The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

AgileDad ~ V. Lee Henson
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Rise and shine, Agile enthusiasts! Kickstart your day with 'The Agile Daily Standup' podcast. In a crisp 15 minutes or less, AgileDad brings you a refreshing burst of Agile insights, blended seamlessly with humor and authenticity. Celebrated around the world for our distinct human-centered and psychology-driven approach, we're on a mission to ignite your path to business agility. Immerse yourself in curated articles, invaluable tips, captivating stories, and conversations with the best in the business. Set your aspirations high and let's redefine agility, one episode at a time with AgileDad!

  1. 16H AGO

    Celebrating PI Day!

    Celebrating PI Day! “I finally see where I belong” often starts quietly, almost by accident. A student wanders into a Pi Day event because there’s free pie, not because they think math has anything to do with them. They expect to feel like an outsider again—another room where the “real” math people will do the talking. But as they listen, they hear a guest speaker casually mention being the first in their family to go to college, or struggling with math in middle school, or switching careers into STEM later in life. The stories sound less like polished genius and more like persistence, doubt, and small, stubborn steps forward. As the activities unfold, the room feels different from a normal class. There’s laughter during a silly pi‑recitation contest, teams arguing over who measured a circle more accurately, someone proudly wearing a homemade π shirt. Instead of being tested, everyone is invited to play: to estimate, to experiment, to be wrong and then correct themselves. In that environment, the student stops seeing math as a gate guarded by a few brilliant people and starts seeing it as a language that anyone can pick up, slowly, with practice. What makes Pi Day powerful in this story isn’t the number itself; it’s the way the day reframes who “gets” to enjoy math. The student notices a teacher cheering loudest for the kid who improved their pi‑digits record from 7 to 15, not just for the one who recites 200. They hear peers admit, “I thought this was going to be boring, but this is actually kind of fun.” For someone who has spent years feeling like they’re on the outside of every math conversation, that small, shared enthusiasm signals something profound: you don’t have to be the best to belong here. By the end of the day, nothing magical has happened to their test scores. What has changed is the story they tell themselves. Instead of “I’m not a math person,” it becomes “I’m a person learning math, and people like me are welcome at the table.” That internal shift doesn’t show up on a Pi Day poster, but it quietly shapes their future choices—raising a hand one more time, signing up for the next course, or even mentoring someone else who feels out of place. In that moment, surrounded by digits of π and crumbs of pie, they finally see where they belong—and it’s in the circle, not outside it. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

    5 min

  2. 2D AGO

    Why I Switched to a Hybrid Approach and Tripled My Team’s Delivery Rate

    Why I Switched to a Hybrid Approach and Tripled My Team’s Delivery Rate Agile was supposed to be the answer. Stand-ups, sprints, retros, these rituals promised faster delivery, happier teams, and stakeholders who finally felt in sync with engineering. For a while, it worked. My team hit a rhythm, delivered features quickly, and felt engaged in the process. But over time, the cracks showed. Velocity slowed to a crawl. Stand-ups became theater. Engineers dreaded sprint planning. Stakeholders kept asking when features would actually be done. And remote work made it worse with Zoom fatigue, Slack overload, and endless context-switching draining the energy Agile was supposed to give us. At first, I blamed the team. Maybe we weren’t “doing Agile right.” So I doubled down on the rituals. More retros, stricter sprints, tighter velocity tracking. But the harder I pushed, the more Agile turned into bureaucracy. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

    18 min

  3. 3D AGO

    AI Is Changing The Economics of Software Development - Mike Cohn

    AI Is Changing The Economics of Software Development - Mike Cohn

    6 min

  4. 4D AGO

    5 Ways High Performers Disrupt Team Harmony

    5 Ways High Performers Disrupt Team Harmony High performers rarely disrupt teams on purpose. More often, disruption happens because they move faster than the systems, processes, or people around them. Their confidence, speed, and problem-solving ability can subtly change how work gets done and how others show up. The problem isn’t their performance. It’s their speed and capability that invisibly reshape team dynamics. Teammates begin working around them instead of with them. And gradually, they become the team’s single point of dependency, which is great for short-term results but not for the long term. When strong performance starts disrupting team harmony, knowing how to guide it in a way that maintains both results and collaboration. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

    10 min

  5. 5D AGO

    Scrum The Toyota Way

    Scrum The Toyota Way Scrum is everywhere. Most Product Owners understand the framework well. We manage backlogs, prioritize items, attend ceremonies, and track progress sprint after sprint. And still, many products struggle. Value takes too long to reach customers. Teams deliver features that are rarely used. Defects appear late. Dependencies and waiting time quietly erode delivery speed. This is not because Scrum is broken. It’s because Scrum alone does not address flow and waste deeply enough. That’s where Scrum the Toyota Way (STW) fundamentally changes how Product Ownership works. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

    8 min

  6. MAR 6

    A Single Act of Kindness..

    A Single Act of Kindness.. You know those days when you feel like you’re barely holding it together, but you still smile at the cashier, still help the person in front of you, still try to be kind—while secretly wondering if anyone even sees how hard you’re trying? This is a story about a mom like that…And a stranger who decided her quiet kindness was worth changing her life for. It’s an ordinary afternoon in San Diego.Fluorescent grocery store lights, kids negotiating for snacks, carts squeaking down the aisles. It’s the kind of place where everyone is close together, but no one really feels seen. In the middle of it all is Janae, a mom of four.You can picture her: one kid in the cart, another hanging onto the side, two more orbiting like moons—bumping into displays, asking a million questions, reminding her every thirty seconds that they’re hungry, tired, or both. What nobody in that store knows is that money has been tight.Tight enough that every item in her cart has already been mentally weighed against a bill waiting at home. Tight enough that she’s done the math three times and is still a little nervous about what the total might be. But she’s doing what moms do: pushing forward, getting it done, making it look manageable on the outside. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

    7 min

  7. MAR 5

    7 Strategies to Motivate and Retain Employees

    7 Strategies to Motivate and Retain Employees Employee motivation and retention remain two of the most critical pillars of organizational success, yet they are among the hardest ones to sustain. Competitive salaries and benefits might open the door to top talent, but they’re no longer enough to keep people inspired and motivated. As workplaces evolve rapidly, employees want more than just a paycheck. They want purpose, recognition, and a sense of belonging. They look for growth opportunities, flexibility, and a culture that values their contributions. If you’ve noticed signs of disengagement or fear losing your top performers, it’s time to act — not with grand gestures, but with thoughtful, consistent actions that make people feel seen, supported, and inspired. Below are seven practical and powerful strategies to motivate your employees and build a loyal, high-performing workforce. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

    8 min

  8. MAR 4

    The Most Underrated Advantage of Short Sprints - Mike Cohn

    The Most Underrated Advantage of Short Sprints - Mike Cohn A recent Gallup survey found that 80% of employees who received meaningful feedback in the past week are engaged at work.For comparison, Gallup’s overall engagement numbers are often around 30%.That’s a striking gap.It suggests something many leaders overlook: performance may depend less on changing team structure and more on improving feedback inside the structure you already have.When results lag, organizations often reach for the org chart. They reorganize teams, redraw reporting lines, or debate how many teams a coach or Scrum Master should work with.Sometimes those changes help. But they rarely go far if feedback is infrequent, unclear, or missing altogether.Feedback isn’t just a management technique. It’s a strategic advantage.And agile teams have been building that advantage into the way they work for years.  When people talk about one- or two-week sprints, they usually focus on speed.  “We need to move faster.”“We need more output.”“We need shorter release cycles.”But speed isn’t the real advantage of short sprints.The advantage is shortening the time between action and learning.A sprint isn’t a delivery cycle. It’s a feedback cycle.Each sprint gives a team a natural point to stop and ask:  Did we build the right thing?Did we misunderstand the need?Are we still aligned with stakeholders?Are we learning what we hoped to learn?The shorter the sprint, the shorter the gap between assumption and validation.That’s not about velocity. That’s about reducing risk.  Early Scrum teams often worked like this:Sprint, sprint, sprint… then release.That pattern made sense at the time in the 1990s and early 2000s. It was a huge improvement over what had come before. But it meant some feedback arrived in a big, delayed batch after the release.Over time, many teams evolved to:Sprint, release, sprint, release.And today, many modern teams have gone further still. They release whenever it makes sense—sometimes multiple times per sprint, sometimes many times per day.In other words, modern agile teams have largely decoupled sprints from releases.So if sprints aren’t primarily about shipping anymore, what are they for?Sprints provide a reliable cadence for feedback and alignment—even when delivery happens continuously.  Many organizations treat the Sprint Review as a demo.It’s not.It’s where reality gets a vote.The Sprint Review is where the team inspects what was built with the people who care about it, and adjusts course based on what they learn.When that meeting becomes optional, rushed, or performative, you don’t just lose a ceremony. You lose your learning loop. And you start optimizing for finishing work instead of finishing the right work.If weekly feedback really is one of the biggest drivers of engagement and performance—as Gallup’s numbers suggest—then the Sprint Review isn’t overhead. It’s how you reduce rework, prevent expensive surprises, and stay aligned with what actually matters.  Of course, simply running one-week sprints doesn’t guarantee meaningful feedback.Stakeholders can skip reviews.Teams can ignore input.The conversation can stay superficial.Short cycles create the opportunity for feedback. Leaders decide whether to use it.That’s where the advantage lives.If you’re running one- or two-week sprints, ask yourself:Are we using sprints as delivery deadlines—or as learning deadlines?Because the real power of agile isn’t producing more every two weeks.It’s learning more every two weeks.And that’s a competitive advantage that will help you succeed with agile, How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

    6 min
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About

Rise and shine, Agile enthusiasts! Kickstart your day with 'The Agile Daily Standup' podcast. In a crisp 15 minutes or less, AgileDad brings you a refreshing burst of Agile insights, blended seamlessly with humor and authenticity. Celebrated around the world for our distinct human-centered and psychology-driven approach, we're on a mission to ignite your path to business agility. Immerse yourself in curated articles, invaluable tips, captivating stories, and conversations with the best in the business. Set your aspirations high and let's redefine agility, one episode at a time with AgileDad!

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