Agile Insights w/Dave Prior

Sanity at Scale: The Hero Trap

Every organization has them: the engineer who pulls an all-nighter to save the launch, the manager who bends the rules to get the deal done. We call them heroes and give them awards. But what if their heroics are actually masking the real problem? In this episode, Dave Borzillo breaks down the Hero Trap, the seductive feedback loop where individual sacrifice quietly prevents organizations from fixing what's actually broken, and why scaling sanely means learning to celebrate fire prevention instead of firefighting. This episode kicks off a series based on Dave's new book, Sanity at Scale, available now for Kindle pre-order [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H41M87KJ], with the full book launching June 24th.

Forge Genesis

Agilists are perfectly positioned to be entrepreneurs—if they can get out of their own way. 🚀 In this episode of Better Ways of Working, Dave Borzillo sits down with Chris G. Williams to discuss "Forge Genesis," a program designed to take the leadership principles of Agile and apply them to starting businesses, side hustles, or becoming more intrapreneurial within your current organization. Chris breaks down why so many Agile transformations fail to move the needle: we aren't speaking the language of value. As AI drives the expectation for "better, faster, cheaper" through the roof, the ability to validate ideas, prioritize ruthlessly, and "knock on doors" is more critical than ever. Key topics covered in this episode: * The Forge Genesis Framework: From ideation to real-market validation. * The "I Don't Get It" Problem: Why executives struggle to see the value of Agile and how to fix your framing. * AI & The Future of Work: Why AI won't take your job, but it will make "small a" agility mandatory for survival. * Agilists as Entrepreneurs: Using your knowledge of MVP, iteration, and flow to build your own platform. * The Risk of Doing Nothing: Why "safe" jobs might be riskier than you think in an algorithm-driven market. Where to find Chris and Forge Genesis. Connect with Chris G. Williams: Website: learning.fusechamber.com Email: chris.williams@fusechamber.com #BetterWaysOfWorking #Agile #Entrepreneurship #AI #ForgeGenesis #Leadership #SanityAtScale #Intrapreneurship

Agile Operatimg Model

Is Your Agile Transformation Just Agile Theater? 🎭 We have all seen it: A leader launches dozens of Scrum teams, but the underlying system remains the same. 🛑 The result is often that the system eventually fights back and reverts to its old state. In the latest episode of Better Ways of Working, I sat down with Matthew Jacobs [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobsmatta/], Chief Product Owner at Scrum Inc. [https://www.linkedin.com/company/scrum-inc/], to discuss why most Agile transformations are actually operating model transformations in disguise 🕵️‍♂️. If you want agility to last longer than the leader who started the initiative, you must change the core blueprint of how your organization delivers value 🏗️. Key Takeaways from our conversation: The Snap-Back Effect: Why transformations often fail the moment a new leader takes over 🔄. This occurs because the original organizational rules were never actually updated to support the new ways of working. Customer-Driven Value: The importance of the Golden Thread, which ensures every person in the organization understands how their daily work contributes to the overall mission 🧵. Modular Design: Why a modular organizational chart is the only sustainable way to deliver work iteratively without becoming overwhelmed by coordination dependencies 🧩. Principle-Driven Policy: Moving away from check-the-box rules toward outcomes that provide teams with the freedom to innovate ✨. Agile is not just a method for managing software; it is a superior way of organizing to get any complex task done—from viral research to aerospace engineering 🚀.

AI's Business Impact

THE REAL CHALLENGE WITH AI ISN’T THE TECH — IT'S UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEM FIRST I’ve been talking to clients about AI and what strikes me most is how often we leap to the solution before really defining the problem. We get excited about all the shiny applications, but without clarity on the core issue, AI just accelerates mistakes.Rob Broadhead puts it perfectly: AI is not a fix, it’s an amplifier. If you don’t know what you’re solving, it’s just going to make the problem worse, faster. That’s why we start with honest conversations about what’s holding us back — not what tool is trending. It’s so tempting to jump into automation or AI sprints, but as Rob says, "tie your shoe before you run." Get clear on your process, understand your manual steps, and then ask: How can AI help me do this better — not just faster.

Agile and Innovation

Is Agile actually dead, or are we just doing it wrong? I recently sat down with Dr. Kevin Thompson (PhD in Physics from Princeton and former NASA researcher) to dig into why so many organizations struggle to bridge the gap between software agility and hardware reality. Kevin’s journey from Lawrence Livermore labs to pioneering Scrum is a masterclass in pragmatism. We didn’t just talk theory—we got into the weeds on how to make “better ways of working” actually work when the cost of change is high. Here are 3 big takeaways from our conversation: 1. Hardware isn’t Software (and that’s okay): You can’t "control-z" a physical prototype as easily as code. Agile in hardware requires a unique balance of early requirement stability and rapid prototyping to manage risk. 2. The "Waterfall" Trap: We’ve all seen it—the rigid plan that looks great on paper but fails the moment it hits reality. Kevin explains how Scrum provides a "reality check" that traditional project management simply can't offer. 3. Predictability over Perfection: Leaders don't need a perfect plan; they need to know when they are going to hit a wall. Agile isn't about moving fast and breaking things; it’s about visibility and communication. If you’ve ever felt like Agile is just "process for the sake of process," this discussion is for you. Kevin shares insights from his book, Solutions for Agile Governance in the Enterprise (SAGE), and his decades of experience helping teams deliver. #Agile #Scrum #HardwareEngineering #ProjectManagement #BetterWaysOfWorking #Innovation