Arguing Agile: Product Management, Business Leadership, & Org Design
...arguing about agile software development so that you don't have to!
We're arguing about agile software development so that you don't have to!
The Arguing Agile Podcast is where a Product Manager (Brian Orlando) and an Enterprise Agile Coach (Om Patel) sit down with other professionals in and around the agile software development space to have real, unscripted, and authentic conversations.
If You're Asking When to Kill a Feature, You Already Lost | AA269
If you're asking when to kill a feature, you already lost. Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Leader Om Patel break down why the "should we kill this feature" is really a trap, why the data won't save you, and why the CEO's pet project survives on rank - not merit. Our promise to y...
Blaming People: It's Cheaper Than Fixing the System (Molly Graham's Waterline Model) | AA268
Most "people problems" are structural problems wearing a human face mask. Product Manager Brian and Enterprise Business Agility Leader Om dissect Molly Graham's Waterline Model! Listen or watch as we debate whether this framework is the most actionable restatement of systems thinking in decades or just Demin...
Your Mentor Can't Get You Promoted (And Never Could) | AA267
The best mentor you've ever had can't get you promoted. Not won't - can't. Product Manager Brian and Business Agility Coach Om draw a hard line between mentors and sponsors, showing why advice never reaches the room where promotions actually happen. Listen or watch to learn how to audit your current sponsor ...
Your Job Description Is A Lie (Who Actually Makes Decisions) | AA266
Your job description was written to get you hired, not help you know if a decision is your to make. That gap between what's on paper and who actually decides is where careers go to die. Experience & Process Improvement Leader Clint Murt once again joins Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business A...
Promote People Until They Break (And Other Really Bad Startup Advice) | AA265
A startup lecture recommended by Sam Altman calls people "ammunition" and tells you to work 80-hour weeks. Brian and Om dissect Keith Rabois' (in)famous "How to Operate" talk, exposing the dehumanizing logic behind "barrels and ammunition," the cult of heroic effort, and why grading managers on output-per-he...
Manufactured Consensus: Now Only $4-7 Per Hour! | AA264
That thought leader you follow? A virtual assistant in Manila wrote those posts for $4-7 per hour. Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Leader Om Patel trace the industrialized pipeline behind LinkedIn's 'thought leadership' industry; from Filipino Virtual Assistants feeding prompts ...
AA263 - "Nothing" Is The Most Expensive Word In Your Career
Your boss asks what you need. You blank and say "nothing." You just turned down free money. Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Leader Om Patel discuss and debate why that reflex costs you promotions, sponsorship, and credibility, and how to rewire it before your boss stops asking e...
AA262 - HBR Says Consensus Is Dead (And Proved It With Consensus)
A PE bankruptcy specialist and BCG partner walk into a bar... Just kidding, they walked into HBR... and they're trying to sell you a framework! Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Leader Om Patel dissect the April HBR piece arguing that "consensus decision-making doesn't work in the...
AA261 - The Business Was Dying While Every Dashboard Was Green
The damage from your Q1 goal doesn't show up until Q3, on someone else's dashboard, after the person who flagged it got fired. Part 2 of the Outcome Trap series. Brian and Om argue why you can't see the trap from inside it: second-order effects land too late to trace, the people who spot trouble get removed,...
AA260 - How Outcome-Based Goals Become a Permission Slip for Evil
The thing everyone agrees is the right way to work has quietly produced some of the worst corporate ethics violations in modern history. Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Leader Om Patel discuss and debate how outcome-based goals can and often do go catastrophically wrong - from F...
AA259 - The Memo IS the Strategy (And How You MIGHT Be Running It Too)
Six companies, seven days, same playbook. Welcome to the modern age where the excuses are interchangeable, the points don't matter, and ALL the strategies are not-so-secretly the same! Listen or watch as Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Leader Om Patel talk through this month's r...
AA258 - AI Is Supercharging the Feature Factory (New 2026 Report)
Is AI actually helping us escape the build trap, or just helping us build the wrong things faster? In this episode of Arguing Agile, hosts Brian Orlando and Om Patel discuss the new AI4Agile Practitioners Report 2026 from Scrum.org. The data reveals a startling trend: while 83% of practitioners have access t...
AA257 - State of Agile Report 2026: Is the Industry a 'Market for Lemons'?
Is the State of Agile Report a clear-eyed snapshot of the industry - or a sales brochure? In this episode of Arguing Agile, hosts Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel are joined by returning guest Ed Martin to dissect the 18th State of Agile Report from Digital.ai...
AA256 - The AI PM Competency Trap: Why AI Tools Won't Save Your Product Career
Every PM is scrambling to learn AI tools - but is that a trap? In this episode of Arguing Agile, hosts Brian Orlando and Om Patel summarize Shreyas Doshi's provocative article "Why Product Sense Is the Only Product Skill That Will Matter in the AI Age." Using the article as background for our discussion, we ...
AA255 - What is Business Agility? The 5 Core Capabilities to Master
Stop burning time and money on agile theater! In this podcast, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel strip business agility back to its absolute basics: no buzzwords, no frameworks - just the organizational muscles you need to survive. Listen or watch as we introdu...