Diving into the job market means facing the interview challenge head on. It's not just about what you know; it's also about how you learn, adapt, and handle yourself under pressure. Confidence and honesty can make or break your chances. Today, we're taking a closer look at Neha's experience with a panel interview for a product manager role. She shares how she tackles questions about managing teams, making tough decisions, and aligning her work with the company's big-picture goals.

In this episode of The Agile Coach, host Vivek is joined back again with Adam Miner, an experienced Agile Coach with a background as a Scrum Master, to share his journey of breaking into his first Scrum Master role and transitioning into an Agile Coach role. He emphasizes the importance of personal growth and development outside of the nine-to-five job to set oneself apart in interviews. Adam also highlights the significance of understanding the company culture and team dynamics during the...

In this episode of The Agile Coach, host Vivek is joined back again by Adam Miner, an experienced Agile Coach with a background as a Scrum Master. He has worked in various roles in the Agile space, including coaching and mentoring teams in Agile practices. Adam has a deep understanding of the Agile mindset and values and is skilled in facilitating change and driving organizational agility. Adam shares his experience transitioning from a Scrum Master role to an Agile Coach role. He emphasizes...

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek is joined by Abbie DeMartino, a development manager at Meijer, to share her journey from a sports coaching background to becoming a scrum master and eventually a development manager. She discusses the transferable skills she gained from her previous roles and how she applied them in the tech world. Abbie emphasizes the importance of being competitive, continuously learning, and building relationships with team members. She also provides insights into...

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek is joined by Laurin Lukas Stahl, Head of Product at Trality, to discuss the world of product management, exploring its definition, differences from project management, and its essential role in the product development process. Laurin, a guest on the show, shares valuable insights into the skills, mindset, and structured thinking needed to become an effective product manager. The conversation also touches on the potential of AI tools like Chat GPT in...

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek is joined by Jonaed Iqbal, the CEO and Founder of NoDegree.com. Jonaed talks about social media, branding, and helping people pursue roles even without a college degree. He walks us through the No Degree platform and how he creates content and interacts with people without degrees and helping them take the roles that best fit them. He shares key insights on constant learning especially when you don't have the "advantage" of having a...

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek is joined by Priyanka Gyawali, the Chief Technology Officer at Belong Technology. Priyanka digs into her journey in tech from software engineer to CTO and the immense value of upskilling to get there. She shares her thoughts on what makes a good product owner/manager and the changes ChatGPT is ushering in the way we process work for the better. For agile, Priyanka also champions giving people space to be creative to bring their ideas to...

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek is joined by Joe Ziadeh, Chief Story Teller and Innovation Artist at Balanced Agility. They play around with ChatGPT to test if it can think and act like a scrum master in realistic situations. Vivek and Joe run a few prompts and are definitely impressed by some of the answers. Although some are a bit drawn out, the AI has produced impressive results throughout the session. HIGHLIGHT QUOTES How does ChatGPT produce specific answers? - Joe: "After...

Welcome to another episode and today, Vivek welcomes Rye Hawley, a Scrum Master at Net Health. They discuss Rye's current role, his transition to tech, and his advice for his past and current self. Rye emphasizes the importance of continuous learning, identifying and resolving impediments, and striving for excellence in personal and professional growth. Learn more about Rye and his work in this latest episode of The Agile Coach. HIGHLIGHT QUOTES Acing an interview with less experience -...

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek sits down with Haley Prestwood, Scrum Master at Kroger Technology & Digital. Haley talks about her early experience in Agile and her transition from planning to go to law school to becoming a scrum master today. She shares her insights on how to reaffirm yourself and excel in your role even if you don't initially have any background in IT or software development. She highlights the importance of learning and continuing to grow and how essential...

In this episode of The Agile Coach, Vivek sits down with Joe Justice, CEO of WIKISPEED and Chairman of the Agile Business Institute. Joe talks about all that he has learned about innovation and how it relates to Agile after working with Elon Musk. He gives us an inside look at a few processes at the Musk companies and the processes they implement for cost reduction and innovation. Joe shares his insights on scrum and how effectively it helps in calling different roleplayers to collaborate...

This episode of The Agile Coach is the second part of our conversation with Mikaylah McCarty, Scrum Master at Universal Parks & Resorts. She shares the best practices when building the resume, improving LinkedIn, and other aspects to focus on when interviewing or applying for an Agile role. Mikaylah talks about the importance of starting the role right and adopting the right mindset once you start doing what's needed from you. She also highlights the need to continue learning and that...

The Agile Coach with Vivek and Pabitra sits down with Mikaylah McCarty, Scrum Master at Universal Parks & Resorts. Scrum Masters lead cross-functional and agile teams. They provide the how to the what and deliver realistic outcomes quickly to customers. She shares her journey to becoming a Scrum Master and how to capitalize on networking opportunities. Mikaylah advises aspiring Scrum Masters to seek out a mentor to guide them and to double down on the skill of communication as creating a...

In this episode of The Agile Coach Podcast, Vivek talks with Angela Johnson, Chief Change Officer & Certified Scrum Trainer at Collaborative Leadership Team and author of The Scrum Master Files. She talks about working with leadership as an Agile coach and working through resistance Agile transformation in organizations. HIGHLIGHT QUOTES You have to have a handle on what you're trying to measure - Angela: "People will say things like, 'we have to go faster' or 'we can't keep up with...

In this episode of The Agile Coach Podcast, Vivek talks with Angela Johnson, Chief Change Officer & Certified Scrum Trainer at Collaborative Leadership Team and author of The Scrum Master Files. She talks about the necessary people skills that scrum masters need and how to handle conflict effectively as a scrum master. HIGHLIGHT QUOTES Don't shy away from conflict as a scrum master - Angela: "Sometimes when people are just misunderstanding each other or communication is breaking down, a...

In this episode of The Agile Coach Podcast, Vivek talks with Pabitra about how she got into Agile, the transition from her first job to where she's now today, and if she would have changed her Agile Career today. They share about the different changes in the space and the overall process of starting a career in Agile. HIGHLIGHT QUOTES Leading a team to become a self-empowering unit - Pabitra: "Really think about how I help them in their personal or professional growth so that they feel...

The Agile Coach with Vivek and Pabitra chats with Andrej Dzidic, Director of Project Management - Technical at Mastercard. He breaks down the role of people skills in the success of a product management role, as well as shares how he built trust to navigate people's expectations. Different stakeholders have different priorities, so being able to build a relationship with each of them creates less friction when actually performing your role as a product manager. HIGHLIGHT QUOTES Sales skills...

The Agile Coach with Vivek and Pabitra chats with Andrej Dzidic, Director of Project Management - Technical at Mastercard. He defines what product management is and how his team sets up strategies with buy-in from engineering leadership. Andrej also shares how he builds teams by performing a gap analysis and prioritizing a potential product manager's communication skills. He talks about mentoring others using prioritization strategies and clarifies that a degree is not needed to enter a...

The Agile Coach takes a deep dive with Joe Ziadeh, Chief Story Teller and Innovation Artist at Balanced Agility, into his journey to becoming a certified ICE-AC agile coach. He shares the differences between mentoring and coaching, how to practice facilitation, and his own growth as a coach himself as his biggest learning experiences in this journey. HIGHLIGHT QUOTES Mentors solve the problem with you, coaches help the person behind it - Joe: "As a coach, your coachee or client, however you...

The Agile Coach sits down with Joe Ziadeh, Chief Story Teller and Innovation Artist at Balanced Agility, as he shares how to approach and engage teams as an agile coach. Joe breaks down his insights when working with new teams, from entering the team with mutual respect to the very mindset that makes an agile coach effective. Joe gives tips on how to create psychological safety to encourage transparent conversation and shares some activities he does with new teams. He also discusses how he...

Today, we feature the best moments of our conversation with Richard Seroter, Director of Developer Relations and Outbound Product Management at Google Cloud. He discusses what it means to be a product owner and how to work with engineers, end users, and everyone in between. Richard shares how to exercise leadership as a product owner and work with stakeholders not as a boss but as a member of the team. He also talks about using data points to prioritize feature decisions, instilling...

Today, The Agile Coach looks back on our conversation with Banu Raghuraman who is now a Course Instructor with The Agile Coach and Digital Project Manager at EY. In order to lead, you need empathy, and being an emphatic leader has positive implications for how well you resonate with team members and stakeholders alike. Banu provides tips on relationship building and digs into the actual ways to communicate with stakeholders. She gives tips on influential leadership which informs how to...

Today, we speak again with Joe Ziadeh, the Chief Story Teller and Innovation Artist at Balanced Agility. He knows how estimation is done best by pinning it relative against the size of another thing and determining if it is bigger or smaller than that. Joe also talks about story points and how to relatively size them and use the Fibonacci sequence because it is simply what worked for many people a long time ago. Get to know Joe and what he’s up to: About Joe About Balanced Agility Balanced...

Today, we speak again with Joe Ziadeh, the Chief Story Teller and Innovation Artist at Balanced Agility. He discusses the differences between ideas and insights and how to perform a root cause analysis like the 5 Why's. This strategy reveals the insights hidden in the data and opens up possible experiments the team can perform to address the root cause of the issue. Get to know Joe and what he’s up to: About Joe About Balanced Agility Balanced Agility Website Connect with Vivek and find...