Agile Innovation Leaders Ula Ojiaku

Bio
Luke Hohmann is Chief Innovation Officer of Applied Frameworks. Applied Frameworks helps companies create more profitable software-enabled solutions. A serial entrepreneur, Luke founded, bootstrapped, and sold the SaaS B2B collaboration software company Conteneo to Scaled Agile, Inc. Conteneo’s Weave platform is now part of SAFe Studio.

A SAFe® Fellow, prolific author, and trailblazing innovator, Luke’s contributions to the global agile community include contributing to SAFe, five books, Profit Streams™, Innovation Games®, Participatory Budgeting at enterprise scale, and a pattern language for market-driven roadmapping.

Luke is also co-founder of Every Voice Engaged Foundation, where he partnered with The Kettering Foundation to create Common Ground for Action, the world’s first scalable platform for deliberative decision-making. Luke is a former National Junior Pairs Figure Skating Champion and has an M.S.E. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan. Luke loves his wife and four kids, his wife’s cooking, and long runs in the California sunshine and Santa Cruz mountains. 
 
Interview Highlights
01:30 Organisational Behaviour & Cognitive Psychology
06:10 Serendipity
09:30 Entrepreneurship
16:15 Applied Frameworks
20:00 Sustainability
20:45 Software Profit Streams
23:00 Business Model Canvas
24:00 Value Proposition Canvas
24:45 Setting the Price
28:45 Customer Benefit Analysis
34:00 Participatory Budgeting
36:00 Value Stream Funding
37:30 The Color of Money
42:00 Private v Public Sector
49:00 ROI Analysis
51:00 Innovation Accounting 
 
Connecting
 
LinkedIn: Luke Hohmann on LinkedIn Company Website: Applied Frameworks   
Books & Resources
 
·         Software Profit Streams(TM): A Guide to Designing a Sustainably Profitable Business: Jason Tanner, Luke Hohmann, Federico González
·         Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers (The Strategyzer series): Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur
·         Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want (The Strategyzer Series): Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda, Alan Smith, Trish Papadakos
·         Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play: Luke Hohmann
·         The ‘Color of Money’ Problem: Additional Guidance on Participatory Budgeting - Scaled Agile Framework
·         The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, Eric Ries
·         Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change 2, Kent Beck, Cynthia Andres
·         The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering: Brooks, Frederick Phillips
·         Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud
·         Ponyboy: A Novel, Eliot Duncan
·         Lessons in Chemistry: A Novel, Bonnie Garmus, Miranda Raison, Bonnie Garmus, Pandora Sykes
·         What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, Oprah Winfrey, Bruce D. Perry
·         Training | Applied Frameworks
 
Episode Transcript
Intro: Hello and welcome to the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast. I’m Ula Ojiaku. On this podcast I speak with world-class leaders and doers about themselves and a variety of topics spanning Agile, Lean Innovation, Business, Leadership and much more – with actionable takeaways for you the listener.
 Ula Ojiaku  
So I have with me Luke Hohmann, who is a four time author, three time founder, serial entrepreneur if I say, a SAFe fellow, so that's a Skilled Agile Framework fellow, keynote speaker and an internationally recognised expert in Agile software development. He is also a proud husband and a father of four. So, Luke, I am very honoured to hav

Bio
Uloaku (Ula) Ojiaku is the Founder/ CEO of Mezahab Group Ltd (a UK-based consultancy focused on helping leaders in large organisations improve how they work to deliver value to their customers).     
 With over 20 years of professional experience, Ula has board-level experience and has worked in multiple countries, in a variety of technical, business and leadership roles across industries including Retail, Oil & Gas, Telecommunications, Financial Services, Government, Higher Education and Consulting.  
 Ula hosts the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast, which features conversations with thought-leaders and world-class practitioners on topics covering leadership, innovation, business, agility, and much more.  
She also currently serves a multinational retail organisation as an Enterprise Agility Strategist/ Coach. 
 
Connect
Uloaku (Ula) Ojiaku | LinkedIn
Transcript
Hello all! Today, I want to dive into a powerful concept that goes beyond buzzwords and methodologies. It’s about mindset—the secret sauce that fuels successful transformations. So grab your virtual coffee, and let’s chat!
The Lean Mindset: When we say “think lean,” we’re not just talking about trimming the fat from processes. It’s about embracing simplicity, efficiency, and continuous improvement. Imagine a startup founder working out of a garage—scrappy, resourceful, and laser-focused on what truly matters. That’s the lean mindset. This can and has been also applied in large, established organisations.
The Agile Shift: Now, let’s talk agility. It’s not just for software developers or project managers. It’s a way of being. Agility means adaptability, responsiveness, and the ability to pivot gracefully. Think of a jazz musician riffing off the crowd’s energy—always in sync, always ready for change. That’s the agile shift.
Why It Matters: Here’s the magic: When you combine lean thinking with an agile mindset, you create a dynamic force. It’s like Batman and Robin—each powerful on their own, but unstoppable together. Organizations that embrace this duo thrive in today’s ever-evolving landscape.
Practical Steps: 1. Question Assumptions: Challenge the status quo. Why do we do things this way? Can we simplify? Can we iterate faster? 2. Fail Fast, Learn Faster: Experiment fearlessly. Failures are stepping stones to success. Learn, adapt, and iterate. 3. Collaborate Across Silos: Break down walls. Silos hinder agility. Cross-functional teams spark innovation.
Beyond Business: Remember, this isn’t just for business. You can apply it to your personal life too. Want to learn a new skill? Think lean—focus on the essentials. Want to pivot your career? Act agile—embrace change.
Your Turn: Share your thoughts! How do you think lean and act agile? Let’s keep this conversation going. And, if you think this video was useful, why not hit that like button? Have a great week ahead!!
 

Bio Dr. Jeff Sutherland is the inventor and co-creator of Scrum, the most widely used Agile framework across the globe.  Originally used for software development, Jeff has also pioneered the application of the framework to multiple industries and disciplines. Today, Scrum is applied to solve complex projects in start-ups and Fortune 100 companies. Scrum companies consistently respond to market demand, to get results and drive performance at speeds they never thought possible. Jeff is committed to developing the Agile leadership practices that allow Scrum to scale across an enterprise.
 
Dr. Sutherland is the chairman and founder of Scrum Inc. He is a signatory of the Agile manifesto and coauthor of the Scrum Guide and the creator Scrum@Scale. Jeff continues to teach, create new curriculum in the Agile Education Program and share best practices with organizations around the globe. He is the founder of Scrum Inc. and coauthor of, Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, that has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide. 
 
Social Media:
                LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jeffsutherland
                Twitter: @jeffsutherland
Website:
Scrum Inc https://scruminc.com               Books/ Articles:
The Scrum Guide by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber http://www.scrumguides.org/index.html Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland The Scrum Fieldbook by JJ Sutherland Agile Competitors and Virtual Organisations by Steven Goldman, Roger Nagel and Kenneth Preiss https://www.amazon.co.uk/Agile-Competitors-Virtual-Organizations-Engineering/dp/0471286508 Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster Moving World by John P. Kotter Leading Change by John P. Kotter Process Dynamics, Modeling and Control by Babatunde A. Ogunnaike and Harmon W. Ray A Scrum Book: The Spirit of the Game by Jeff Sutherland, James Coplien, Mark den Hollander, et al   
Interview Transcript
Ula Ojiaku: Hello everyone, my guest today is Dr Jeff Sutherland. He is the inventor and co-creator of Scrum, the most widely used Agile Framework across the globe. Originally used for Software Development, Jeff has also pioneered the application of the framework to multiple industries and disciplines.
Today, Scrum is applied to deliver complex projects in startups and Fortune 100 companies.
Dr Jeff Sutherland is the Chairman and Founder of Scrum Inc. He is a signatory of the Agile Manifesto and co-author of the Scrum Guide and the creator of Scrum at Scale.
Jeff continues to teach, create new curriculum in the Agile education programme and share best practices with organisations around the globe.
He has authored and co-authored a number of books which include Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time – which has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide.
In this episode, Dr Sutherland shares the backstory of how he and Ken Schwaber developed the Scrum framework. I was pleasantly surprised and proud to learn that one of the inspirations behind the current Scrum framework we now have was the work of Prof Babatunde Ogunnike, given my Nigerian heritage.
Dr Sutherland also talked about the importance of Agile Leadership and his current focus on helping organisations fix bad Scrum implementations.
I’m sure you’ll uncover some useful nuggets in this episode. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, my conversation with Dr Sutherland.  
Ula Ojiaku:
Thank you, Dr. Sutherland, for joining us on the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast. It's a great pleasure to have you here.
Jeff Sutherland:
Glad to be here. Looking forward to it.
Ula Ojiaku:
Fantastic. So could you tell us about yourself?
Jeff Sutherland:
Well, I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts. And I always felt that I would go to West Point of the United States Military Academy, even at a very young age. And I finally made it there. I spent four years there.
A

Bio
Brant Cooper is The New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Entrepreneur and his new popular book Disruption Proof. He is the CEO and founder of Moves the Needle. He is a trusted adviser to startups and large enterprises around the world. With more than 25 years of expertise in changing industrial age mindset into digital age opportunity, he blends agile, human-centered design, and lean methodologies to ignite entrepreneurial action from the front lines to the C-suite. 

As a sought-after keynote speaker, startup mentor, and executive advisor, he travels the globe sharing his vision for reimagining 21st century organizations. Bringing agility, digital transformation, and a focus on creating value for customers, he helps leaders navigate the uncertainty brought on by increased complexity and endless disruption.  
Interview Highlights
01:30 Background
03:40 First startup
05:30 Learning from failure
06:50 The Lean Entrepreneur
07:30 Empowering employees
15:40 Learning through observation
19:00 Disruptions
22:00 Output vs Outcome
30:45 Working in teams
35:30 Aligning priorities
41:00 Disruption Proof
52:00 Take risks
 
Social Media
·         LinkedIn:  Brant Cooper
·         X/Twitter: @brantcooper
·         Email: brant@brantcooper.com
·         Website: www.brantcooper.com
·         Website: www.movestheneedle.com
·         YouTube: Brant Cooper
 
Books & Resources
·         Disruption Proof: Empower People, Create Value, Drive Change, Brant Cooper
·         The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development: A cheat sheet to The Four Steps to the Epiphany, Brant Cooper 
·          The Lean Entrepreneur: How Visionaries Create Products, Innovate with New Ventures, and Disrupt Markets, Brant Cooper, Patrick Vlaskovits, Eric Ries
·         The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development: A cheat sheet to The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Brant Cooper, Patrick Vlaskovits
·         Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts, Brené Brown, Brené Brown
·         Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, General Stanley McChrystal
 
Episode Transcript
Intro: Hello and welcome to the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast. I’m Ula Ojiaku. On this podcast I speak with world-class leaders and doers about themselves and a variety of topics spanning Agile, Lean Innovation, Business, Leadership and much more – with actionable takeaways for you the listener.
Ula Ojiaku
So I have with me Brant Cooper, who is the author of the books Lean Entrepreneur and his latest one, Disruption Proof: Empower People, Create Value, Drive Change. He also is the CEO and Founder of Moves the Needle. Brant, it is a pleasure and an honour to have you as my guest on the Agile Innovation Leaders Podcast.
Brant Cooper
Thank you so much for having me. I'm glad to be here.
Ula Ojiaku
Now Brant, as I start with all my guests, we want to know a bit more about you. So could you tell us about yourself growing up, your background, are there any experiences that have made a great impact on you that have led to you becoming the Brant we see today?
Brant Cooper
Yeah, so born and mostly raised in California, which seems to be somewhat unique these days, but also did travel around a bit. My dad was a Navy man. I don't know, I guess I was always a little bit different. I think a lot of us describe ourselves that way, but when I went away to school for college, most people were focusing on one major or maybe two majors because that was sort of the state of the world. It's kind of, this is a little while ago, but supposedly what you needed to do is go and get narrow expertise and then that was what was going to launch your career. But to me, that was boring. And so I wanted to take a little bit of everything. So chemistry an

Bio
 Fabiola is a pioneer and thought leader in Agile HR and Co-Founder of Just Leading Solutions, a global transformation consultancy for HR and Business Agility. As a seasoned Management Consultant and Executive Advisor, she works with key players around the globe and across the private, corporate, and social sectors. She helps them become more adaptive and innovative by maximizing the potential of their people function. Fabiola is a Switzerland native living in New York. She is an avid New York Rangers fan.  
Interview Highlights
03:20 Business Agility
04:35 The Impact of Technology
07:45 How HR Fits into Business Agility
10:35 Making the Change
13:50 Sustainable Initiatives
16:25 Agile HR vs Agility in HR
18:35 Workforce Planning Sessions
30:15 The Agile HR Course
 
Links
·         JLS Website: www.justleadingsolutions.com
·         Training Overview: Agile HR Training
·         Agile HR Explorer: Agile HR Explorer Training
·         LinkedIn Fabiola Eyholzer
 
Books & Resources
·         The Connected Company, Dave Gray
·         Thinking in Systems, Donella Meadows
·         The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth, Amy Edmondson  
·         The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups, Daniel Coyle
 
Episode Transcript
Intro: Hello and welcome to the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast. I’m Ula Ojiaku. On this podcast I speak with world-class leaders and doers about themselves and a variety of topics spanning Agile, Lean Innovation, Business, Leadership and much more – with actionable takeaways for you the listener.
Ula Ojiaku
So I have with me here Fabiola Eyholzer, she is the Co-Founder and CEO of Just Leading Solutions, a New York based consultancy for Lean Agile People Operations. Fabiola, it's a massive honour and pleasure to have you on this show. Thank you for being my guest on the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast.
Fabiola Eyholzer
Thank you, Ula, the pleasure is all mine.
Ula Ojiaku
So how did you get into this, you know, Lean Agile space?
Fabiola Eyholzer
So it's actually quite an interesting story. It's now 13 years ago when I was running the Swiss market for a European HR consultancy, and we were looking for a new leadership model for our career starters. And I met some Agile coaches and they're like, oh, you have to do Scrum, and I'm like, well, did you hear me say that we are an HR consultancy, we're not a software developer. She's like, trust me, it's the right thing to do, so we did a test run. So we introduced Scrum, which is the predominant Agile practice with our career starters, and it was such an eye opener to see what actually happens when we work in this new way that I knew this is the future, and I decided there and then to quit my job and dedicate the next phase of my career to Agile HR.
Ula Ojiaku
Wow. And since then, what sorts of organisations or projects or initiatives have you worked on?
Fabiola Eyholzer
So we've worked on so many different initiatives and with so many different companies and I actually had to look it up, I was in over 21 countries with the topic of HR Agility, and in that time I worked with companies across all industries, across all sectors, from profit, to non-profit, to education. And something that is really interesting is that at the end of the day, it doesn't matter that much what your corporate culture is, what your social culture is, when it comes to the people function, we want to make sure how do we maximise the people function, how do we leverage what we are doing in HR in a way that is highly beneficial for our employees, and with that, highly beneficial for our organisations. And of course, right now we are in that situation that the world of work around us is changing massively, you know, it's just being turned upside

Bio  
Victor is a Lean/AGILE Strategy and Transformation Consultant, helping organisations in emergent environments navigate the path to a successful future via "Agile Ways Of Working". This usually involves developing and implementing Lean/Agile Strategies for these organisations, coaching & mentoring Senior Leaders, Managers and Teams in attaining the Agile Mindset that allows them to achieve high performance. Experiencing this evolutionary journey with clients from traditional ways of working to successfully achieving full Agility is his career passion. With a career path spanning over 30 years, starting as an accountant and Business Analyst, Scrum Master to being an Agile Coach today. His best skill amongst many is as a motivator and his work ethic is all around making work fun. Other passion outside work include helping Africa as a whole achieve Agility – Victor is the creator of the A.P.I.A.M-R.A.T.S Agile Culture Model and also an amateur chef, gastronome and suffering Chelsea FC fan. Victor lives in England with his family, 3 dogs and 12 fish.
Interview Highlights
01:40 & 08:00 Childhood bereavement
04:00 The importance of adapting
09:45 A.P.I.A.M-R.A.T.S model
14:50 Using local language
20:00 WakandAGILITY
22:25 Sustainable transformation
29:00 Transformation buzzword
32:15 The importance of timing
 
Social Media  
·         LinkedIn: Victor NWADU | LinkedIn
·         Email: victor@wakandagility.com
·         Medium: Victor Nwadu – Medium
·         Twitter: @wakandagility  
Books & Resources
·         The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt: The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement: Goldratt, Eliyahu M
·         Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet: Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders L. David Marquet
·         The Wisdom of the Crowds by James Surowiecki: The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations: James Surowiecki, Erik Singer
·         WakandAGILITY.com: Enabling Agility for Africa: Agile Training, Support and Networking | Wakandagility
·         The A.P.I.A.M. – R.A.T.S. MODEL | LinkedIn
Episode Transcript
Intro: Hello and welcome to the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast. I’m Ula Ojiaku. On this podcast I speak with world-class leaders and doers about themselves and a variety of topics spanning Agile, Lean Innovation, Business, Leadership and much more – with actionable takeaways for you the listener.
Ula Ojiaku
So I have with me here Victor Nwadu, who is an agility strategist, Agile coach, everything-in-between, maestro. Victor, it's an honour to have you on the Agile Innovation Leaders Podcast. Thank you so much.
Victor Nwadu
Thank you, Ula, thank you for having me. Thank you.
Ula Ojiaku
So let, just tell us, Victor, about your background. What are the things that you've experienced, that have shaped you into who you are today and how you've ended up to where you are professionally?
Victor Nwadu
I mean, just cutting to the flow, I'm from Nigeria. I'm also, like all Nigerians, educated in Nigeria and then for some, you know, reason found myself here in the UK. If I wanted to pick on anything that has, you know, brought me to where I am and what has driven me to who I am today, I think it's just, it’s my childhood, right. I was born to working class parents that, you know, Catholic people that worked hard for everything they've got. And as a Nigerian, you are told, it's instilled in you from a very young age, what the benefit of hard work is. Unfortunately, I was traumatised at the age of 13 by the death of my mum. So, and yeah, left with five siblings and my dad was broken by the course of events, but, you know, at that young age getting to where I am, having to, you know, do what I had to do to get to school an