Arguing Agile

Steve Jobs once said he'd rather fire someone than force them to buy into a decision they disagreed with. This flies in the face of popular leadership advice like Amazon's "disagree and commit" philosophy. In this episode, we dive deep into Jobs' consensus-driven approach at NeXT and explore why expert-driven decision making might be superior to top-down mandates.

We examine how Jobs' 8-person...

Last episode, we talked about Instant Pot's failure via financial engineering that most product teams may never see coming.

In this episode, we explore why financial literacy should be a core competency for product teams, not something left to the "adults in the room."

We break down why reading basic financial statements, understanding customer lifetime value, and making data-driven decisions that ...

Instant Pot had $300M+ revenue, passionate users, and $100M cash on hand. 

So why did they file for bankruptcy? 

The answer lies in the pattern of how private equity systematically destroys beloved products through financial engineering! 

In this podcast, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel examine the acquisition of Instant Brands and discuss how leveraged buyouts, special ...

Today we're examining Palantir's "Forward Deployed Software Engineers" - and separating fact from the hype!

Everything old is new again! Move over companies that have been doing this for decades such as SAP, IBM, and countless consulting firms!

https://blog.palantir.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-palantir-forward-deployed-software-engineer-45ef2de257b1

Listen as we break down Palantir's 2020 blog post ab...

Today, we're delivering a not-your-typical-leadership-book review: "Extreme Ownership" by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin!

Ed Martin joins hosts Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel for a chapter-by-chapter review of how military leadership principles directly translate to product management, agile coaching, and team development. 

The core message? 

True...

The Scrum community is buzzing about a new 55-page expansion to the Scrum Guide. Is this the depth practitioners have been asking for, or is it turning the lightweight framework into bloatware? 

In this episode, Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando critically examine the "DLC" that claims the original guide was "deliberately oversimplified." 

We explore new concepts like out...

Jensen Huang has 60 direct reports and does no 1:1s, so neither should you - right?!? 

Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel examine NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang's claim that he champions "radical transparency" and his policy of no one-on-ones. 

Join us as we explore what this means for the rest and listen or watch as we agree that one-on-ones should be employee-driven, focused on grow...

We're talking about either the terrifying or totally mundane new world of "vibe coding" - using AI to generate code without deep technical expertise. 

Joining Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel for this podcast, we're happy to welcome back to the podcast Lenar Mukhamadiev, CEO of iDelsoft (https://idelsoft.com)!

Listen as we discuss how this trend is changing pro...

Do you want to hear a story about stifling growth and creativity through the lens of one developer's personal story?

You're in luck! 

Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel as they watch and react to Theo's YouTube video: "Being a good engineer kinda sucks," April 28, 2025.

It's a tale about the tension between excelling at your craft versus navigating ...

Who coaches PMs if Directors or CPOs don't understand how features get built? 

...or don't understand how to build a strategy?

Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel as we analyze Ravi Mehta's PM competency framework and debate which skills actually matter at each level of product management!

#ProductManagement #Leadership #ProductStrategy

REFERENCES

"How to Become a Peak Pr...

Listen or watch as Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando debate whether communication is the primary function of product managers. 

We explore how and if PMs can balance effective communication across stakeholder groups while still delivering results, in addition to other topics, such as: 

• What percentage really is communication
• The power-interest matrix for stakeholder management
• Balancing na...

Ever been in a meeting where an executive decrees: "Engineering needs to go faster!" without any nuance or understanding of the underlying issues?

What a coincidence - so have we!!!

Listen or watch as Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel discuss this common yet problematic demand. Join us as we unmask deeper organizational issues, explore how to respond to this request, and discuss th...

Discover why the ability to ask for what you need is a critical skill that separates high performers from average ones. 

Join Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando as we explore the "how and why" of the skill that is: making more explicit requests for support!

We dive into the dangers of hustle culture, the limitations of traditional hierarchies, and practical ways to improve your comm...

We're listening to each and every painful, cringeworthy word from Jamie Dimon's recent rant about remote work. 

Join Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando as they explore the tension between command-and-control management and outcome-based leadership. 

Stick around as they argue (against and on behalf of) CEO of JP Morgan Chase, Dimon's frustration with work-from-home culture and ...

Should innovation be outsourced to specialized teams, or integrated into your existing product teams? 

That's what Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel and Product Manager Brian Orlando are debating today! 

Listen as we debate the pros and cons of separating innovation from implementation, exploring why "if you build it, you own it" should extend to innovation as well. 

Join us to learn about the pitfalls of innov...

Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel are listening and reacting to Melissa Perri on Lenny's Podcast as she makes claims about product management, agile, frameworks, and why most companies struggle with product management. 

We discuss many of her claims, including:

• Product Management has nothing to do with the Manifesto for Agile Software Development
• Scrum is only for Large Organizations
• ...

We're exploring the false dichotomy between being good at your job and being seen as valuable by leadership!

The framework for this conversation was an eye-opening yet brutally honest post about the tactics one product manager claims to use to advance his career without delivering real impact. 

We ask, "is success about making an impact or just being seen as valuable," while we explore the tactics described in the arti...

Is it better to hire someone with deep domain expertise and teach them product management, or to bring in an experienced PM who can learn the domain? 

Today, we're debating the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches across critical areas like business impact, product discovery, stakeholder management, and leadership!Listen (or watch) as Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel discuss wh...

We're exploring the growing anti-Agile sentiment among developers as the agile-industrial complex has stitched together a grotesque imitation of what was once a vibrant movement. 

Like Frankenstein's creation, what began with noble intentions has transformed into something both villagers and developers flee from in horror!

Before lighting our torches and brandishing our pitchforks, we examine the common complaints: lightnin...