Episode Page

Immunity to Change

Why is change so hard? Why do we say we want to make changes but then, so often, fail to actually make the change stick? In this episode, Richard and Peter dive into psychologists Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey’s work on immunity to change and how to overcome it. Read More

How an Incremental, Small Slice Approach Gives Real Progress

Typical status reports start out green, go yellow if issues pop up, and only turn red if things get really, really bad. In this episode, Peter and Richard explain why status reports should have to “earn green” and how you can use this mindset to find good places to start on any initiative (even if you’re not actually creating status reports). Read More

3 Tools to Resolve (Almost) Any Conflict

Conflict is a natural result of trying to get things done with other people–we have different perspectives and want different things. It’s easy for that to turn into a battle of egos, but it doesn't have to. You can move through conflict gracefully, coming out of it with better outcomes, both in terms of the decision and the relationship. In this episode, Peter and Richard share the 3 tools they find most useful for resolving conflict and producing great outcomes. Read More

What Leaders Need to Know About Leading Agile Teams

Leaders have a huge impact on whether Agile teams in their organization are going to be successful or not. In this episode, Peter and Richard share the most important things leaders need to know if they want to help their Agile teams get the best results. Read More

Fix Your Meetings with DAVID

People spend a ton of time in meetings these days, and too many meetings are just a waste of time. In this episode, Peter and Richard talk through how to determine which meetings are worth having and which can go asynchronous, and they introduce the DAVID approach to ensuring the meeting you do have are worth the time. Read More

Alistair Cockburn on Use Cases & User Stories

Are use cases an essential partner to user stories for Agile teams? Agile Manifesto co-author Alistair Cockburn thinks so. In this episode, Richard and Peter discuss use cases and user stories with Alistair, including some practical steps to get started with lightweight use cases as a complementary tool for your Agile product development. Read More

Feature Hostage Negotiation

Have you or your team ever felt like prioritizing your work is like a hostage negotiation with your stakeholders…and you don’t have the leverage to get a good outcome? In this episode, Richard chats with Dean Peters about what he calls “feature hostage negotiation.” They dig into where it comes from, what problems it causes, and how to respond if you’re a product manager in that situation. Read More