“Leaders have to do more than simply say ‘we have two systems.’ They have to actively steer the organization so it’s both robust and free to innovate.”

Stephan Neck

What happens when an organization outgrows the myth that “all you need is cross-functional teams”? In this episode of SPCs U...

“If you do no pre-work, the first 20 minutes are lost—someone can’t open Miro, doesn’t have the password, so you lose that time sorting out technical difficulties.”

Mark Richards

Remote facilitation may feel like juggling blindfolded—especially when every participant has a muted mic and a...

“If you ask questions about the past, it’s always about going to a corpse and opening it up... If you ask questions about the future, it’s always about values.”

Nikolaos Kaintantzis

“Are you all dumb?”—when a senior stakeholder dropped that bombshell mid-retro, chaos threatened to derail...

“If you do it right, if you have the right people, and if you have some nerds and lots of engineering DNA, it really works on the tool side"

Stephan Neck

If you’ve ever believed that failing once in remote PI Planning means catastrophe, this episode of SPCs Unleashed proves otherwise. Mar...

Effective dashboards and ART insights are crucial to navigating the complexities of Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and organizational alignment.

In this episode of SPCs Unleashed, Mark Richards, Stephan Neck, Niko Kaintantzis, and Ali Hajou delve into the strategic role of dashboards in improving...

“Shi(f)t happens: Either guided or becoming a loose cannon”

Stephan Neck.

This episode explores change management in the context of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), which refers to the process of planning, implementing, and managing changes within an organization as it adopts SAFe pract...

"PI Planning is where the framework meets reality—it’s a test of alignment, collaboration, and leadership."
Stephan Neck

In this episode of SPCs Unleashed, hosts Stephan Neck, Niko Kaintantzis, and Ali Hajou explore one of SAFe's cornerstone activities: PI Planning. The trio leads an engagi...

"A facilitator lights the spark of collaboration, then steps back to let the fire grow"
Stephan Neck

In this episode of SPCs Unleashed, hosts Mark Richards, Niko Kaintantzis, and Stephan Neck delve into the art and science of facilitation—a skill often confused with coaching yet distinct in...

“Coaching isn’t about being the answering machine; it’s about giving space for people to find their own answers..”
Niko Kaintantzis.

In this episode of SPCs Unleashed, Nikolaos Kaintantzis, Mark Richards, and Stephan Neck explore coaching—its essence, techniques, and the subtle distinction...

“Leadership is 'the art of getting people to want to do what must be done' - and this means not just the people who report to them but their peers and those they report to.”
Mark Richards.

In this episode of SPCs Unleashed, Nikolaos Kaintantzis, Mark Richards, and Stephan Neck explore Effec...

“Strategy agility isn't about waiting for a crisis. It's about building the muscle to stop, pivot, and adapt before disaster strikes.”

Mark Richards

This episode sees hosts Nikolaos Kaintantzis, Stephan Neck, Mark Richards, and Ali Hajou conclude their exploration of SAFe’s competency fra...

“You will cross some silos, stretch some rules, but in the end, you work together, have joy, and achieve greatness.”

Nikolaos Kaintantzis

In this penultimate episode of the SPCs Unleashed Competency journey, hosts Mark Richards, Nikolaos (Niko) Kaintantzis, and Stephan Neck dive into the...