Alex and Pete are joined by consultant Toby Dykes to challenge the production-line view of software delivery. They discuss Agile, Scrum, AI as an amplifier, constraints, risk, feedback loops, and why better outcomes come from experimentation, collaboration, and learning faster rather than simply pushing more work through broken processes.
Mentioned in this episode:
Jira — The project tracking tool Toby argues conveniently hides queues from view, making invisible WIP accumulation impossible to feel the way physical inventory on a factory floor would be.
→ https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
Miro — The online whiteboard tool Toby used with a team to visualise their process (referred to in the transcript as “a mirror board”).
→ https://miro.com/
Theory of Constraints — Any system has one limiting constraint; optimising anything else creates queues and longer lead times.
→ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_constraints
Little’s Law — More work in progress = longer delivery times. L = λW.
→ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little%27s_law
The Iron Triangle — Scope, time, quality. Toby argues you should flex fidelity instead.
→ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management_triangle
Wardley Mapping — Strategic mapping of value chains by evolutionary stage.
→ https://learnwardleymapping.com/
The Agile Manifesto — “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.”
→ https://agilemanifesto.org/
The Scrum Guide — The 13-page official definition of Scrum by Schwaber & Sutherland.
→ https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html
“The Tyranny of the Plan” — Mary Poppendieck — Detailed planning didn’t exist before computers invented it, and has mostly made things worse.
→ https://www.infoq.com/presentations/tyranny-of-plan/
The Lean Startup — Eric Ries — The risk is that nobody wants what you’re building. Learn that as fast as possible.
→ https://theleanstartup.com/book
Psychological Safety — Amy Edmondson — Teams need to feel safe to take interpersonal risks. Consultants provide that cover.
→ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhoLuui9gX8
Alan Kelly — Agile guide. “You’re only truly agile if your team works differently than it did three months ago.”
→ https://www.allankelly.net/