Comparative Agility

In this episode of the Comparative Agility Podcast, host Dee Rhoda sits down with Dan LeFebvre and Avi Schneier to explore the intersection of AI and Scrum@Scale. Together, they discuss practical ways AI can support teams and organizations—from enhancing meetings and backlogs to helping action teams and MetaScrums make better decisions.

In this episode, we chat with Paddy Dhanda—host of the Superpower School podcast and co-founder of The Visual Jam—about the thinking behind the new Communities of Practice Healthcheck. Created in collaboration with Comparative Agility, this team-based assessment helps leaders and members better understand their communities across purpose, engagement, collaboration, leadership, and impact.Paddy shares why traditional “vanity metrics” and how this assessment goes deeper to capture real value. With his signature energy and humor, he also reflects on what it takes to nurture truly collaborative communities that matter.

In this episode, we speak with Si Alhir about the thinking behind the latest Comparative Agility assessment, rooted in the principles of Natural Human Leadership. Si introduces key concepts such as power dynamics, power in motion, and power over time, anchored in a reality-based worldview that contrasts with traditional, ego-based models of leadership. Drawing from his lifelong engagement with The Art of War, Si explores how ancient wisdom can help us navigate modern complexity with agility, resilience, and authenticity.

In this episode, we speak with Jurgen Appelo about what it means to be truly ready for AI in today’s organizations. Jurgen and Dee explore how digital teammates are changing the way we work, the human tendency to anthropomorphize AI, and why traditional knowledge-based roles must evolve. Jurgen shares practical insights on how coaches and consultants can remain relevant by shifting their focus from delivering knowledge to generating insights and fostering creativity alongside AI.

In this episode, we speak with Avi Schneier, an expert in Scrum@Scale. Avi and Dee explore how the Scrum@Scale framework enables organizations to scale agility effectively by improving cross-team collaboration and executive alignment. He also talks about the upcoming Scrum@Scale Assessment, developed in collaboration with Comparative Agility, which helps organizations identify inefficiencies, uncover growth opportunities, and enhance their scaling strategies.

In this episode, we speak with Joe Krebs, creator of the Agile Kata. Joe shares insights into how the Agile Kata serves as a universal pattern for continuous agile improvement, helping leaders, coaches, and teams foster a culture of scientific thinking and experimentation. He also discusses the Agile Kata Assessment, developed in collaboration with Comparative Agility, and how it enables organizations to evaluate their agility, identify opportunities for growth, and drive meaningful change.

In this episode, we speak with Luiz C. Parzianello, a pioneer of Agile Methods in Brazil and creator of the Framework for Agile Business Ownership™. Luiz shares insights into the Evolutionary Leadership Model and the innovative self-assessment tool he co-created with Comparative Agility, designed to help leaders develop competencies essential for business agility. We explore the model’s four leadership dimensions—Connected, Conscious, Coherent, and Consistent—and their 25 practices, offering leaders a clear path for personal growth and self-awareness.

In this special episode, we bid farewell to Simon Hilton, who has expertly guided our podcast, and welcome Dee Rhoda as the new host. With over 15 years in IT and a deep commitment to Agile practices, Dee brings a wealth of experience transforming teams and supporting Scrum frameworks. As a certified ScrumMaster and Scrum Product Owner, she’s passionate about helping teams and organizations succeed through effective Scrum practices. Join us for a reflective conversation on past episodes and an inspiring look at what’s next for the Comparative Agility Podcast.

In this episode, we speak again with Mark Summers and Bob Galen about the Agile Coaching PI. We talk about what has changed in the agile coaching world and how you can change with it. Mark Summers believes happiness always comes first. As a leading figure in the growth of agile coaching, experience has taught him that if a team is having fun, it will perform far better. Bob Galen is an Agile Practitioner, Trainer & Coach based in Cary, NC. In this role he helps guide companies and teams in their pragmatic adoption and organizational shift towards agile methods of working. Bob has been doing that since the late 1990s, so he’s deeply experienced. The Agile Coaching Growth Wheel -  http://whatisagilecoaching.org/agile-coaching-growth-wheel/ Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching Book - https://www.agile-moose.com/repo-landing

Is this episode we speak with Steve Pereira about Value Stream Management. The most successful physical businesses have excelled at Value Stream Management (VSM) for decades, but its principles and practices are now powering the most successful digital transformations and high performing software delivery. Steve Pereira is a board advisor to the VSM Consortium, CEO of Visible Value Stream Consulting, co-creator of the VSM Foundation Course, and an upcoming book on VSM.

In this episode we speak with Si Alhir about how Agility, Resilience, and Antifragility can be used to improve out comes for individuals, teams, enterprises, and ecosystems. ⁠Si Alhir⁠, with over four decades of working with start-ups and the Fortune 500, is an entrepreneur, author, enterprise business agility/resilience/antifragility and transformation leader, coach, consultant, and practitioner (catalyst/alchemist) who partners with individuals, teams, and enterprises in calibrating business, strategy, leadership, culture, execution, and technology to achieve business outcomes and growth in a turbulent world through transformation focused on advancing Ecosystems, Agility, Resilience, and Antifragility.

In this episode we speak with Andrea Goulet about Collaborative Empathy and how it is essential for any cross functional team. Empathy is the mechanism that enables individuals to collaborate in groups to solve complex problems. When teams understand the technical nuances of empathy, they can more easily identify specific practices they can leverage to improve levels of well-being, innovation, and achievement.Andrea Goulet Andrea Goulet is on a mission to integrate empathy into the tech industry. As a sought-after keynote speaker, Andrea is best known for making empathy accessible to analytical skeptics. Her approach to empathy is pragmatic and practical, and she has a particular knack for providing concrete and relevant ways to use empathy for software system health and resilience.

In this episode we speak with Cliff Berg and Stephen Villaescusa about Agile2 and how Agile can be taken further using Culture, Knowledge and Behaviour.

In this episode we speak with Esther Derby The Managing Complexity capability that helps organizations assess their leadership approach in three critical domains.By understanding their team's performance in these domains, organizations can identify areas for improvement and adopt a more effective leadership style suited to today's complex business environment. Esther Derby is one of the world's most respected thought leaders in agile ways of working. With four decades of experience in leading, observing, and experiencing organizational change, Esther Derby works with a diverse range of organizations, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Her approach, informed by both experience and research, prioritizes both the human element and a deep understanding of complex adaptive systems.

In this episode we speak with Claudia Melo, Jutta Eckstein and Steve Holyer about the Agile Sustainability capability and how it can help your teams create a better world.  Jutta Eckstein (https://www.jeckstein.com/) works as an independent coach, consultant, and trainer. She is trained as a pollution control commissioner on ecological environmentalism. Jutta has helped many teams and organizations worldwide to make an a Agile transition. She has a unique experience in applying Agile processes within medium- sized to large distributed mission-critical projects. Jutta has recently pair-written with John Buck a book entitled 'Company-wide Agility with Beyond Budgeting, Open Space & Sociocracy' (dubbed BOSSA nova). Besides that, she has published her experience in her books 'Agile Software Development in the Large', Agile Software Development with Distributed Teams', 'Retrospectives for Organizational Change', and together with Johanna Rothman 'Diving for Hidden Treasures: Uncovering the Cost of Delay in your Project Portfolio'. Steve Holyer is an experienced trainer. coach, facilitator and consultant helping organizations unleash value and deliver results. He is also a frequent international speaker and a thought-leader on Scrum and Agile software development. He serves as advocate and mentor for companies, leaders and change agents looking for a better way of working using Agile practices in a productive, fulfilling, and fun way. Steve learned his craft serving as a Scrum Master with multiple teams and organizations, so he knows how to change an organization from the inside. From international Swiss business to emerging markets in South Africa, Steve understands and shows how to apply Scrum and Agile principles in specific cultural contexts. Since 2000, he has been based in Zurich. Switzerland. Claudia Melo is a technology leader building high-performing agile teams, taking big ideas and bringing them to life, and helping teams successfully navigate through change and innovation. She brings over twenty years of global experience in developing new digital solutions. digital transformation, consulting, technology/business strategy, evidence-based research & working with senior leadership executives. She was previously Director at Loft, Enterprise Agile Coach with the United Nations in Vienna. and Thought Works' CTO for Latin America, where she also played a Global Head of Tech Learning Development role. Since 2016, she has been working on ICT for Sustainability, aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Claudia received her Ph.D. in Computer Science (Agile Team Productivity) from the University of São Paulo (USP), in collaboration with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). She is passionate about community building and impact, contributing through volunteering, public speaking, teaching, mentorship, research, books, and industry reports in Latin America, Europe, US, and Scandinavia. In 2015, she received the USP Outstanding Thesis Award and, in 2016, cited as "Mulheres Inspiradoras" by ThingOlga in Brazil. She is also an advisory board member in Computer Science for Insper.

In this episode we talk with Brook Schoenfield and Dr. James Ransome about the Comparative Software Security capability and how it can help your teams build security into their product development practices.  Brook S.E. Schoenfield is the author of Secrets Of A Cyber Security Architect (Auerbach, 2019) and Securing Systems: Applied Security Architecture and Threat Models (CRC Press, 2015). Building In Security At Agile Speed (with James Ransome, Auerbach, 2021), focuses on software security for continuous development practices and DevOps. Brook helps clients with their software security and secure design practices. He mentors technical leaders to effectively deliver security strategy. He is a technical leader and advisor to Resilient Software Security, LLC and True Positives, LLC. Previously, he technically led product security architecture at McAfee (Intel), Cisco Engineering, IT security architecture at Autodesk, and Web and Application security for Cisco Infosec. He is a founding member of IEEE’s Center for Secure Design and is a featured Security Architect at the Bletchley Park Museum of Computing. He is the originator of Baseline Application Vulnerability Assessment (BAVA), Just Good Enough Risk Rating (JGERR), Architecture, Threats, Attack Surfaces and Mitigations (ATASM) and developer-centric security. He contributed to Core Software Security (CRC Press, 2014), and co-authored The Threat Modeling Manifesto (2020), Avoiding the Top 10 Security Design Flaws (IEEE, 2014) and Tactical Threat Modeling (SAFECode, 2017). Dr. James Ransome, PhD, CISSP, CISM is the Chief Scientist for CYBERPHOS, an early stage cybersecurity startup. Most recently, James was the Senior Director of Security Development Lifecycle Engineering for Intel’s Product Assurance and Security (IPAS). In that capacity, he led a team of SDL engineers, architects, and product security experts to drive and implement security practices across the company. Prior to that, James was the Senior Director of Product Security and PSIRT at Intel Security (formerly McAfee). James’s career includes leadership positions in the private and public sectors. He served in three chief information security officer (CISO) roles at Applied Materials, Autodesk, and Qwest Communications and four chief security officer (CSO) positions at Pilot Network Services, Exodus Communications, Exodus Communications—Cable and Wireless Company, and Cisco Collaborative Software Group. Before entering the corporate world, He worked in government service for 23 years supporting the U.S. intelligence community, federal law enforcement, and the Department of Defense.

In this episode I speak with Dr Stephanie Puckett about the agile culture code and how it can be used to drive transparency, collaboration and empowerment within team. Stefanie is a Psychologist and holds a doctorate in organizational psychology. She learned from about 15 years of professional experience working for several management consultancies, in management and global roles for a Fortune 500 company, and running her own business. She founded Psychology4Agility to help clients realize their potential by coaching executives and teams, helping organizations transform but also offering keynotes and training on the Psychology of "agile". Stefanie is certified executive coach (CEC), board certified coach (CCE), agile certified practitioner (PMI), and agile coach (ICAgile). She is author of "The agile culture code" and "Agile leadership - leadership competencies for the agile transformation" as well as other non-fiction books on Psychology and the future of work. Connect with Stefanie: https://linktr.ee/Dr.Stefanie Website: https://www.psychology4agility.com/

In this episode I speak with Mark Summers and Bob Galen about the Agile Coaching PI. Agile Coaching is a collaboration with people in a thought provoking and creative journey using coaching approaches with an agile mindset and principles to help individuals, teams and organizations be the best they can be Mark Summers believes happiness always comes first. As a leading figure in the growth of agile coaching, experience has taught him that if a team is having fun, it will perform far better. Bob Galen is an Agile Practitioner, Trainer & Coach based in Cary, NC. In this role he helps guide companies and teams in their pragmatic adoption and organizational shift towards agile methods of working. Bob has been doing that since the late 1990s, so he’s deeply experienced. The Agile Coaching Growth Wheel -  http://whatisagilecoaching.org/agile-coaching-growth-wheel/ Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching Book - https://www.agile-moose.com/repo-landing

Culture is the core of the Agile Enterprise and is co-created with communication, especially from leaders. The three dimensions of motivating language (ML), hands, heart, and spirit, grow a culture of positive communication that motivates its participants. Here is a a brief overview of how ML promotes employee engagement, customer focus, continuous improvement, and change sustainability in the VUCA world

In this episode I speak with Jutta Eckstein & John Buck about the Bossa Nova framework. This integrated approach combines Beyond Budgeting, Open Space, Sociocracy and Agile to improve company wide agility.