Episodios

  • The Man Who Proved Meaning Is Stronger Than Suffering

    The Man Who Proved Meaning Is Stronger Than Suffering
    Feb 6 2026

    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/
    Más Menos
    6 m
  • Agile Is Not a Process. It’s How Smart Teams Think.

    Agile Is Not a Process. It’s How Smart Teams Think.
    Feb 5 2026

    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/
    Más Menos
    6 m
  • Why Soft Skills Outlast Technical Skills on Product Teams - Mike Cohn

    Why Soft Skills Outlast Technical Skills on Product Teams - Mike Cohn
    Feb 4 2026
    Why Soft Skills Outlast Technical Skills on Product Teams - Mike CohnAnyone 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/
    Más Menos
    8 m
  • What Is Scope Churn?

    What Is Scope Churn?
    Feb 3 2026

    What Is Scope Churn?

    Businesses naturally want predictability from their software organizations. Promises have been made to customers, and there are business objectives to deliver as well. Often, those things have little to no wiggle room. The head of Marketing says “This must be completed on time, because we have a trade show on March 1st, and we have committed to present there.” The head of Product says “The only way we could save this angry customer was to promise that this would be completed on September 30th. If we don’t deliver, they will walk.”

    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/
    Más Menos
    6 m
  • Agile Failed Us After 18 Months - Here we go...

    Agile Failed Us After 18 Months - Here we go...
    Feb 2 2026

    Agile Failed Us After 18 Months - Here we go...

    On month eighteen, our average lead time crossed 27 days. Production defects doubled. A supposedly minor release missed its window by three weeks.

    Nothing had “broken.” Velocity charts still looked healthy. Every ceremony was running on time. But releases slowed, confidence eroded, and engineers stopped believing what the board said.

    This hurt because customers felt it immediately. Bugs lived longer, features arrived stale, and every delay came with an explanation no one trusted anymore.

    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/
    Más Menos
    8 m
  • Ernest Shackleton and Leadership When Everything Falls Apart

    Ernest Shackleton and Leadership When Everything Falls Apart
    Jan 30 2026

    Ernest Shackleton and Leadership When Everything Falls Apart

    In 1914, Ernest Shackleton set out on what was supposed to be one of the greatest expeditions in history: the first land crossing of Antarctica. His ship, the Endurance, carried 27 men into one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth.

    What happened next is the part that matters.

    The ship never reached Antarctica.

    Instead, it became trapped in pack ice for months—until the pressure finally crushed the ship. The Endurance sank, leaving Shackleton and his crew stranded on drifting ice floes, more than 1,000 miles from safety, with no communication, no rescue plan, and brutal Antarctic winter closing in.

    From that moment on, the mission was no longer exploration.

    The mission became survival.

    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/
    Más Menos
    5 m
  • 5 Daily Habits To Keep Your Team Motivated and Inspired

    5 Daily Habits To Keep Your Team Motivated and Inspired
    Jan 29 2026

    5 Daily Habits To Keep Your Team Motivated and Inspired

    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.

    In this episiode, we’ll explore five simple daily habits that can help you keep your team motivated and inspired — not through one-time efforts, but through steady consistency.

    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/
    Más Menos
    6 m
  • Using AI to Go From User Insight to Better Backlogs - Mike Cohn

    Using AI to Go From User Insight to Better Backlogs - Mike Cohn
    Jan 28 2026

    Using AI to Go From User Insight to Better Backlogs - Mike Cohn

    AI is rapidly changing how product teams work—but the biggest opportunity isn’t replacing product thinking. It’s reducing the friction between understanding users and turning those insights into high-quality backlog items.
    To make the ideas concrete, I use a consistent example throughout: a team building software for valet-attended parking garages, initially selling to independent operations like boutique hotels. Each step builds on the previous one, showing how AI outputs can feed naturally into your existing agile practices.
    With a straightforward prompt, AI can help you build a detailed persona—including hopes, concerns, emotional triggers, and decision criteria. In my example, the persona that emerged was a garage owner/operator with high staff turnover, contract-renewal anxiety, and a strong desire for predictable labor costs. Several of these insights are things I might have missed or deprioritized on my own.
    Understanding a persona’s aspirations—not just their functional needs—turns out to be especially valuable.

    Once a persona exists, you can ask AI to role-play that person and let you interview them. This is not a replacement for real user interviews, but it’s a great way to explore assumptions, test questions, and uncover gaps in your thinking.
    AI is also excellent at preparing interview guides for real users who match a persona. With the right prompt, it can generate a structured guide that covers:

    • Opening context (confidentiality, purpose, time commitment)
    • Current workflows and pain points
    • Desired future state and success criteria
    • Constraints (including regulatory or operational)
    • Thoughtful wrap-up questions


    Looking at the results, I was struck by how much better prepared I could have been for many interviews over the years if I’d had this kind of support.

    Once you’re ready to move into backlog work, AI can help generate user stories and job stories that follow well-established agile guidance.
    By being explicit in the prompt—format, INVEST criteria, and output rules—you can get clean, ready-to-use stories that are easy to import into a backlog tool. AI can also correctly choose between user stories and job stories depending on whether the situation or the role is more important.
    In the valet parking example, this resulted in stories about vehicle handoff tracking, damage-claim protection, wait-time monitoring, staff accountability, and remote visibility into operations.

    I prefer to add acceptance criteria as a separate step, and AI handles this easily. You can ask for:

    • A simple bullet list (great for user reviews), or
    • Gherkin (given-when-then) format for more formal specification

    You can even convert between formats later. Either way, this step quickly raises clarity and testability.

    AI isn’t just for generating content—it’s also useful for critique.
    With a structured prompt, AI can evaluate user and job stories against the INVEST criteria, identify only what’s missing, explain why, and suggest a focused improvement. This works whether the stories were written by AI or by you.
    Over time, you can even build a library of good and bad examples to further improve the quality of feedback you get.

    AI won’t replace talking to users, making judgment calls, or exercising product sense. What it can do is help teams move faster from vague ideas to concrete artifacts, surface blind spots, and raise the baseline quality of their work—especially when time or experience is limited.
    Used well, AI becomes a tireless collaborator: one that remembers persona details, never gets impatient with rewrites, and can move effortlessly from big-picture thinking to precise backlog items.
    The key mindset shift is this: don’t ask whether AI can replace parts of product discovery or backlog refinement. Ask how it can help you arrive better prepared for the conversations that still matter most.
    Más Menos
    9 m