95: Becoming Agile

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In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board members Red Russak welcome Larry Apke (T-Mobile) as they discuss how to become agile. It's important for PMs to become agile because Agile methodologies promote adaptability, collaboration, and customer-centricity. In today's fast-paced business environment, products and market conditions can change rapidly. Agile practices, such as Scrum or Kanban, enable PMs to iterate quickly, gather frequent feedback, and adjust their product strategies accordingly. This approach helps teams deliver value more efficiently, respond to customer needs effectively, and stay ahead in competitive markets.

Disclaimer: All opinions of the speakers are their own.

What to Listen For:

• 00:00 Intro
• 06:29 Waterfall vs. Agile
• 07:54 The Agile Manifesto
• 09:32 Waterfall tendencies
• 11:04 Who is responsible to drive agile?
• 12:11 Common misperceptions about what it means to be agile
• 13:57 Discrepancy between philosophy and frameworks
• 16:09 Safe certifications
• 18:15 Understanding the why
• 21:51 Embracing negative feedback
• 25:18 Implementing agile
• 29:53 Proper sequencing of the backlog
• 31:55 Having leadership understand the cost of delay 
• 36:06 Investing time in the discovery phase
• 39:04 How to get leadership out of the priority mindset?
• 44:39 Avoiding horizontal slicing 
• 50:13 Golden Rule of Agile