous by Eric Reis in the Lean Startup is barely recognizable and likely unusable due to the proliferation of different concepts associated with the term. Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando discuss and debate what MVP is, what it's supposed to be, and try to discern any usefulness from the jargon that seems to have coopted and repurposed "Minimum Viable Product!" 0:00 Topic Intro: MVP 0:18 Why Talk About MVP? 1:16 Discussion Framew...
Dec 06, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 141
HELP! Our Backlog has 500 Bugs and we feel like we're never going to dig ourselves out!!! Remain calm... On this episode, Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando walk through how a company or shop might get to this point, and discuss some strategies to help dig yourself out of this deep, dark hole! 0:00 Topic Intro: 500 Bugs in the Backlog 0:28 Initial Reactions 2:44 Reasons 3:55 Process 5:10 Rogue QA, or the Perception Thereof 7:18 It's Done, But... 8:53 Customers Pa...
Nov 29, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 140
Recently, a small audience was shocked to learn that Product Manager Brian Orlando has no team members in the permanent role of QA (or Testing). On this episode, Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando discuss why the audience reacted like Brian just kicked their dog, and what it takes to get a hypothetical team to the same point. 0:00 Topic Intro: We Have No QA 0:26 The Backstory 1:46 It's What We've Always Done 2:43 Handoff Disfunctions 4:55 Efficiency 7:27 Brian's ...
Nov 22, 2023•33 min•Season 1Ep. 139
On this week's podcast, we're joined by Alex Polyakov . Alex is the CEO and Founder of Project Simple . Alex and his company are on a mission to make Teams better by building the first ever AI Agile Software Management Platform and solving the ever-growing list of problems and frustrations that come with Jira. Go see what Project Simple is all about by visiting them at projectsimple.ai ...or connect with Alex on LinkedIn ! Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando sit d...
Nov 15, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 138
We're reviewing Ron Jeffries article: "Estimation is Evil" from the February 2013 issue of the Pragmatic Programmers magazine. This article is mostly known for being the source most people quote when they say the inventor of story points is sorry he created them, or that the inventor of story points doesn't like story points. We dig into this claim, reading the article and summarizing and pontificating on key points. Join, Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando as th...
Nov 08, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 137
How do you "sell" management on Retrospectives? This question was posed to the group at a community networking event and we thought it was such a deep question, we'd bring it into the podcast! On this episode, Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando discuss ways to bring up retrospectives and way to engrain them into the culture of your organization. 0:00 Topic Intro 0:14 Om's Initial Reaction 0:42 Om's First Pitch 1:52 A Manager's Fallacy 4:25 Escaping Middle Managem...
Nov 01, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 136
In this podcast, Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando discuss the most common disagreements, arguments, and spirited discussions that Scrum Masters find themselves in throughout their careers. There were so many topics, we had to split this podcast into two! 0:00 Topic Intro: Most Common SM Disagreements 0:35 Impediment Disagreements 2:59 Using the Definition of Done 6:34 Building Communication 10:53 Meeting Fatigue 15:20 More Effective Retrospectives 17:43 Example...
Oct 25, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 135
In this podcast, Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando discuss the most common disagreements, arguments, and spirited discussions that Scrum Masters find themselves in throughout their careers. There were so many topics, we had to split this podcast into two! 0:00 Topic Intro: Most Common Disagreements 0:34 Today's Framework 0:59 Hourly Estimates 3:04 Relative Estimation 7:13 Re-Estimating After Discovering New Info 11:27 Scope Creep 17:50 Role Confusion 20:23 Align...
Oct 18, 2023•40 min•Season 1Ep. 134
In this episode, we explore an article titled "Do Infrastructure Teams Need Product Management." Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel as we discuss the realities of Infrastructure or Platform teams and the reasons they team might or might not have a Product Manager. Click here for the Source Article . 0:00 Topic Intro: Do Infrastructure Teams Need Product Management 0:26 Reading the Article 1:29 Om's Initial Take 3:13 Arguing on Observation #1: Seasoned Teams ...
Oct 11, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 133
On this episode, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel discuss the reporting structures of Product Management and dive into an article on the subject by Product Consultant, Jason Knight. https://arguingagile.com/ Jason Knight's Full Article: " Falling in Love with Problems, and who SHOULDN’T Product Management report through? ," published Feb 20, 2023. 0:00 Topic Intro: Who Should and Shouldn't Product Management Report Through 0:17 Jason Knight's Newsletter Article...
Oct 04, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 132
On this episode, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Agility Coach Om Patel discuss the reasons why everything is always priority one in some teams and software development organizations, their experiences in these organizations, and what might be done. https://arguingagile.com/ 0:00 Topic Intro: Everything is Priority One! 0:34 Not Touching This... 2:10 Unclear Product Expectations 7:00 Games with Metrics 10:33 Delegating to the Team 12:09 Misaligned Goals and Strategies 21:50 Team Ove...
Sep 27, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 131
Dive into the world of Agile software development, quality assurance, and testing in this knowledge and experience-packed podcast episode! Join a former QA Manager turned Product Manager and an Enterprise Agility Coach as we explore key topics around agile development and testing! #AgileDevelopment #QualityAssurance #TestingInAgile #SoftwareQuality #TechDebt #CrossFunctionality #AutomationTesting #ShiftLeft #ScrumGuide #TechnicalProductPeople #SoftwareBugs #ReleaseProcesses #PodcastDiscussion #A...
Sep 20, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 130
