Product Agility

Send us a textTeodora Bozheva, creator of the Kanban Maturity Model (a brilliant tool for teaching people what customer centric really means) coaches, agile and product alike), where we have been exploring the organizational maturity levels in the model. Is this the 3rd episode of 3, We spoke about pre-empting customer expectations, flow metrics and how to create a superior business. 00:02:12 What it is level three "Fit for Purpose", in the Kanban Maturity Model?00:04:20 Level three is about flow metrics and balancing capacity and demand. What else doe's it bring to the party?00:05:46 Is the goal of maturing in the Kanban Maturity Model to be able to react to changes in the market? Or pre-empt them to achieve their business outcomes and organizational agility?00:06:36 What tools does the Kanban Maturity Model offer to help organisations anticipate their customer or market needs and become a more mature business?00:08:16 Is removing waste always a powerful tool? Perhaps not...00:09:39 Is the evolution and improvement of processes something that is recommended for the later levels of maturity in the Kanban Maturity Model?00:11:04 Are the higher levels reserved for only a few organisations?00:12:10 Where and how can people learn more about the Kanban Maturity Model?00:15:13 Recap on the conversation with Teodora Bozheva Guest BioTeodora (https://bit.ly/TeoBzaLD) is the co-creator of the Kanban Maturity Model (the other person being David J. Anderson) a model that helps organisations that want to take an evolutionary approach to improve their culture & management so that they can adapt quickly to customer needs. Kanban Maturity Model -https://bit.ly/kmmmLMBerry Academy - https://bit.ly/berrypcsKanban University - https://bit.ly/KbnUnilmHost Bio Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes. Stay up-to-date with us on our social media📱! Ben Maynard 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmaynard-sheev/ 🐦 https://x.com/BenWMaynard 💻 https://sheev.co.uk/ Product Agility Podcast 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/productagilitypod/ 💻 https://productagilitypod.co.uk/ 🖇️ https://linktr.ee/productagility Listen & Share On Spotify & iTunes Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0lkwAYJzVSuk5zfJ1vIDZq?si=4c691fb12f124a56 iTunes - https://apple.co/3YvTX8p Want to come on the podcast? Want to be a guest or have a guest request? Let us know here https://bit.ly/49osN80

Send us a textTeodora Bozheva, creator of the Kanban Maturity Model (a brilliant tool for teaching people what customer centric really means) coaches, agile and product alike) Teodora has a proven track record in helping organizations achieve improved levels of adaptability and delivery of products that customers love.In this 2nd episode, Teodora and Ben delve deep into the early levels of maturity in the Kanban maturity model, explore what it takes to become more customer aligned and many of the vital factors that go into becoming a successful Product Company. The Highlights00:02:02 In the Kanban Maturity Model, what does Level 0 look like?00:04:43  In the Kanban Maturity Model what happens at Level 1?00:06:28  When in the Kanban Maturity Model do teams become customer driven?00:09:00  The Problem with Copy and Paste Scrum00:10:21  How can Copy & Paste Scrum help with Product Management?00:13:45  Has Teodora witnessed changes in the types of people that are recruited when a company becomes more customer-centric?00:15:35 How to de-risk recruitment during changeGuest BioTeodora (https://bit.ly/TeoBzaLD) is the co-creator of the Kanban Maturity Model (the other person being David J. Anderson,) a model that helps organisations that want to take an evolutionary approach to improve their culture &management so that they can adapt quickly to customer needs. Host Bio Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes. Stay up-to-date with us on our social media📱! Ben Maynard 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmaynard-sheev/ 🐦 https://x.com/BenWMaynard 💻 https://sheev.co.uk/ Product Agility Podcast 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/productagilitypod/ 💻 https://productagilitypod.co.uk/ 🖇️ https://linktr.ee/productagility Listen & Share On Spotify & iTunes Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0lkwAYJzVSuk5zfJ1vIDZq?si=4c691fb12f124a56 iTunes - https://apple.co/3YvTX8p Want to come on the podcast? Want to be a guest or have a guest request? Let us know here https://bit.ly/49osN80

Send us a textTeodora Bozheva, creator of the Kanban Maturity Model (a brilliant tool for teaching people what customer centric really means) coaches, agile and product alike). Teodora loves helping companies improve. I loved having her on the show!Teodora has a proven track record in helping organizations achieve improved levels of adaptability and delivery of products that customers love. In this 1st episode, Teodora shares all about the model and its positive impact on organizations. I recommend getting a pen and paper ready, as Teofora will share some golden insights!The Highlights00:02:31 Who is Teodora Bozheva?00:05:51 A concise and brilliant explanation of Kanban00:07:05 What is the Kanban Maturity Model (KMM)?00:10:55 What are the higher levels of maturity in the KMM?00:12:08 Is the KMM for a part of or a whole organisation?00:14:57 Why maturity (as per the KMM) differs in organisations, and what can be done to make this work00:18:59 What is the accelerant for maturity in an organisation that appears in nearly all levels of the KMM00:19:59 A short and insightful anecdote on applying the KMMGuest BioTeodora (https://bit.ly/TeoBzaLD) is the co-creator of the Kanban Maturity Model (the other person being David J. Anderson,) a model that helps organisations that want to take an evolutionary approach to improve their culture &management so that they can adapt quickly to customer needs. Host Bio Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes. Stay up-to-date with us on our social media📱! Ben Maynard 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmaynard-sheev/ 🐦 https://x.com/BenWMaynard 💻 https://sheev.co.uk/ Product Agility Podcast 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/productagilitypod/ 💻 https://productagilitypod.co.uk/ 🖇️ https://linktr.ee/productagility Listen & Share On Spotify & iTunes Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0lkwAYJzVSuk5zfJ1vIDZq?si=4c691fb12f124a56 iTunes - https://apple.co/3YvTX8p Want to come on the podcast? Want to be a guest or have a guest request? Let us know here https://bit.ly/49osN80

Send us a textDenis Salnikov is a Head of Agile Practice at PandaDoc. He and Ben explored just what this role means in a company that is successfully using LeSS Huge - https://less.works/less/less-huge.What themes did we explore?How does PandaDoc decide how to group the features on their backlog?PandaDoc has managers. What are their tips for making it work?What does a Head of Agile Practices at PandaDoc do on a day-to-day basis?Here are some of the highlights00:01:38 - How did PandaDoc create Requirement Areas for their Product?00:06:12 - What is area "area leadership" at PandaDoc, and how does it help to maximise the Product Value?00:07:21 - Does the area leadership have any organisational structural relationship within it?00:08:50 - Product owners have been known to inflate the potential value of their area to keep teams, "their Teams," working on it - This is how PandaDoc deal with that00:11:24 - What is the best tip Denis can provide to those wondering how to create an area in LeSS Huge for the first time?00:13:09 - How do reporting lines and organisational structure work with their Product Structure00:15:05 - What is the day-to-day life like for a Head of Agile Practices at PandaDoc? do they have people management responsibility?00:16:39 - Is a Head of Agile at PandaDoc just a Scrum Master?00:19:39 - Denis is proud of his people management skills. How did he develop them?00:20:48 - Sage advice from Denis... you have to hear it!Guest BiosDenis Salnikov is a certified Scrum Master, Kanban Coach & Agile Coach who has been consulting, coaching, mentoring, and teaching cross-functional development teams, management, and organisations since 2014.https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsalnikov23/Host Bio Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes. Stay up-to-date with us on our social media📱! Ben Maynard 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmaynard-sheev/ 🐦 https://x.com/BenWMaynard 💻 https://sheev.co.uk/ Product Agility Podcast 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/productagilitypod/ 💻 https://productagilitypod.co.uk/ 🖇️ https://linktr.ee/productagility Listen & Share On Spotify & iTunes Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0lkwAYJzVSuk5zfJ1vIDZq?si=4c691fb12f124a56 iTunes - https://apple.co/3YvTX8p Want to come on the podcast? Want to be a guest or have a guest request? Let us know here https://bit.ly/49osN80

Send us a textEvgeniy and Denis are both Heads of Agile Practice at PandaDoc. They joined Ben to share their top tips for making remote working and learning really work.What themes did we explore?The cost of remote working vs co-locationEffective, remote, Feature teamsHow a teams geographic location can affect the part of the product they work onHere are some of the highlights00:01:24 - PandaDoc moved from complete co-location to complete remote working. What were the challenges and the journey00:04:02 - What does "Multi-learning" mean in an agile environment?00:06:06 - How has this agile power couple at PandaDocs bridged the remote working gap to make multi-learning easier00:08:39 - What is the increased cost of collaboration and conversation when working remotely?00:09:54 - The reason why working remotely can work? When we see our solo task as valuable more than teamwork00:11:32 - The secret sauce to make remote work00:13:14 - Tips for successful Feature Team Self-Design Workshops00:14:44 - What is more critical in Feature Team Self-Design? Technical or Business domain knowledge?00:15:40 - Are PandaDoc Feature Teams happier working remotely?00:17:30 - What does Evengiy believe is an effective strategy for remote teamwork? 00:19:26 - Should your teams' geographic location influence the areas of the product they work on?Guest BiosDenis Salnikov is a certified Scrum Master, Kanban Coach & Agile Coach who has been consulting, coaching, mentoring, and teaching cross-functional development teams, management, and organisations since 2014.https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsalnikov23/Evgeniy Labunski has over a decade of experience in Agile within Product Development, Enterprise & Startups.  He is a strategic thinker, a skilled resolver of conflict and lives and breaths flexibility and adaptability.https://www.linkedin.com/in/labunskiy/Host Bio Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes. Stay up-to-date with us on our social media📱! Ben Maynard 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmaynard-sheev/ 🐦 https://x.com/BenWMaynard 💻 https://sheev.co.uk/ Product Agility Podcast 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/productagilitypod/ 💻 https://productagilitypod.co.uk/ 🖇️ https://linktr.ee/productagility Listen & Share On Spotify & iTunes Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0lkwAYJzVSuk5zfJ1vIDZq?si=4c691fb12f124a56 iTunes - https://apple.co/3YvTX8p Want to come on the podcast? Want to be a guest or have a guest request? Let us know here https://bit.ly/49osN80

Send us a textEvgeniy and Denis are both Heads of Agile Practice at PandaDoc. They joined Ben to share trials faced during the Global pandemic and when growing to five times their original size (whilst still getting their product to market). They also share how they started with Large Scale Scrum, LeSS, to achieve their dreams of Feature Teams.The big questions for me wereWhy did they embrace Feature teams (teams who can deliver all features end-to-end)?  How do they get the whole organisation behind the idea of a whole organisational change? What problems have they encountered, and what are they doing now to overcome them?Here are some of the highlights00:04:05 - Who or What is Panda Doc?00:05:22 - What was the starting point for the journey of the Large Scale Scrum (LeSS) & Feature Teams? 00:10:32 - Did they choose LeSS & Feature Teams, or did they choose them?00:12:14 - Starting a LeSS Adoption with or without formal LeSS Training?00:14:13 - The negative side effect of not getting Certified LeSS Training for their adoption00:15:21 - How growth dilutes an organisation's purpose when using Feature Teams00:18:22 - Then Denis joined...00:22:16 - Top-Down and Bottom-Up Adoption00:23:49 - How 5 x Growth can affect an outstanding engineering culture00:27:00 - What effect did the Covid Pandemic & the war in Ukraine have on PandaDocGuest BiosDenis Salnikov is a certified Scrum Master, Kanban Coach & Agile Coach who has been consulting, coaching, mentoring, and teaching cross-functional development teams, management, and organisations since 2014. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsalnikov23/Evgeniy Labunski has over a decade of experience in Agile within Product Development, Enterprise & Startups.  He is a strategic thinker, a skilled resolver of conflict and lives and breaths flexibility and adaptability.https://www.linkedin.com/in/labunskiy/Host Bio Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes. Stay up-to-date with us on our social media📱! Ben Maynard 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmaynard-sheev/ 🐦 https://x.com/BenWMaynard 💻 https://sheev.co.uk/ Product Agility Podcast 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/productagilitypod/ 💻 https://productagilitypod.co.uk/ 🖇️ https://linktr.ee/productagility Listen & Share On Spotify & iTunes Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0lkwAYJzVSuk5zfJ1vIDZq?si=4c691fb12f124a56 iTunes - https://apple.co/3YvTX8p Want to come on the podcast? Want to be a guest or have a guest request? Let us know here https://bit.ly/49osN80

Send us a textCliff Hazell, ex-Spotify and Co-Founder of Flight Levels with Kalus Leopold is an expert on organisational change, systems, agile and Kanban. In this practical and somewhat philosophical episode, Cliff and I explore some meaty topics that Agile Coaches, Product People, Scrum Masters, damned pretty much anyone with interest in organisational change will love.This is the third of three episodes that Cliff and I recordedIn this one, we speak about ...2:29 - Why and How did Flight Levels come into existence (includes a brilliant metaphor)6:21 - A Parallel between Flight Levels and Large Scale Scrum?09:04 - Can there ever be one true way to achieve organisational agility?10:14 - Are we solving the right problems?11:56 - Flight Levels = Genius Marketing?16:14 - Ahmad Fahmy’s Gemba Sprints17:23 - Doe’s Flight Levels get leaders down to Gemba? (the palace of actual work)21:37 - Will Flight Levels ever partner with any other approaches?26:23 - What is the future for Flight LevelsAnd all this!What is Flight Levels?What did Cliff do before co-founding Flight Levels?What is it if the challenge is not to get teams to perform better at achieving their outcomes?Cliff shared a brilliant Typewriter based metaphor to explain why organisations fail that even your granny would understand. What is the right information that organisations need? Does it pay to be dogmatic about the terminology we use?Should every problem we find be solved now?How do Fight levels share pain around to make change happen?What is the issue with the prevailing system of Technology (not Product ) companies?Can coordination and visualising it create transparency and unlock opportunities for the future?Will there ever be one framework to rule them all? The future for Flight Levels will be looking at, in a post-covid world, exploring new ways to engage, self-paced content Useful LinksCliff Hazel - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliffhazell/Flight Levels Academy - https://www.flightlevels.io/Host Bio Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes. Stay up-to-date with us on our social media📱! Ben Maynard 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmaynard-sheev/ 🐦 https://x.com/BenWMaynard 💻 https://sheev.co.uk/ Product Agility Podcast 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/productagilitypod/ 💻 https://productagilitypod.co.uk/ 🖇️ https://linktr.ee/productagility Listen & Share On Spotify & iTunes Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0lkwAYJzVSuk5zfJ1vIDZq?si=4c691fb12f124a56 iTunes - https://apple.co/3YvTX8p Want to come on the podcast? Want to be a guest or have a guest request? Let us know here https://bit.ly/49osN80

Send us a textCliff Hazell, ex-Spotify and Co-Founder of Flight Levels with Kalus Leopold is an expert on organisational change, systems, agile and Kanban. In this practical and somewhat philosophical episode, Cliff and I explore some meaty topics that Agile Coaches, Product People, Scrum Masters, damned pretty much anyone with interest in organisational change will love.This is the second of 3 episodes that Cliff and I recorded on various topics.In this one, we speak about Organisational change pitfalls Agile Coaches and other change agents can avoid. The power of quitting in a Product environment (as well as in our personal lives). Putting the parts back together rather than being reductionist (through critiquing the words holistic and systemic and a whole lot more (see below).Should you want to skip to a specific point, this is probably useful (if chapters are not your thing)02:28 - How Cliff tuned into his biases03:24 - Diversity and Bias training challenges05:34 - Cultural norming06:25 - Ben overshares (probably)08:41 - Why it's hard for some when moving from Project to Product delivery09:23 - What were Cliff's experiences of individual change at Spotify11:03 - How a 4 x 4 matrix can help explain change resistance15:00 - Being courageously curious with the Left-Hand column technique17:24 - Why doe's being rational and applying reasoning not work when you want it to18:19 - How to create an appropriate course of action to tackle an organisational problem 19:46 - Why you should read Humble Enquiry and judge people on their intentions21:43 - Tips to avoid failure with organisational restructuresAnd all this!🧔🏻SA to Sweden was a cultural change that affected cliff, it led to people thinking his behaviour was abnormal.🧔🏻He found his understanding of the world to be incomplete as it was only through his lens🧔🏻What are some of the challenges Cliff has found with bias training? 🧔🏻Doe's just knowing our biases mean we can overcome them?🧔🏻What is the link between lions and whether we believe someone could be a great leader or software developer🧔🏻Cultural norming, how does this make individual adaptation hard?🧔🏻Can we say that biases or alwaysHost Bio Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes. Stay up-to-date with us on our social media📱! Ben Maynard 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmaynard-sheev/ 🐦 https://x.com/BenWMaynard 💻 https://sheev.co.uk/ Product Agility Podcast 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/productagilitypod/ 💻 https://productagilitypod.co.uk/ 🖇️ https://linktr.ee/productagility Listen & Share On Spotify & iTunes Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0lkwAYJzVSuk5zfJ1vIDZq?si=4c691fb12f124a56 iTunes - https://apple.co/3YvTX8p Want to come on the podcast? Want to be a guest or have a guest request? Let us know here https://bit.ly/49osN80

Send us a textCliff Hazell, ex-Spotify and Co-Founder of Flight Levels with Klaus Leopold is an expert on organisational change, systems, agile and Kanban. In this practical and somewhat philosophical episode, Cliff and I explore some meaty topics that Agile Coaches, Product People, Scrum Masters, damned pretty much anyone with an interest in organisational change will love.This is the first of 3 episodes that Cliff and I recorded on various topics.In this one, we speak about Organisational change pitfalls Agile Coaches and other change agents can avoid. The power of quitting in a Product environment (as well as in our personal lives). Putting the parts back together rather than being reductionist (through critiquing the words holistic and systemic and a whole lot more (see below).Should you want to skip to a specific point, this is probably useful (if chapters are not your thing)02:15 - How did Ben become aware of Cliff and his work?03:03 - Who is Cliff Hazell? In his own words06:37 - Is the "Top Down and Bottom" metaphor useful when attempting organisational change?09:20 - The problems with the terms "systemic" and "holistic."11:39 - what is the big challenge when embarking on organisational change?13:48 - What is it that Cliff finds both frustrating and amusing?15:16 - The secret to Cliff's success17:32 - what are the two pitfalls when trying to be outcome focussed21:03 - What was the thing Cliff should have quit rather than carried on24:06 - When an organisation should quit talking about focus27:14 - why is it Naive to think that just training will change an organisational system?28:42 - Episode recapUseful StuffSunk cost fallacy the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.Annie Duke - Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away Host Bio Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes. Stay up-to-date with us on our social media📱! Ben Maynard 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmaynard-sheev/ 🐦 https://x.com/BenWMaynard 💻 https://sheev.co.uk/ Product Agility Podcast 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/productagilitypod/ 💻 https://productagilitypod.co.uk/ 🖇️ https://linktr.ee/productagility Listen & Share On Spotify & iTunes Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0lkwAYJzVSuk5zfJ1vIDZq?si=4c691fb12f124a56 iTunes - https://apple.co/3YvTX8p Want to come on the podcast? Want to be a guest or have a guest request? Let us know here https://bit.ly/49osN80

Send us a textAs this year comes to an end, I thought it would be the perfect time to take a short hiatus on the podcast! In order to prepare for all of the new amazing things that are coming in January. Thank you to all of the LeSS Listeners, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year! Listen out for us in 2023! Host Bio Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes. Stay up-to-date with us on our social media📱! Ben Maynard 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmaynard-sheev/ 🐦 https://x.com/BenWMaynard 💻 https://sheev.co.uk/ Product Agility Podcast 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/productagilitypod/ 💻 https://productagilitypod.co.uk/ 🖇️ https://linktr.ee/productagility Listen & Share On Spotify & iTunes Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0lkwAYJzVSuk5zfJ1vIDZq?si=4c691fb12f124a56 iTunes - https://apple.co/3YvTX8p Want to come on the podcast? Want to be a guest or have a guest request? Let us know here https://bit.ly/49osN80