Drunk Agile

Episode 106 - Empiricism vs Science

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek have thoughts on empiricism. How it is not all that it is cracked up to be. Find out more in this episode of Drunk Agile.

Episode 105 - Using Sprint Length To Size Stories

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Have you been given the advice - "Slice stories so they fit within the sprint length"? There are numerous issues with this advice. Prateek and Dan tak...

Episode 103 - Forecasting Epics Scaterplot Vs Monte Carlo

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Should you use a Cycle Time Scatterplot of Epics or a Monte Carlo simulation of stories to figure out when an Epic would be done? Daniel Vacanti and P...

Episode 102 -Planning Without Controlling WIP

12 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ever planned a sprint using sub-tasks? Dan and Prateek discuss how this is an anti-pattern that seems to show up often on Scrum teams. The latest epis...

Episode 101 -Probability Is Not What You Think It Is

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Probability is not what you think it is...

Episode 100 -Some Backlogs Are More Equal Than Others

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

All backlogs are equal, but some backlogs are more equal than others.

Episode 99 -Year End Sweepstakes

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek have a couple of questions for you. What was your favourite episode in 2024? What content would you like to see in 2025? Please respo...

Episode 98 -You Must Not Fool Yourself

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 98 -You Must Not Fool Yourself by Dan Vacanti & Prateek Singh

Episode 97 -Agile Through A Flow Lens

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 97 -Agile Through A Flow Lens by Dan Vacanti & Prateek Singh

Episode 96 - Validation Is Not What You Think It Is

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 96 - Validation Is Not What You Think It Is by Dan Vacanti & Prateek Singh

Episode 95 - Done Is Not What You Think It Is

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss what the 'Done' column on your board means and how it is not what most people think it is.

Episode 94 - Process Behaviour Chart

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Enjoy the latest release of DrunkAgile where Dan and Prateek cover an example of the Process Behaviour Chart. This episode was a request from multipl...

Episode 93 - Continuous Process

09 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our contract negotiations with Nisha were successful. She is back and has some opinions about sprints and other fixed-length timeboxes. Daniel Vacanti...

Episode 92 - Control Chart In Jira

02 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jira has a chart it calls a "Control Chart" Is it a control chart? Why does it matter?

Episode 91 - Control Charts

21 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We are in the midst of contract negotiations with #Nisha. #Spartacus subs in as Dan and Prateek talk Control Charts in the latest episode of #DrunkAgi...

Episode 90 - Prioritization Level III

11 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha believes that the type of prioritization most Agile frameworks tell people to spend time on is the least important. It is also the most wasteful...

Episode 89 - Prioritization Level II

30 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How do Nisha, Dan, and Prateek decide the content for the next episode of hashtag#DrunkAgile? Come find out the answer to the question in the next epi...

Episode 88 - Prioritization Level I

10 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We finally prioritized(or did we) doing the episodes. Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk about the three levels of prioritization, starting with Level I - P...

Episode 87 - The In Progress Column

02 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Does your board have an 'In Progress' column? #Nisha thinks that is not a great idea. Find out why on the latest episode of DrunkAgile.

Episode 86 - Product Roles Focus On The Wrong Things

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek are back talking about product and flow. How the most common Agile frameworks have misguided people in product roles and had...

Episode 85 - How Do You Manage A Product Backlog

25 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss the best strategy for managing a product backlog.

Episode 84 - Why Do You Hate Agile

11 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"Why do you hate Agile?" Nisha loves Agile, but do Dan and Prateek? Find out in the latest episode of #DrunkAgile.

Episode 83 - Return Of The Colleen

13 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Colleen Johnson visits Nisha, Dan, and Prateek to discuss what is coming up for ProKanban.org. They talk about the various roles like Scrum Mastesr, m...

Episode 82 - Year End Wrap Up 2023

31 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek wrap up 2023 by looking back at our most-watched episodes of 2023 (released and watched in 2023). Which ones were your favour...

Episode 81 - What If The VoP Matches The VoC

31 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when you have reduced cycle time to the point that it matches your customer's needs? Should you try to reduce cycle time further? #Nisha...

Episode 80 - Voice Of The Process Vs Voice Of The Customer

12 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek explain the ideas of the Voice of the Process and the Voice of the Customer. Is your Sprint length VoP or VoC?

Episode 79 - Dependency Elimination Over Dependency Management

05 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk about all the problems with dependency management. How focusing on dependency elimination instead, can produce better re...

Episode 78 - Just In Time Over Prioritization

30 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Which prioritization technique do you use? Does it even matter? Is ordering your backlog waste (Yes, it is)? What if you could save all the time you s...

Episode 77 - Stable Systems Over Planning

24 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek cover their preference for creating stable systems over spending time in planning sessions. What does planning have to do wit...

Episode 76 - Change Mapping With Chris McDermott

17 Oct 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Chris McDermott stops by to talk to Nisha, Dan, and Prateek about Change Mapping. How do you look at your practices in context to figure out what to k...

Episode 75 - Team Size

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss the dogma that agile teams have to be small. They discuss their own experiences of working on large teams that were ve...

Episode 74 - Timeboxes, Risk, And Complexity

08 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek stick to the same whiskey and the same topic from the previous episode - Timeboxes. This time though we go deeper into the risk and co...

Episode 73 - Arbritary Timeboxes

08 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek are back after a bit of a break. The latest episode of #DrunkAgile is brought to you by the word 'Arbitrary'. From the OED: '...

Episode 72 - Variability And Statistical Distributions

08 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Does variability directly imply that your data is distributed in some manner? How important is it to figure out which distribution your data follows? ...

Episode 71 - Variability - The Two Mistakes

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Does your team get done with work early? Or does your team get done with work a few days late? Are these problems to be addressed? Is it really a prob...

Episode 70 - Variability

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Episode 70 of #DrunkAgile is a start of a 3-part(at least) series on Variability. #Nisha, Dan, and Prateek start off with a high-level introduction to...

Episode 69 - Invest Vs First

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In episode 69 of #DrunkAgile, #Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk through a replacement for INVEST as work-item splitting criteria. Re-emphasizing our pref...

Episode 68 - Blockers Outside The Team's Control

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek answer an audience question about how to deal with blockers that are outside the team's control. They take a little detour int...

Episode 67 - WIP Limits And Team Capacity

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What do WIP Limits have to do with a team's capacity... turns out, everything. #Nisha, Dan, and Prateek dive deeper into this question in the latest #...

Episode 65 - Blocker Policies

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

You asked for Blocker policies and #Nisha delivered. In this week's #DrunkAgile episode, Dan, and Prateek discuss how to set some policies around deal...

Episode 64 - Blocker Data Vs Ageing

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Should you collect Blocker data? If yes, how do you use it? If not, what is an alternative? #Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss this in the third episod...

Episode 63 - Audience Question - Monte Carlo And Weekends

03 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek answer an audience question about #MonteCarlo and the predicted date ending on a weekend. What does this mean in terms of #ris...

Episode 62 - Cycle Time And Weekends

03 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk through the effect weekends have on cycle time. Why they are included and what would be the effect if we did exclude them...

Episode 61 - Flow Metrics For Scrum

01 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk through the applicability of Flow Metrics in Scrum. Also, they are 'Flow Metrics', not 'Kanban Metrics'. ProKanabn.Org's ...

Episode 60 - LeBron James And Forecasting

27 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Dan and Prateek inspect the results of Monte-Carlo forecasts for when in the season would LeBron James break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's re...

Episode 59 - The Flaw Of Averages Part III

27 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The last episode in the Flaw of Averages series. Nisha, Dan, and Prateek answer a distillation of multiple audience questions - What is the problem wi...

Episode 58 - The Flaw Of Averages Part II

27 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Flaw of Averages Part II. In this sequel, Dan and Prateek take on data distributions and shapes. #Nisha calls out the bull in Weibull. It is norma...

Episode 57 - The Flaw Of Averages

27 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss Dr. Sam Savage's Flaw of Averages in this episode of #DrunkAgile. Have you been thinking of the world in terms of ave...

Episode 56 - Drunk Agile Live! Holiday Special

17 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

ProKanban.org hosts Nisha, Dan, and Prateek for a live edition of Drunk Agile. In this Holiday Special, the Drunk Agile crew takes on a variety of que...

Episode 55 - When Will A New Feature Be Done

17 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek cover an audience question - I have a new feature, not yet started, when will that feature be completed? Come find out the ans...

Episode 54 - Applying Scaled Portfolio Kanban

17 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Everything you have been told about Scaling is wrong! Nisha, Dan, and Prateek cover what is so different about Applying Scaled Portfolio Kanban.

Episode 53 - Prescriptive Approach To Implementing Agile

17 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk about being Agile when implementing Agile. They discuss the pitfalls of Maturity Models and more...

Episode 52 - Audience Question - How Much Analysis Before Starting Work

13 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek are back with some whisky and revisiting thoughts around Ex-Ante vs Ex-Post in order to answer an audience question looking fo...

Episode 51 - Backlog Vs Ready Column

12 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Should #Kanban boards have a "Ready" column? If they do, what's the difference between that column and a "Backlog"? Dan, Prateek, and #Nisha discuss t...

Episode 50 - Live At Lean Agile London

26 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek (with a Nisha slideshow) take the stage at Lean Agile London to answer questions from a live audience.

Episode 49 - Are Pull Requests Work Items

14 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Is each pull request a separate work item? How do Dan, Prateek and Nisha suggest we correlate the two? Hint - It is all about your flow policies.

Episode 48 - Observations Of Flow

08 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan and Prateek talk about observations of flow outside of product development. They discuss how flow management policies have a great effect o...

Episode 47 -No Product Backlog

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan and Prateek discuss the merits and drawbacks of Product Backlogs. Can a team or and organization actually be successful and achieve results...

Episode 46 - Is Kanban Only For Mature Teams?

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek answer an audience question - Is Kanban Better Suited For Mature Agile Teams? Nisha helps as usual.

Episode 45 - SpotiSafe With James Scrimshire

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

James Scrimshire joins Nisha, Dan and Prateek to discuss the problems with trying to follow a big scaling recipe. Are you seeing problems with one of ...

Episode 44 - Ex - Ante Vs Ex - Post

30 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Potentially the most important concept in Agile that no one talks about is the difference between ex ante and ex post. Much of Agile assumes ex ante k...

Episode 43 - Monte Carlo With Unkonwn Backlog Size

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Want to forecast a release but don't know exactly how many items are in your backlog? Want to know when a bunch of features will finish but haven't br...

Episode 42 - When Will It Begin

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Most #agile frameworks love to talk about "done" and most forecasting is centered around done. But how do we forecast when something will begin? (spo...

Episode 40 - When Will A Backlog Item Be Done

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dan, Prateek and Nisha discuss how to answer the question of "When will it be done" for an item that is still in the backlog. Can Monte Carlo help?

Episode 41 - OKRs And More With Jose Casal

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jose Casal joins Nisha, Dan and Prateek for this week's edition of Drunk Agile where we talk about OKRs. Well, Jose and Prateek talk and Dan just chan...

Episode 39 -Prediction Wars Scatterplot Vs Monte Carlo

18 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan and Prateek answer an audience question about when is it appropriate to use Cycle Time Scatterplot vs Monte Carlo for predictions.

Episode 38 - Solving The World's Shipping Problems With Jeff And Chad

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan, Nisha and Prateek host Chad and Jeff as they talk about the shipping problems of the world and of course... aging.

Episode 37 -Johanna Rothman Part Deux - More Bigger Aging

13 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Johanna Rothman comes back to visit Nisha, Dan and Prateek to talk about more aspects of aging. More whisky, more insights, more bigger aging.

Episode 36 - Predictability With Karl Scotland

03 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Karl Scotland joins Nisha, Dan and Prateek as they explore definition of predictability and the metrics that could represent it.

Episode 35 - Leading And Lagging Indicators

09 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan and Prateek discuss leading and lagging indicators, the difference between the two and whether that difference is important or not. There i...

Episode 34 - Defining Workflows With Julia Wester

05 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Julia Wester stops by to talk about Board Design antipatterns with Nisha, Dan and Prateek. Come find out why your board design might be critical to ho...

Episode 33 - How Much Data Do I Need

05 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan and Prateek discuss the answer to "How much data is needed to generate reliable forecasts?". Spoiler alert - It is less than you think... a...

Episode 32 - Cycle Time Vs Lead Time

24 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek channel Ted Lasso's Roy Kent and Coach Beard. They get pedantic about Cycle Time and Lead Time. Ted Lasso(#Nisha) mostly stays out of ...

Episode 31 - SAFe's Flow Metrics

24 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan and Prateek are back to their curmudgeon-y best as they discuss the metrics of flow as described by SAFe. The whisky helped quite a bit on ...

Episode 30 - SAFe, Kanban And Scrum With Yuval Yeret

24 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nisha, Dan and Prateek have a conversation with Yuval Yeret around Safe, Kanban, Scrum and the intersection of all these.

Episode 29 - Right Sizing Feautures And Epics

04 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan, Nisha and Prateek discuss applying flow metrics to Features, especially the concepts of Right Sizing and Aging. As usual, whiskey!

Episode 28 - Kanban Myth - Items Dont Move Backwards

23 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek discuss the common myth that items on a kanban board dont move backwards.

Episode 27 - Scrum And Kanban Myths

21 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel and Prateek discuss myths of #Scrum and #Kanban as they taste 3 (high proof) bourbons. Which of these agile related myths do you believe?

Episode 26 - A Conversation With Mark Kilby

30 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Mark Kilby joins Dan, Prateek and Nisha to talk about remote Scrum, hybrid teams and the future of remote work.

Episode 25 - A Conversation With Johanna Rothman

24 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek have a conversation with Johanna Rothman about management, teams, flow, agile and averages. Find out why managers need to watch their ...

Episode 24 - The People Side Of Agile

04 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek talk about (of all things)...people. Please join us as we share some of our thoughts on teams and teamwork. At the very least, join th...

Episode 23 - Audience Question - How Do We Use Flow Metrics During Scrum Events

06 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek talk about the use of flow metrics during Scrum events. They dive into how metrics, usually associated with Kanban are very useful for...

Episode 22 - Audience Question - How Do You Set WIP Limits

23 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Probably the most common question asked during or after #kanban training is - How do we set WIP limits? Dan, Nisha and Prateek attempt to answer it in...

Episode 21 - Kanban At Corbis With Greg Boswell

16 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek talk to Greg Boswell on how kanban evolved at Corbis and how the journey has continued since.

Episode 20 - Kanban - Improving Your Workflow

08 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek wrap up the kanban series by talking about improving your workflow. They dive into how kanban teams can utilize what they are learning...

Episode 19 - Kanban - Operating Your Workflow

01 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Why are people who let people cut in line the worst? In the follow up to Episode 17 - Defining Your Workflow, Dan and Prateek talk about the answer to...

Episode 18 - Because Math

26 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek dive into some common "math" issues with interpreting Cycle Time data. Learn why histograms are mostly a terrible way to display time-...

Episode 17 - Kanban- Defining Your Workflow

19 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek start a series of conversations about what constitutes a Kanban system. In this episode, step 1 - Defining your Workflow.

Episode 16 - CFDs

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek discuss CFDs. When should you use them and when should you not? What is the correct way to construct one? What are the common pitfalls...

Episode 15 - Little's Law Myths

02 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Like most things, there's probably more myths than truths about Little's Law out there on the interwebs. How many myths do you know about? Join Dan an...

Episode 14 - Assumptions Of Little's Law

23 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek take a deep-ish dive into Little's Law. They cover the theorem and the assumptions behind it and why is it important to understand the...

Episode 13 - Basic Metrics Of Flow

17 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek discuss the basic metrics of flow. WIP, Cycle Time, Throughput and an important one that you probably haven't heard of.

Episode 12 - Everybody Lies

12 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What does Seth Stephens-Davidowitz's 'Everybody Lies' tell us about predicting value based on customer feedback? Coke vs Facebook - Which model might ...

Episode 11 - Dont Be A Ditka

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek talk about the pitfalls of using Cost of Delay and CD3 for prioritization. They talk about Mike Ditka, Tom Brady and the NFL draft as ...

Episode 10 - Cost Of Delay

27 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek continue their series on #IneptAndInapt. Dan does a deep dive and explains #CostOfDelay and CD3. Learn why Cost of Delay and especial...

Episode 9 - Wilt Chamberlain

27 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek take a closer look at the story of Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game. What can we learn from the decisions he made? How does this tie ...

Episode 8 - Right Sizing

26 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek talk about the not-often-talked-about concept of right sizing. They discuss how limiting your WIP is not enough in this first episode ...

Episode 7 - ProKanban and ScatterSpoke With Colleen Johnson

26 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Colleen Johnson, CEO of ProKanban and ScatterSpoke joins Dan and Prateek for a drink. They talk retrospectives, data, ProKanban and creating an inclus...

Episode 6 - Monte Carlo Q & A

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek field a couple of listener questions. Why use daily throughput instead of weekly throughput? Why not use feature level metrics to fore...

Episode 5 - Feature MonteCarlo

20 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Dan and Prateek take on using Monte Carlo simulations to predict probability of features getting done. They talk about the overwhelming effect that Fe...