The Problems with Top-Down and Bottom-Up Change (with Cliff Hazell, Ex Spotify and Co-Creator of Flight Levels)
Product AgilityJanuary 12, 2023x
67
00:30:5421.27 MB

The Problems with Top-Down and Bottom-Up Change (with Cliff Hazell, Ex Spotify and Co-Creator of Flight Levels)

Send us a text

Cliff Hazell, ex-Spotify and Co-Founder of Flight Levels with Klaus Leopold is an expert on organisational change, systems, agile and Kanban. In this practical and somewhat philosophical episode, Cliff and I explore some meaty topics that Agile Coaches, Product People, Scrum Masters, damned pretty much anyone with an interest in organisational change will love.

This is the first of 3 episodes that Cliff and I recorded on various topics.

In this one, we speak about Organisational change pitfalls Agile Coaches and other change agents can avoid. The power of quitting in a Product environment (as well as in our personal lives). Putting the parts back together rather than being reductionist (through critiquing the words holistic and systemic and a whole lot more (see below).

Should you want to skip to a specific point, this is probably useful (if chapters are not your thing)

  • 02:15 - How did Ben become aware of Cliff and his work?
  • 03:03 - Who is Cliff Hazell? In his own words
  • 06:37 - Is the "Top Down and Bottom" metaphor useful when attempting organisational change?
  • 09:20 - The problems with the terms "systemic" and "holistic."
  • 11:39 - what is the big challenge when embarking on organisational change?
  • 13:48 - What is it that Cliff finds both frustrating and amusing?
  • 15:16 - The secret to Cliff's success
  • 17:32 - what are the two pitfalls when trying to be outcome focussed
  • 21:03 - What was the thing Cliff should have quit rather than carried on
  • 24:06 - When an organisation should quit talking about focus
  • 27:14 - why is it Naive to think that just training will change an organisational system?
  • 28:42 - Episode recap

Useful Stuff

Sunk cost fallacy 

  1. the phenomenon whereby a person is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.

Annie Duke - Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away 

Host Bio

Ben is a seasoned expert in product agility coaching, unleashing the potential of people and products. With over a decade of experience, his focus now is product-led growth & agility in organisations of all sizes.

Stay up-to-date with us on our social media📱!

Ben Maynard

🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmaynard-sheev/

🐦 https://x.com/BenWMaynard

💻 https://sheev.co.uk/

Product Agility Podcast

🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/productagilitypod/

💻 https://productagilitypod.co.uk/

🖇️ https://linktr.ee/productagility


Listen & Share On Spotify & iTunes


Want to come on the podcast?

Want to be a guest or have a guest request? Let us know here https://bit.ly/49osN80


    scrum,agile,less,scalingagile,scrummaster,product owner,project management,lean,agile coach,coaching,team coaching,