24. Agile Execution: Wisdom from a Learned Agile Practitioner with David O’Malley

April 23, 2021

This week, our heroes interview David O'Malley, a software veteran and agile practitioner, on his experience helping large and small companies with their agile transformation efforts.

We all know that small companies and startups can move quickly and adapt faster than larger companies. Larger companies, with more people, more processes, more lines of communication, and more levels in their org chart, generally have a harder time adapting and moving quickly. The trouble is that most small companies want to grow into larger ones.

How do small companies keep their agility as they scale?

This week, Derek and Jeremy talk with David O’Malley, Senior Director of Product Strategy at GE Healthcare about his experience as a product transformation leader.

Topics:
• 03:42 – What is product transformation?
• 05:55 – We want the ability to move with the market
• 08:39 – Speed is an outcome of our agility, not the ultimate goal
• 10:25 – “Transformation” often gets confused with “transition”
• 12:57 – How do you know agile transformation is working?
• 14:46 – Smaller vs larger companies
• 17:02 – If smaller companies can go faster, what’s the benefit of growing?
• 20:20 – How do small companies stay agile as they grow?
• 24:25 – How important is it that the finances adapt to agile?
• 27:04 – Agile economics
• 30:24 – How do teams set up to handle larger projects tackle one-off experiments?
• 35:33 – A lot of the time, the problem is trust
• 42:12 – Find ways to share ideas across teams and orgs
• 46:05 – Some advice for people joining a large organization
• 57:00 – Don’t be a jerk

Helpful Links:
stayleangofast.com

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Guests

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David is a father, a husband, and an innovation coach. He's lead global corporate units and their digital products through programs centered on Lean Product, Product acceleration, and organizational transformation. He's the author of the blog stayleangofast.com and most recently he's been the Senior Director of Product Strategy at GE Healthcare.

David O'Malley