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We're arguing about agile so that you don't have to!
We seek to prepare you to deal with real-life business agility challenges by demonstrating both sides of the real arguments you will encounter in your work and career.
Arguing Agile is hosted by seasoned professionals who explore experience from their careers, share stories, and suggest advice to other professionals. We do these things while maintaining an unbiased position from any financial interest.
248 Episodes
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Is Amazon's famous leadership principle being weaponized against you? Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel as we talk about how "disagree and commit" becomes "shut up and obey" in most companies. Watch or listen as we discuss one of tech's most misunderstood management concepts, covering topics such as: Difference between Amazon and Your CompanyRed flag phrasesWhy psychological safety is non-negotiableWhat happens when smart peop...
Your boss's biggest career win might be setting them up for their biggest failure. 🚨 Listen or watch as hosts Brian Orlando and Om Patel tackle a phenomenon that's rampant in tech but rarely named: Expertise Overreach: when someone's success in one narrow domain inflates their confidence across every domain, with devastating consequences for teams, roadmaps, and the entire organization. In this episode, we're diving deep into the murky pool of psychology, neuroscience, and organizational dy...
AI agents failed spectacularly at teamwork, performing ~50% worse than one solo agent! This week, we're discussing Stanford’s CooperBench study (a benchmark, testing whether AI agents can collaborate on real coding tasks across Python, TypeScript, Go, and Rust) and why AI-developer coordination collapses, even with a constant chat. Listen or watch as Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel dig into the methods and findings of Stanford’s 2026 CooperB...
Spotify never used the Spotify Model - and neither should you. In this $2 billion episode, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel take a cutting torch to one of big-A-Agile's most beloved organizational myths - the Spotify Model! We're doing invasive surgery to see what's inside beyond the over-hyped squads, tribes, chapters, and guilds that have been copied by companies the world over. ...but what if we found out that the inside was ho...
Legacy systems work. So why do companies waste millions rewriting them? In this episode of Arguing Agile, Product Manager Nisha Patel joins Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel for a debate on the dangerous obsession with rewriting legacy systems — from COBOL to green screens — that still power ATMs, government systems, and Fortune 500 billing engines. Watch or listen as we discuss the myth that "modern" equals "better" and reveal how...
Your meetings aren't boring because there are too many; they're boring because they lack drama, structure, and purpose! That's the claim made by Patrick Lencioni's book: Death by Meeting (2004)! Watch or listen as Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel use this book as a guide to discuss why most workplace meetings fail and how to transform them into productive, engaging sessions that people actually want to attend. 🔥 KEY TOPICS COVERED: • The 3 F...
Does getting promoted literally rewire your brain to lose empathy? The science says YES. 🧠 In this research-backed episode of Arguing Agile, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel examine the unsettling neuroscience behind why your favorite coworker turned into a corporate tyrant after their last promotion. Drawing from peer-reviewed studies in the Journal of Experimental Psychology and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, wat...
Is 'Move Fast & Break Things' just permission to be reckless? Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel as they examine Mark Zuckerberg's (in)famous mantra and reveal how it may have metastasized from breaking code to breaking laws, teams, and even contributing to real human harm. Watch or listen as we explore the critical dimensions of this philosophy, including: BREAKING SOFTWARE: How the original meaning of 'break things' (emphasizing fi...
Stop wasting time building the wrong thing faster! In this episode of Arguing Agile, Product Manager: Brian Orlando and Business Agility Coach to THE STARS: Om Patel respond to yet another listener question, discussing Product Risk Analysis in agile environments! Listen or watch as they challenge the common misconception that analyzing risks upfront is "waterfall" and reveal why ignoring product risks until you've burned three sprints is how teams end up building features nobody wants...
Is your solution architect a gatekeeper or an enabler? Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel as they draw from their experiences to debate the reasons these roles - which should be natural partners - often find themselves at odds. It's a no-holds-barred look into the eternal conflict between product managers and solution architects! Watch or listen as we explore: 1. Why the role exists and if it's even necessary 2. Who owns technical de...
Lost a $2M deal and nobody discussed why? You're not alone! Your company is running on hope, not learning. Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel are discussing the potentially career-limiting topic of asking "why does the organization systematically avoid learning from failures?" Thanks! We'll be sure to shut the door on our way out... but before we do, we'll explore why sales and product teams never debrief lost deals together, why custome...
Discover how the world's most profitable companies actually make money, from Tesla to Amazon to ChatGPT. Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel as they continue to explore the 23 business models from Adrian Slywotzky's "The Art of Profitability." Part 2 continues the examination of the strengths and weaknesses of the remaining 11 business models where the hosts discuss why some companies dominate their industries while others struggle. B...
12 proven business models that separate successful products from failures! Product Manager Brian Orlando & Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel examine 12 real-world business models with real examples of the companies that employ them! Based on "The Art of Profitability" by Adrian Slywotzky (2002), this part-1-of-2 podcast covers: • Customer Solution Model (Palantir, SAP, Salesforce) • Product Pyramid (Apple, Tesla, GM) • Multi-Component Pricing (Uber, Coca-Cola) • Switchboard...
Debating why pricing belongs in product management's hands, not sales or finance. Product Manager Brian and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om are rankling egos as they discuss a heated debates: who should own pricing decisions? Listen or watch as they argue that pricing is product strategy, not a sales tactic. 🎯 Topics Covered: • The financial literacy gap in product management • How to diagnose pricing authority in your organization • Why executives resist giving PMs pricing contr...
When does adapting your communication style cross the line into manipulation? Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel as we examine the differences between translation and transformation of messages. Together, we provide a framework for communicating effectively across audiences without becoming a "slimy shapeshifter." Discover the three-point integrity test, learn to spot narrative inconsistency, and understand why your reputation depends on ...
What do you do when you're assigned to coach a team that clearly doesn't want your help? In this episode, we tackle the uncomfortable reality of coaching unwilling teams—from building trust with resistant groups to knowing when it's time to walk away. 🎯 KEY TOPICS: • Why teams resist coaching (and what they're really protecting) • The danger of "meeting teams where they are" • How to handle power dynamics and surveillance concerns • Coaching executives vs. development teams • When coaching i...
Building products for yourself sounds like the perfect PM training ground! At first glance, you get instant feedback, prioritize ruthlessly, and have no bureaucracy to whom you answer... but does it actually prepare you for professional product management, or does it create dangerous blind spots? In this episode, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel explore several critical dimensions: Learning velocity and skill developmentUser empathy paradoxes...
Is product sense innate or learnable? We debate the million dollar question in product management. Brian and Om explore whether great product leaders are born or made, why organizations promote people with weak product intuition, and how to actually develop genuine product sense. We cover the promotion problem, delayed feedback loops, the role of mentorship, balancing data with intuition, and scaling product thinking across contexts. Key topics: nature vs. nurture in product thinking, why b...
You're expected to drive transformation but can't fire anyone. You need to deliver results but don't control budgets. Welcome to the reality of leading software development efforts - all responsibility, zero authority. Join Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando as we discuss proven strategies for building influence when you have no formal power, including: • Building relationships before you need them • Leveraging expertise without becoming a gate...
Ever wondered why mergers and acquisitions turn good people against each other? In this deep dive, we explore the systematic destruction of workplace relationships after an M&A. From sponsors-turned-foes to information warfare, discover why even the most collaborative cultures become pathological survival games. Key Topics: • Why M&As create artificial scarcity and paranoia • The sponsor-turned-foe phenomenon • Information as currency and weapon • Blame archaeology and ...
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