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)

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)

Spotify never used the Spotify Model - and neither should you.

In this $2 billion episode, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel take a cutting torch to one of big-A-Agile's most beloved organizational myths - the Spotify Model! We're doing invasive surgery to see what's inside beyond the over-hyped squads, tribes, chapters, and guilds that have been copied by companies the world over.

...but what if we found out that the inside was hollow?

What if we found out that the Spotify Model was never even live and tested by Spotify?

🔥 LISTEN OR WATCH AS WE DISCUSS

• Why Spotify Insiders call the model "aspirational and never fully implemented"
• Why the model had little or no relation to Spotify's success
• How survivorship bias tricks us into studying only "winners"
• The four critical failures of the Spotify Model

💡 DON'T WANT TO WAIT FOR TAKEAWAYS?

OK, no problem, but before adopting ANY organizational model, ask:
1. Is this documented practice or just aspiration?
2. Has the source company evolved past this model?
3. What's the original author's current position on its effectiveness?

Please follow the podcast if you'd like us to do more myth-busting content about organizational design fads from 2015!

#Transformation #SpotifyModel

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)

Legacy systems work. So why do companies waste millions rewriting them?

In this episode of Arguing Agile, Product Manager Nisha Patel joins Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel for a debate on the dangerous obsession with rewriting legacy systems — from COBOL to green screens — that still power ATMs, government systems, and Fortune 500 billing engines.

Watch or listen as we discuss the myth that "modern" equals "better" and reveal how most rewrites fail because they ignore customer value, edge cases, and real ROI as well as other topics, such as:

• How Chesterton’s Fence applies to code (Brian still doesn't know)
• How Developers kill software with Resume-Driven Development (RDD)
• How Finance kills software with spreadsheet-driven development (SDD)
• Why chasing "parity" kills innovation
• Risk Mitigation, or, framing technical debt in business terms

If you've ever worked on or tried to replace legacy systems, this episode will either give you nightmares, or help how you approach legacy systems while helping you also stop burning budget on vanity projects.

#LegacyCode #ProductManagement #AgileCoaching

REFERENCES
AA148 - An Introduction to Software Development Finances

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)

Does getting promoted literally rewire your brain to lose empathy?

The science says YES. 🧠

In this research-backed episode of Arguing Agile, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel examine the unsettling neuroscience behind why your favorite coworker turned into a corporate tyrant after their last promotion.

Drawing from peer-reviewed studies in the Journal of Experimental Psychology and Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, watch or listen as we explore three mechanisms that erode empathy in leadership positions (and talk through how to evade entropy).

🔬 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:
• How power physically changes your brain chemistry and reduces your ability to read emotions
• Why narcissistic individuals rise faster through corporate ranks (and how to spot them)
• How socioeconomic class divides create empathy blind spots in leaders
• Practical guardrails to maintain your integrity as you advance

Whether you're a product manager, agile coach, or aspiring leader, this episode will help you recognize the warning signs of empathy erosion in yourself and others... before it's too late!

Have you watched someone change after a promotion? Let us know!

RESEARCH:
• "Power Changes How the Brain Responds to Others" (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2014)
• "Social Class, Contextualism, and Empathic Accuracy" (2010)
• Prosocial orientation and power amplification studies (JPSP, 2011)

#Leadership #CorporateCulture #WorkplacePsychology

Journal of Experimental Psychology (2014) - Power Changes How the Brain Responds to Others, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2011) - Prosocial Orientation and Power Study, Social Class Contextualism and Empathic Accuracy (2010), Hittner & Haase (2021) - Empathic Accuracy and SES Study, Management 3.0 - 360 Reviews, Good to Great by Jim Collins (implied - wrong people wrong seats metaphor), Die Hard (film reference), Elon Musk Twitter/X takeover, Sheryl Sandberg (referenced), Glassdoor

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

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)

Is 'Move Fast & Break Things' just permission to be reckless?

Join Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Consultant Om Patel as they examine Mark Zuckerberg's (in)famous mantra and reveal how it may have metastasized from breaking code to breaking laws, teams, and even contributing to real human harm.

Watch or listen as we explore the critical dimensions of this philosophy, including:

1. BREAKING SOFTWARE: How the original meaning of 'break things' (emphasizing first-mover advantage) evolved from rapid iteration of code to justifying regulatory evasion and monopolistic behavior.
2. BREAKING TEAMS: Using Harvard research that shows 'always-on' cultures decrease productivity by 20% and spike turnover to discuss how intensity without recovery is just exploitation (and what to do instead).
3. BREAKING PEOPLE: Discussing the human costs of unchecked speed, from Facebook's alleged role in the Myanmar genocide to Uber's systemic harassment culture to Theranos's fraud.
4. LEARNING OVER SPEED: We discuss Eric Ries's seminal work: The Lean Startup and how it went out of it's way to emphasize learning velocity over shipping velocity. WRONG (we guess)!
5. PUSHING BACK (WITHOUT GETTING FIRED): We brainstorm for frameworks to use for challenging speed-obsessed leadership, including trade-off and discuss real-world experiences.

Whether you're running a business, a product manager, or a team member just trying to keep up, this episode arms you with arguments and frameworks to advocate for ethical innovation.

What's your take on 'move fast' culture? Have you seen it more of a positive or negative?

#ProductManagement #TechEthics #AgileLeadership

REFERENCES
Move Fast and Break Things by Jonathan Taplin (2017), Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power Greed and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn Williams, The Lean Startup by Eric Ries (2011), The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmondson (2018), Susan Fowler's blog 'Reflecting on One Very Very Strange Year at Uber' (February 2017), UN Human Rights Council 2018 report on Facebook and Myanmar, Harvard Business School research on always-on cultures (2009), Agile Podcast E22 - Interview with a Scrum Trainer: Fred Mastropasqua (August 2021), Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink, The Social Network (film, 2010)

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

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)