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. 1H AGO

    The Heart That Outlived Time - The Story of Valentines

    The Heart That Outlived Time - The Story of Valentines Imagine ancient Rome, nearly two thousand years ago. Streets echo with the clang of armor, the scent of incense, and the whispers of love forbidden. There lived a humble priest named Valentinus. He wasn’t a rebel or a warrior—just a man who believed deeply in love. At that time, Emperor Claudius II had outlawed marriage for young soldiers, claiming that single men fought better than those bound by family. But Valentinus saw love as sacred, not sinful. So, in secret, beneath flickering candlelight, he performed weddings for young couples who refused to let the emperor’s decree define their hearts. Each ceremony was an act of defiance—and of faith. Eventually, Valentinus was caught and imprisoned. But even behind bars, he kept sharing kindness. The legend says that before his execution, he befriended the jailer’s blind daughter and sent her a note signed, “From your Valentine.” A gesture so simple, so human, it echoed through centuries. 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/

    4 min

  2. 1D AGO

    How To Deal With Difficult People In A Group?

    How To Deal With Difficult People In A Group? I can only + 💯 this. Expecting a difficult group often creates one. Your body language, attitude, and language signal what you expect. Participants pick up on that quickly and start protecting themselves. Those signals then reinforce each other, making the group harder to work with. On a sidenote. What is a “difficult person” anyway? Someone asking many questions. That might be curiosity, not resistance.Someone not willing to participate. Perhaps instructions aren’t clear.Someone constantly seeking attention. Enthusiasm with no outletSomeone whispering to someone. Maybe there’s no space for interaction.Someone interrupting you. Perhaps you talk too much and too long?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

  3. 2D AGO

    How To Provide a Release Plan Without Losing Agility - Mike Cohn

    How To Provide a Release Plan Without Losing Agility - Mike Cohn Stakeholders want to know what will be delivered, and when. Your team wants to stay agile. So how do you create a roadmap (aka release plan or milestone plan) without locking down every detail?  I’m about to start on a road trip between Idaho and Colorado: a 16-hour drive. I know where I’m going, and my general route, but I don’t know every turn I’ll take — and that’s fine.That’s how agile teams should treat release plans and roadmaps.My route is a plan, not a promise. It’s not set in stone. The turns I made and my ETA could change based on roadwork, traffic congestion, an opportunity for an exciting detour, or even a flat tire. The further the distance I have to travel, the more uncertainty I should expect.Agile plans are the same. We can’t predict every eventuality, but we can provide a forecast. We can provide a general idea of where we are planning to go, a predicted range of when we will likely hit key milestones, and our confidence level in the plan.  Most agile teams know there’s too much uncertainty to make guarantees. At the same time, they feel like a guarantee is the only thing stakeholders will accept.Here’s what agile teams might be missing: Stakeholders have their own plans to make. And they are just as worried about being held accountable to their predictions as teams are.Stakeholders need accurate delivery dates and milestones (note I didn’t say precise). They crave predictability.Sometimes it might feel like they’re asking for a guarantee. But in truth, the only way to give them absolute certainty is to  Overpad your estimates (like me telling someone my 16-hour drive will take 24, just in case), orRefuse to adapt when conditions change. Neither is good for the product, or the team.  So what can you do when a stakeholder seems to want a guarantee vs a forecast? Try this: Talk to stakeholders in terms they understand.Here’s one technique I’ve found helpful:Compare their request to requests for similar forecasts in their own domain.For example:  Ask a salesperson what their comfort level would be if they were asked to guarantee exactly how much they’ll sell — and which customers they’ll close — in each of the next six months, or in the first year of a product’s release.Ask a marketing person what their concerns would be if asked to commit to specific campaign results with exact timelines.Don’t be confrontational. The point isn’t to trap them — it’s to show that uncertainty exists everywhere, and that agility is a strength, not a weakness.  Then, share my road trip analogy with your stakeholders. Tell them that you can’t give them a guarantee, but you can present a roadmap that looks ahead 3-6 months. The roadmap will show the team’s goal, how much progress you believe you can make by when (expressed as a range), and your team’s confidence in the plan.   Need help communicating your plans? Try our Plan Visualizer Tool, free for all MGS Essentials members.    Remind stakeholders that, like suggested routes on a long trip, agile roadmaps provide visibility, align expectations, and help people plan — without pretending every turn is known in advance.Freeing your team from unrealistic expectations can accelerate their move from good to great. A roadmap is a plan, not a promise Why stakeholders push for guarantees  The path to alignment starts with empathy Give stakeholders what they need to succeed  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

  4. 3D AGO

    5 Habits to Keep Your Team Motivated

    5 Habits to Keep Your Team Motivated Managing a team is never easy, and one of the biggest challenges is keeping everyone motivated. Motivation doesn’t come from long meetings or fancy speeches. It comes from small, everyday habits that keep energy, focus, and inspiration alive. Things like starting the day with open communication, recognizing effort right away, or giving quick feedback may seem small, but when done daily, they make a big difference. Over time, these habits build a culture where your team feels inspired to give their best. 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

  5. 4D AGO

    Rebuilding Psychological Safety

    Rebuilding Psychological Safety If people feel unsafe, they do the minimum and pray no one notices. If the bar is too low, everyone’s happy… until the customer sees the work. The sweet spot? High safety and high standards. People speak up, try things, and still hit the mark. Think: honest kitchen with a strict head chef, and nobody burns the risotto, but jokes are allowed. 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

  6. FEB 6

    The Man Who Proved Meaning Is Stronger Than Suffering

    The Man Who Proved Meaning Is Stronger Than Suffering In the darkest chapter of human history, when hope seemed like a luxury few could afford, one man discovered a truth so powerful that it would outlive the horrors around him. His name was Viktor Frankl. Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist. In 1942, he was arrested by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. Over the next several years, he endured four different camps, including Auschwitz. He lost his parents, his brother, and his pregnant wife. Everything he owned—his career, his manuscript, his freedom—was taken from him. By any external measure, his life had been stripped of meaning. But here’s where the story turns. While imprisoned, Frankl noticed something remarkable.People were experiencing the same starvation, brutality, and despair—yet some survived psychologically, while others gave up long before their bodies failed. The difference wasn’t strength.It wasn’t intelligence.It wasn’t luck. It was meaning. Frankl observed that prisoners who could anchor themselves to a future purpose—a loved one waiting for them, work they still hoped to complete, or a reason to endure one more day—were far more likely to survive. Meaning, he realized, was not a luxury. It was a survival tool. One night, freezing and exhausted, Frankl imagined himself standing in a lecture hall after the war, teaching students about the psychology of the concentration camps—explaining how humans can endure unimaginable suffering if they understand why they are suffering. That imagined future kept him alive. After the war, Frankl returned to Vienna. He rewrote the manuscript that had been taken from him in the camps and published a book that would go on to change millions of lives: Man’s Search for Meaning. It has since sold over 16 million copies and is considered one of the most influential books of the 20th century. Frankl didn’t claim suffering was good.He didn’t romanticize pain.Instead, he offered this quiet, powerful truth: “Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the freedom to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” He went on to develop logotherapy, a form of psychotherapy centered on helping people discover meaning in their lives—not by eliminating hardship, but by transforming it. Frankl lived to be 92 years old. The man who lost nearly everything proved something extraordinary: 👉 Meaning can outlast suffering.👉 Purpose can exist even in pain.👉 Hope is not found in comfort—it’s found in choice. 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

  7. FEB 5

    Agile Is Not a Process. It’s How Smart Teams Think.

    Agile Is Not a Process. It’s How Smart Teams Think. Most people think agile is Jira boards, sprints, standups, and sticky notes. Here’s the thing.Those are just tools. Agile is a mindset about how work *should* move in a world that refuses to stay predictable. If you’ve ever worked on a project where requirements changed, deadlines shifted, or priorities flipped overnight, you already know why traditional project management struggles. 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

  8. FEB 4

    Why Soft Skills Outlast Technical Skills on Product Teams - Mike Cohn

    Why Soft Skills Outlast Technical Skills on Product Teams - Mike Cohn Anyone who has worked in product development for more than a few years has seen the same pattern repeat itself.The technical skills that once felt essential gradually—or sometimes suddenly—become obsolete. Tools change. Frameworks fall out of favor. Architectures that once seemed modern start to look dated.This isn’t new, but it is accelerating.The half-life of technical skills keeps shrinking, especially in technology. In the 1980s, it took ten years for half of what you knew to become outdated. Today, it is four years, and will soon fall below two years according to a Stanford professor. This raises an important question for leaders:Where does investment in people have the greatest long-term impact?Technical skills are necessary, of course. But they are rarely durable.Soft skills behave very differently.When someone learns how to collaborate well, make good decisions, facilitate discussions, or lead others, those skills don’t decay at the same rate. Instead, they tend to compound. They become part of how that person works.Learning how to learn is a good example. Once someone develops that capability, it stays with them. The same is true for decision-making, leadership, and collaboration. These are skills that can continue to improve over time—but they don’t become irrelevant. I once saw just how important this was during a demo to a group of nurses.A programmer demonstrated new functionality and showed text on the screen that suggested giving Saltine crackers to a newborn—clearly clinically inappropriate.He tried to explain that it was just placeholder text. The real point, he said, was the workflow, not the words.But to the nurses, the words mattered a great deal.Their professional identity is grounded in “do no harm.” What they saw on the screen violated that principle. They were ready to escalate the issue and cancel the project.What saved the project wasn’t a technical fix.It was the project manager’s soft skills.He calmed the situation, acknowledged the nurses’ concerns, explained what had happened, and persuaded them to come back a week later for a revised demo.The failure wasn’t technical—it was a failure of empathy. Product development is full of uncertainty. We work with evolving requirements, incomplete information, and users whose trust we must earn and keep.Soft skills reduce risk in these environments.Empathy helps teams understand users. Clear communication builds trust. Collaboration prevents small misunderstandings from becoming major setbacks.And when these skills improve, the benefit isn’t limited to one person.If someone learns a new technical skill, that benefit often stays with them. But when someone learns to collaborate better, the entire team benefits. Everyone gets better. This is one reason leaders often underestimate the return on investing in soft skills.The payoff isn’t always immediate or easy to measure. It tends to show up most clearly under pressure—when teams need to have hard conversations, discuss options honestly, and make good decisions quickly.That’s also when the absence of soft skills is most costly.Some leaders think these skills can wait until things slow down. In reality, pressure is when they matter most.Teams with strong soft skills can disagree productively, make tradeoffs together, and move forward with confidence—because trust was built earlier.Everyone on a product development team benefits from strong soft skills, but some roles depend on them especially heavily. 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
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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!

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