Thank you. Hello everyone, welcome, and thank you for joining us today. I'm very excited to see where our conversation takes us. Before we introduce our topic, I want to encourage you to participate as much as possible. Use the chat box for any questions that come up. We’ll take them as they arise, and we will also have 20 minutes at the end for a dedicated Q&A session. Our goal is to keep this interactive, so ask questions, use the chat, and we’ll answer as many as we can.
Introduction to the Topic
Our topic today is how to capitalize on Agile potential. This discussion stemmed from a conversation with Brian about the most important takeaways we want to leave you with—insights you can implement immediately, regardless of whether you have a Scrum background, are an Agile consultant, or a coach without a technical background. Brian has extensive real-life experience implementing Agile approaches across Scrum, Kanban, and other methodologies in organizations like Warner Media.
We will focus on the best approaches, the most successful practices, common challenges across industries, and tips to navigate Agile adoption. Before we dive into Brian’s journey with Agile at Warner Media and CNN, I’d like to share why I’m passionate about this process. Of course, Brian can add his perspective on why he calls himself an Agile evangelist.
Passion for Agile
For me, as a team coach, the most important aspect of Agile is adjusting the process to fit the needs of the client and the teams I work with. If you approach Agile with a rigid agenda, you risk missing opportunities to improve by not adapting based on feedback. Continuous learning from all stakeholders is essential, and I’ve seen this approach succeed repeatedly. While I am a Scrum Master, I don’t strictly use Scrum in my coaching engagements—I adapt the framework to serve the team’s needs.
Brian’s Perspective on Agile
Brian: For me, Agile brings stability—that’s the quickest and most accurate way I can describe its impact. I started at Warner Media (formerly Turner Broadcasting) over 21 years ago, first as an editor and photographer, then as a journalist, and eventually transitioning to the technology side. News is one of the most dynamic and unpredictable environments you can work in—you never know what will happen next. That unpredictability trained me to think in a way that made Agile a perfect fit for CNN.
The reason Agile has succeeded at CNN is because of what I call the scrappy mentality. Our stakeholders recognize this as well. That mindset is deeply embedded in our culture, which made Agile a natural fit for our workflows. Before Agile, things weren’t stable—our teams operated in a traditional waterfall model, which wasn’t suited for such a fast-paced industry. Agile introduced stability by reducing thrashing, minimizing context-switching, and enabling teams to focus on delivering value.
Defining Stability in Agile
Host: That makes sense. But when you talk about stability in Agile, which is inherently flexible and adaptable, what exactly do you mean?
Brian: Stability doesn’t mean rigidity—it means predictability in an unpredictable environment. To achieve that, you need full commitment. You have to be willing to push through the initial bumps and bruises of Agile adoption. There’s always a difficult learning curve at the start, but once you move beyond that phase, stability emerges.
For example, when teams experience fewer interruptions, deliver more frequently, improve quality, and reduce issues, that’s stability. But you don’t get there overnight. It takes time, persistence, and commitment.
Agile Implementation at Warner Media
Host: How is Agile used at Warner Media today?
Brian: We categorize teams into two groups:
- Operationally focused teams—primarily broadcast engineering teams and some engineering-focused development teams. These teams use Kanban because they can’t commit to two-week sprints.
- Development and product teams—these teams use Scrum.
When we first introduced Scrum, we realized some teams couldn’t operate effectively within two-week iterations. Rather than forcing them to follow the book, we adapted the process to fit their needs. That’s a key lesson for Agile adoption—you must tailor it to your organization. You can’t apply it exactly as written in a textbook and expect it to work perfectly everywhere.
Adapting Agile for Different Teams
Even within our organization, teams focus on different areas and require varying levels of customization. While we maintain overarching guidelines—such as using two-week iterations for Scrum teams and standardizing some tools—each team is empowered to self-organize and adjust within those boundaries.
For our Kanban teams, we emphasize Work In Progress (WIP) limits to prevent overload and thrashing. Many teams initially reported working on 70-80 tasks at once, which is unrealistic. By implementing strict WIP limits and focusing on flow, we improved efficiency and throughput. This shift required buy-in from leadership, as well as training to help teams understand the benefits.
Leadership and Agile Adoption
Host: A big factor in Agile success is leadership support. How did you involve stakeholders, and what was the key to getting leadership on board?
Brian: I can’t take credit for bringing Agile into the organization—it was a team effort. I came in when we were still figuring it out, and we made plenty of mistakes early on. For example, in the beginning, we struggled with backlog refinement and planning poker. An hour-long session would sometimes only cover two stories because developers got caught up in technical debates. Today, we can refine 100 stories in an hour because we’ve learned how to streamline the process.
One thing that helped was ensuring leadership understood Agile from the start. When we first took our teams through Scrum certification training, we also invited our key stakeholders and had them go through Product Owner training. This gave them firsthand knowledge of Agile principles, terminology, and practices, making it much easier to gain their buy-in and support.
Setting Expectations for Agile Success
Host: What were your initial expectations for Agile adoption?
Brian: Honestly, at the beginning, we didn’t have many expectations, and that’s important. Agile is a journey. You need to set the expectation that learning takes time and that productivity might dip before it improves. Initially, we simply committed to delivering value every two weeks, then built from there.
Over time, we engaged leadership by involving them in retrospectives, sprint reviews, and backlog refinement sessions. The more they participated, the better they understood Agile’s value. That transparency was key in ensuring long-term success.
Final Thoughts
Agile requires continuous learning. Just because you think you've mastered it doesn’t mean there aren’t new challenges or opportunities for improvement. Agile is like a garden—you need to tend to it regularly to keep it thriving.
With that, let’s transition to our Q&A session. Feel free to drop your questions in the chat!