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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.
241 Episodes
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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 ...
Join Product Manager Brian and Enterprise Consultant Om as they peel back the sticky veneer from the "Build First" trend sweeping through product development. Listen or watch as we debate the message being projected by AI tool vendors (who all have their own flavor of tool to sell you) and ask - "are we encouraging teams to skip crucial validation" in favor of rapid prototyping? Stick around for our discussion, which includes: - How "Build First" creates organizational dependencies on AI ...
Is Product Management the most unrealistic job description ever created? Product Managers are supposed to be the "CEO of the product" - a one-person army who is CEO, therapist, engineer, and strategist (all without equity or authority). The only issue is that it sounds terrible and is a modern recipe for failure. Watch as Brian and Om dive deep into the impossible expectations placed on Product Managers. Listen as we talk through how the role expects you to work 60+ hours minimum, han...
In this episode of Arguing Agile, Brian and Om explore the frustrating reality of constant repetition in leadership roles. They discuss why product managers, agile coaches, and team leads find themselves saying the same things over and over - and what to do about it. We explore: • Why repetition is actually part of a leader's core job • How to transform repetition into reinforcement • How the global attention crisis affects workplace communication • Creating single sources of tru...
The agile brand may have become toxic, but your skills haven't lost value. If you're struggling - listen or watch as we discuss the valuable skills you have and how you might apply them in future roles. Founder & CEO Alex Polyakov returns to the podcast, joining Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel for a discussion about the market shift that has taken place and how people avoid being held back by outdated terminology! One immedi...
Your founding team delivered your first million-dollar quarter - but can they scale you to $10 million and beyond? Join Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando as we talk through the challenging transition from startup scrappiness to operational excellence. Along the way, we ask about loyalty vs. performance, innovation vs. optimization, and how to manage team evolution without destroying trust and culture. Watch or listen if you're interested...
Is your QA team really slowing down delivery, or are they just revealing the cracks in your development process? In this episode of Arguing Agile, we're talking about one of the most persistent myths in software development and reveal why QA teams are often unfairly blamed for systemic issues. We explore: The shift-left movement and why QA belongs in customer conversationsHow collaboration breakdowns create false bottlenecks Why treating QA as a cost center backfiresReal strategies for ...
People don't quit jobs - they quit bad bosses... OR DO THEY?!? We had so many untouched debate points from our first episode that it would have been a crime - A CRIME - to throw it all away. So we decided to do a part 2! That's right, we're back and Brian tries to make his argument with all new points - are we blaming individual managers for systemic failures? Listen or watch as we (Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel) debate all new poin...
We're challenging the most accepted wisdom in workplace culture - do people really quit bad bosses, or are they really fleeing broken systems? Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel as they engage in this heated debate and explore whether blaming individual managers lets dysfunctional organizations off the hook. 🔥 Listen or watch as we also cover: Why good managers turn "bad" under systemic pressureThe broken promotion pipeline from individual cont...
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