Agile Mentors Podcast from Mountain Goat Software

#187: A Quick Summer Update and a Look at What's Ahead with Brian Milner

The Agile Mentors Podcast is taking a short summer break, but that does not mean the conversation is stopping. In this special update, Brian shares what is ahead for the show and introduces a new podcast exploring one of the biggest questions facing modern teams: what happens when AI becomes part of how work gets done?
 
Overview
 
As the Agile Mentors Podcast pauses new episodes for the summer, Brian takes a few minutes to reflect on what this community has explored together over the years. While Scrum, Agile, product ownership, leadership, and coaching have been recurring topics, the deeper theme has always been people: how teams learn, collaborate, make decisions, and improve over time.
 
Brian also shares details about his new podcast, People Over Prompts, which will focus on the changing relationship between humans and AI at work. As AI moves beyond being a simple tool and becomes a more active collaborator, organizations are being challenged to rethink team structures, workflows, accountability, and decision-making. What does a team look like when every person is supported by multiple AI agents? What responsibilities should remain firmly human? And how do we preserve judgment, creativity, and shared understanding in an AI-enabled workplace? This episode offers a preview of those conversations while looking ahead to what comes next for both podcasts.
 
References and resources mentioned in the show:
People Over Prompts podcast#82: The Intersection of AI and Agile with Emilia Breton#175: When AI Makes Agile Teams Worse with Hunter HillegasAI Doesn’t Eliminate Agile Teams — It Increases the Need for Great Ones by Mike CohnSubscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast
 
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.

#186: Why Teams Stop Caring About Retrospectives with Cort Sharp

Retrospectives are supposed to help teams improve, but for many teams they slowly become rushed, repetitive, or skipped altogether. In this episode, Brian Milner and Cort Sharp unpack why retrospectives lose their value and what Scrum Masters and leaders can do to make them useful again.
 
Overview
When a team stops engaging in retrospectives, it is usually a symptom of something deeper. Sometimes the format has become stale. Sometimes the team no longer feels safe being honest. And sometimes the biggest issue is that retrospectives create plenty of discussion but very little meaningful change.
In this conversation, Brian and Cort explore the most common reasons retrospectives begin to fail and how teams can rebuild trust in the process. They discuss the importance of psychological safety, why teams should focus on fewer actions instead of trying to fix everything at once, and how Scrum Masters can better tailor retrospectives to the personalities and working styles of their teams. They also share practical ideas for making retrospectives more engaging, more actionable, and more valuable over time.
 
References and resources mentioned in the show:
Cort SharpAmy Edmonson, Psychological Safety#139: The Retrospective Reset with Cort Sharp#141: Cooking Up a Killer Retrospective with Brian MilnerThe Empirical Retrospective Approach by Mike CohnSubscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast
 
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Cort Sharp is the Scrum Master of the producing team and the Agile Mentors Community Manager. In addition to his love for Agile, Cort is also a serious swimmer and has been coaching swimmers for five years.

#185: The Real ROI of Agile with Scott Dunn

A lot of organizations say they’ve “gone Agile,” but still struggle with missed deadlines, unclear priorities, and teams that feel busy without delivering better outcomes. In this episode, Scott Dunn joins Brian Milner to unpack why Agile ROI is so often misunderstood and what leaders should actually be measuring instead. 
 
Overview
What does a successful Agile transformation actually look like? Too often, organizations adopt Scrum or Agile practices because everyone else is doing it, without first defining the business outcomes they hope to achieve. The result is predictable: teams follow the motions of Agile while leadership struggles to see measurable value.
In this conversation, Brian Milner and Scott Dunn explore why ROI conversations around Agile frequently go off track and how leaders can reconnect Agile practices to meaningful business goals like faster delivery, improved customer satisfaction, stronger collaboration, and better adaptability. They discuss the hidden cost of operationalizing Agile too early, why coaching and leadership alignment still matter, and how the rise of AI makes strong Agile fundamentals more important, not less.
 
References and resources mentioned in the show:
Scott Dunn#104: Mastering Product Ownership with Mike Cohn#132: Can Nice Guys Finish First? with Scott DunnDo the Proven Benefits of Agile Training Justify the Costs? by Mike CohnSubscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast
 
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Scott Dunn is a Certified Enterprise Coach and Scrum Trainer with over 20 years of experience coaching and training companies like NASA, EMC/Dell Technologies, Yahoo!, Technicolor, and eBay to transition to an agile approach using Scrum.

#184: Scrum in High-Stakes Environments with John Holmes

Many leaders assume Agile breaks down in highly regulated environments. John Holmes has spent years proving the opposite inside aerospace, defense, and space programs where the cost of failure is extremely high.
 
Overview
 
In this episode, Brian Milner talks with Scrum Inc. Fellow John Holmes about what it actually takes to apply Scrum in complex defense and aerospace organizations. From military programs to space systems, John explains why Agile is often less about moving faster and more about creating visibility, improving communication, and reducing the risk of major surprises late in delivery.
 
John also shares practical lessons from coaching teams inside highly disciplined environments where command-and-control leadership has traditionally dominated. The conversation explores how Agile can strengthen discipline rather than weaken it, why trust and training matter more than process compliance, and how small operational changes can create meaningful improvements in delivery, alignment, and team effectiveness.
 
References and resources mentioned in the show:
 
John Holmes#107: Transforming Organizational Mindsets with Bernie Maloney#108: Adaptive Organizations with Ken RickardThere Is No End State When Transitioning to Agile by Mike CohnSubscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast
 
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
John Holmes is a Scrum Inc. Fellow who has spent decades helping aerospace, defense, and government organizations apply Agile and Scrum in some of the world’s most complex environments. From launching Scrum for Space at Lockheed Martin to training thousands of leaders and teams since 2005, John brings a practical, field-tested perspective on what it really takes to make Agile work where the stakes are high.

#183: How AI Is Reshaping Product Ownership with Lance Dacy

AI can help product owners move faster, but faster is not always better. In this episode, Lance Dacy and Brian Milner explore where AI genuinely improves product work and where teams still need strong judgment, clear priorities, and real customer understanding.
 
Overview
 
As development teams adopt AI tools at a rapid pace, product owners are under pressure to keep up. Brian and Lance discuss how AI is already changing backlog refinement, product discovery, stakeholder communication, and day-to-day product work. They also explore why many teams are still using AI too narrowly and missing larger opportunities to improve decision-making and collaboration.
 
The conversation stays grounded in practical application rather than hype. Lance shares where AI can save product owners meaningful time, where human judgment still matters most, and why teams need to be careful about treating AI-generated output as automatically correct. If your team is trying to understand how AI fits into modern product leadership, this episode offers a realistic starting point.
 
References and resources mentioned in the show:
 
Lance Dacy#117: How AI and Automation Are Redefining Success for Developers with Lance Dacy#164: Why Innovation Efforts Fall Flat with Tendayi VikiAI Doesn’t Eliminate Agile Teams — It Increases the Need for Great Ones by Mike CohnSubscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast
 
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Lance Dacy is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®. Lance brings a great personality and servant's heart to his workshops. He loves seeing people walk away with tangible and practical things they can do with their teams straight away.

#182: Never Stop Experimenting with Stavros Stavru

In a world changing faster than most teams can keep up with, standing still may be the biggest risk of all. Brian Milner sits down with Stavros Stavru to explore why experimentation is no longer optional and how teams can build a culture that adapts before disruption forces it to.
 
Overview
Many organizations say they value experimentation, but few create the conditions that make real experimentation possible. Too often, teams either stay trapped in familiar patterns or mistake random change for meaningful learning.
In this episode, Brian Milner talks with Stavros Stavru, author of Never Stop Experimenting, about what experimentation actually looks like in practice. Stavros shares how rapid advances in AI and constant disruption are forcing teams to rethink how they learn, adapt, and improve. Together, they discuss the difference between experimentation and “experimentation theater,” why small experiments matter, and how leaders can model the kind of curiosity and adaptability they want their teams to develop.
Stavros also shares practical examples from his book, including simple ways teams can test assumptions, gather more honest feedback, and create stronger learning loops in their day-to-day work.
 
References and resources mentioned in the show:
Stavros StavruNever Stop Experimenting by Stavros Stavru, Ph.D.#56: The Power of Experimentation#118: The Secrets to Agile Success with Mike Cohn
When Do Agile Teams Make Time for Innovation? By Mike CohnSubscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast
 
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work.
Stavros Stavru is an organizational transformation researcher and Agile practitioner whose work focuses on helping teams create lasting alignment instead of temporary improvement. After two decades working with thousands of professionals across 500+ organizations, he founded AhaPlay to turn strategy and behavioral science into measurable team alignment without relying on facilitators.

#181: How to Start Agile Without Overengineering It with Cort Sharp

Too many teams try to “do Agile” by adding layers of process before they understand the problem they’re trying to solve. In this episode, Brian Milner and Cort Sharp discuss how to start Agile simply, avoid unnecessary complexity, and build practices that actually fit your team.
 
Overview
When organizations first adopt Agile, they often make the same mistake: they start with frameworks, terminology, and process layers instead of focusing on visibility, feedback, and learning. The result is a system that feels heavy before it ever becomes useful.
In this episode, Brian Milner and Cort Sharp explore a more practical approach to getting started with Agile. They discuss why teams should focus on foundational concepts like transparency, short feedback loops, and clear priorities before worrying about scaling frameworks or advanced practices. Brian and Cort also share the common “drag factors” that slow Agile adoption down, including process overload, coordination complexity, and measuring the wrong outcomes.
If your team is trying to become more Agile without creating more bureaucracy, this episode offers a practical starting point.
 
References and resources mentioned in the show:
 
Cort SharpIntroducing An Agile Process to an Organization by Mike Cohn + Doris FordRelationship between Definition of Done and Conditions of Satisfaction by Mike CohnWhy Agile Teams Put So Much Emphasis on Being Done Each Iteration by Mike Cohn
Subscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast 
 
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
  Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
  Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. 
Cort Sharp is the Scrum Master of the producing team and the Agile Mentors Community Manager. In addition to his love for Agile, Cort is also a serious swimmer and has been coaching swimmers for five years.

#180: Why Velocity Is the Wrong Metric for Leadership with Scott Dunn

Velocity can help a team plan, but it creates problems when leaders use it to judge performance. In this episode, Brian Milner and Scott Dunn explain why that shift happens so often and what leaders should pay attention to instead.
 
Overview
Velocity is one of the most misunderstood metrics in Agile. Used well, it helps a team forecast and make planning decisions. Used poorly, it becomes a productivity score that encourages inflated estimates, unhealthy comparisons, and a focus on output rather than value.
In this episode, Brian and Scott discuss why leaders often reach for velocity, why it gives them the wrong signal, and how teams can reconnect measurement to outcomes, learning, and business impact. They also explore how AI is making this issue more urgent by increasing delivery speed while putting even more pressure on leaders to ask whether teams are building the right things.
 
References and resources mentioned in the show:
Scott Dunn#35: Metrics with Lance DacyRethink the Refinement Session: Less Time, Better Outcomes by Mike CohnThe Cost of Change Curve Is Outdated by Mike CohnSubscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast 
 
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
  Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
  Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
 
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. 
Scott Dunn is a Certified Enterprise Coach and Scrum Trainer with over 20 years of experience coaching and training companies like NASA, EMC/Dell Technologies, Yahoo!, Technicolor, and eBay to transition to an agile approach using Scrum. 

#179: Leadership Decisions That Quietly Derail Agile with Mike Cohn

Many agile struggles don’t start with the team. They start with leadership decisions that seem reasonable but create friction, confusion, or misalignment over time. In this episode, Mike Cohn outlines the patterns that most often hold organizations back and what leaders can do differently.
 
Overview
In this episode, Brian Milner and Mike Cohn examine the leadership decisions that most often derail agile efforts. Rather than focusing on team-level practices, the conversation centers on how leadership behavior shapes outcomes across the organization.
Mike highlights several recurring issues: treating agile as a process change instead of a mindset shift, scaling before understanding what works, limiting product owner authority, and prioritizing speed over focus. He also addresses how well-intentioned leadership actions can unintentionally slow teams down or create dependency.
The discussion emphasizes that agile is not something leaders delegate. It requires changes in how leaders make decisions, set boundaries, and engage with teams. When those changes do not happen, teams may follow the motions of agile without seeing meaningful improvement.
If your organization is “doing agile” but not seeing the expected results, this episode offers a practical way to assess where leadership decisions may be contributing to the problem—and where to adjust first.
 
References and resources mentioned in the show:
Mike Cohn#118: The Secrets to Agile Success with Mike Cohn#143: What Still Makes Teams Work (and Win) with Jim YorkWhy Teams Matter More Than Ever for Innovation by Mike CohnHow To Fail With Agile: Twenty Tips to Help You Avoid Success by Mike Cohn + Clinton KeithSubscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast 
 
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
  Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
  Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. 
Mike Cohn, CEO of Mountain Goat Software, is a passionate advocate for agile methodologies. Co-founder of Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance, he thrives on helping companies succeed with Agile and witnessing its transformative impact on individuals' careers. Mike resides in Northern Idaho with his family, two Havanese dogs, and an impressive hot sauce collection.

#178: How AI Is Actually Changing Software Teams with Hunter Hillegas

AI isn’t just speeding up coding. It’s starting to change how teams work, what they build, and even who needs to be involved. In this episode, Brian and Hunter separate real impact from hype and explore what’s already shifting inside teams.
 
Overview
AI tools are improving fast, but what does that actually mean for teams doing the work?
In this episode, Brian Milner sits down with Hunter Hillegas, CTO of Mountain Goat Software, to explore how AI is being used today inside real software teams. They dig into where these tools are genuinely accelerating work, from coding agents and automated testing to analyzing large data sets and reducing friction in everyday tasks. They also unpack the growing shift from writing code to reviewing it, and what that means for developers and team dynamics.
At the same time, they address the gap between hype and reality. Where does AI perform well, and where does it still fall short? What happens when adoption is pushed top-down without clarity? And how might AI start to reshape roles, collaboration, and expectations across a team?
This is a practical, honest look at what’s changing right now, where to start if you’re new to these tools, and how to think about AI as part of your team without losing sight of how real teams actually work.
 
References and resources mentioned in the show:
 
Hunter HillegasMountaingoat Software’s AI Toolkit#82: The Intersection of AI and Agile with Emilia Breton#169: Building Practical AI for Agile Teams with Hunter Hillegas#175: When AI Makes Agile Teams Worse with Hunter HillegasAI Doesn’t Eliminate Agile Teams — It Increases the Need for Great Ones by Mike CohnHow to Use AI for Product Discovery and Writing Better User Stories by Mike Cohn
Subscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast 
 
Want to get involved?
This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input.
  Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one.
  Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com
This episode’s presenters are:
Brian Milner is a Certified Scrum Trainer®, Certified Scrum Professional®, Certified ScrumMaster®, and Certified Scrum Product Owner®, and host of the Agile Mentors Podcast training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. 
Hunter Hillegas is the Chief Technology Officer at Mountain Goat Software. With over 20 years of experience in software development, product ownership, and team leadership, he leads the creation of tools like the AI Toolkit and Team Home to support effective, engaging learning experiences. Hunter lives in Santa Barbara, California, with his wife and their dog Enzo.