No Nonsense Leadership

Feb 19 2025 116 ep. 46 mins 74
No Nonsense Leadership Podcast artwork

This is No-Nonsense Leadership, where we explore better ways to develop software products and services. Join world-class experts for honest insights and practical advice to help you lead digital teams, products, and organisations clearly and confidently. Subscribe now to learn the best ideas in the field.

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#0117 - Break out of the software factory

Feb 19 2025 57 mins  
 In this episode, we explore how to escape the outdated factory model of software development. We discuss traditional bureaucratic software development, why it fails, and how Agile was meant to fix it by removing departmental silos and liberating talent, only for managers to turn it back into siloed development in sprints. We discuss a successful Agile transformation at a digita

#0116 - Humanocracy with Michele Zanini

Feb 06 2025 66 mins  
In this episode, we talk to Mikkel Zanini about humanocracy. Mikkel emphasizes the limitations of traditional bureaucratic organizations and explains the concept of humanocracy, which focuses on maximizing human potential rather than efficiency and control. We explore the principles of ownership, meritocracy, internal markets, experimentation, community, openness and balance that u

#0115 - Executive influence with Rich Mironov

Dec 19 2024 49 mins  
In this episode, we talk to Rich Mironov about increasing your influence with executives. We discuss organisational politics and explain how power, stories and alliances are crucial in shaping company dynamics. Rich describes the disconnect between business and technical teams and the importance of expressing arguments in the language of money. He also provides strategies for produ

#0114 - Surviving organisational politics with John Cutler

Dec 08 2024 47 mins  
In this episode, John Cutler talks about surviving the current tech environment. We discuss how layoffs and blame destroy trust, create fear and conflict and stop people from providing the feedback that leaders need to make good decisions. We discuss whether our workplaces are a meritocracy or highly charged political environments. And we explore survival strategies such as going w

#0113 - Donna replaces Shane as co-host

Nov 28 2024 11 mins  
In this episode, we announce Shane Gibson's departure and introduce Donna Spencer as our new co-host. Donna describes her experience as a product designer and user experience researcher. Shane reflects on what he's learned about agile, product development, and leadership from over a hundred interviews with international experts. Murray discusses the podcast's commitment to deliveri

#0112 - Agile Project Management with Johanna Rothman

Nov 21 2024 50 mins  
Join Murray Robinson and Shane Gibson as they chat with Joanna Rothman about agile project management. We critique fake corporate agile and discuss the drawbacks of offshoring your development work. We talk about the importance of continuous feedback, continuous delivery and cross-functional teams and we discuss project charters, budgets, scaling, and the need to focus on outcomes

#0111 - The crisis in agile with Jurgen Appelo

Sep 26 2024 34 mins  
Join Murray Robinson and Shane Gibson as they chat with Jurgen Appelo about the crisis in the agile community. We explore how the agile job market has changed with diminishing roles for agile coaches and scrum masters. And we discuss what people can do now that the agile consulting and training gold rush is over. We talk about the poor quality of agile practices in organizations cl

#0110 - The Haier model with William Malek

Sep 11 2024 42 mins  
Join Murray Robinson and Shane Gibson as they chat with William Malek about the Haier operating model. Haier, a Chinese appliance giant, transitioned from a failing state-owned enterprise to a highly profitable publicly owned organisation with over 5,700 micro enterprises and $50 billion in revenue. We explain how Haier uses an internal marketplace to allow microenterprises to trad

#0109 - High performance organisations with Steve Spear

Aug 29 2024 42 mins  
Join Murray Robinson and Shane Gibson as they chat with Steve Spear, author of a High Velocity Edge, Wiring the Winning Organization and Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System. We discuss how good leaders create a system that makes it easy for people to do quality work when and where it's needed by continually asking, what's the problem and how can I help? Steve expla

#0108 - Wiring the Winning Organisation with Gene Kim

Aug 15 2024 45 mins  
Join Murray Robinson and Shane Gibson as they chat with Gene Kim, leader of the Enterprise Technology Leadership Conference and author of the Phoenix and Unicorn Projects. Gene describes how DevOps research shows that excellent socio-technical leadership is critical to team success and failure. He explains how technical leaders can dramatically increase team effectiveness by impr