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Arguing Agile

Arguing Agile

By: Brian Orlando
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About this listen

We're arguing about agile so that you don't have to!

We seek to prepare you to deal with real-life business agility challenges by demonstrating both sides of the real arguments you will encounter in your work and career.

Arguing Agile is hosted by seasoned professionals who explore experience from their careers, share stories, and suggest advice to other professionals. We do these things while maintaining an unbiased position from any financial interest.

© 2026 Arguing Agile Economics
Episodes
  • AA249 - Disagree & Commit: Corporate Gaslighting? (And What To Do About It)

    AA249 - Disagree & Commit: Corporate Gaslighting? (And What To Do About It)
    Feb 18 2026

    Is Amazon's famous leadership principle being weaponized against you?

    Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel as we talk about how "disagree and commit" becomes "shut up and obey" in most companies.

    Watch or listen as we discuss one of tech's most misunderstood management concepts, covering topics such as:

    • Difference between Amazon and Your Company
    • Red flag phrases
    • Why psychological safety is non-negotiable
    • What happens when smart people stop pushing back
    • The OnE lEaDeRsHiP tRiCk managers hate

    Additionally, drawing on research and experience, we build a framework for protecting yourself and your team from toxic decision-makers attempting to lift-and-shift the walls and roof of "disagree and commit" without the foundation. That's right - practical, diagnostic questions and actionable strategies to distinguish legitimate debate from leadership cowardice!

    #ProductManagement #AgileLeadership #WorkplaceCulture

    Google's Project Aristotle (2012-2014), Organizational Cynicism by James Dean Jr., Pamela Brandes, and Robbie Darwadkar (1998), Understanding and Managing Cynicism about Organizational Change by Rikers, Wanous, and Austin (1997), Arguing Agile Episode 243: How Corporate Turns Good People Bad, Jeff Bezos 2016 Letter to Shareholders

    LINKS
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
    Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596

    INTRO MUSIC
    Toronto Is My Beat
    By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
    CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 8 mins
  • AA248 - Expertise Overreach: Why Being Right ONCE Makes Leaders Think They're Right About EVERYTHING

    AA248 - Expertise Overreach: Why Being Right ONCE Makes Leaders Think They're Right About EVERYTHING
    Feb 11 2026
    Your boss's biggest career win might be setting them up for their biggest failure. 🚨

    Listen or watch as hosts Brian Orlando and Om Patel tackle a phenomenon that's rampant in tech but rarely named: Expertise Overreach: when someone's success in one narrow domain inflates their confidence across every domain, with devastating consequences for teams, roadmaps, and the entire organization.

    In this episode, we're diving deep into the murky pool of psychology, neuroscience, and organizational dynamics behind why overconfident leaders derail teams (and how you can protect yourself).

    🔑 Key Topics Include:
    1. Why Being "Really" Right Once Can Be Dangerous
    2. How Power Literally Changes Your Brain (a quick recap)
    3. What Happens Inside the Yes-Men Factory
    4. How Tech's Hero Worship Problem Makes It All Worse
    5. Tips for Protecting Your Team and Your Sanity

    This episode helps with practical strategies for dealing with overconfident "leaders," so please 👉 share this with a colleague who you know might need to hear it!

    #ProductManagement #Leadership #AgileCoaching

    Moore & Healy 2008 - The Trouble with Overconfidence (Psychological Review), Power Changes How the Brain Responds to Others 2014 (Journal of Experimental Psychology), Westfall & Bednar 2005 - Pluralistic Ignorance in Corporate Boards (Administrative Science Quarterly), Arguing Agile Episode #243: How Corporate Turns Good People Bad, Steve Jobs (hire smart people to tell us what to do), Amazon's Disagree and Commit principle

    LINKS
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
    Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596

    INTRO MUSIC
    Toronto Is My Beat
    By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
    CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)
    Show More Show Less
    47 mins
  • AA247 - AI is a Poor Team-Player: Stanford's CooperBench Experiment

    AA247 - AI is a Poor Team-Player: Stanford's CooperBench Experiment
    Feb 4 2026

    AI agents failed spectacularly at teamwork, performing ~50% worse than one solo agent!

    This week, we're discussing Stanford’s CooperBench study (a benchmark, testing whether AI agents can collaborate on real coding tasks across Python, TypeScript, Go, and Rust) and why AI-developer coordination collapses, even with a constant chat.

    Listen or watch as Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel dig into the methods and findings of Stanford’s 2026 CooperBench experiment and learn about the three capability gaps that caused these failures:
    • Expectation Failures (42%): Agents ignored shared plans or misunderstood scope
    • Commitment Failures (32%): Promised work was never completed
    • Communication Failures (26%): Silence, spam, or hallucinations

    The experiment's findings seem to confirm human-refined agile practices. The episode ends with a concrete call to action: stop treating AI as teammates. Use them as solo contributors. And if you must coordinate? Build working agreements, not handoffs.

    This episode is for anyone navigating the AI hype cycle and wondering if swarms of agents are going to coordinate everyone out of a job!

    #Agile #AI #ProductManagement

    SOURCE
    CooperBench: Benchmarking AI Agents' Cooperation (Stanford University & SAP Labs US)
    https://cooperbench.com/
    https://cooperbench.com/static/pdfs/main.pdf

    LINKS
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
    Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596

    INTRO MUSIC
    Toronto Is My Beat
    By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
    CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)
    Show More Show Less
    51 mins
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