Agents Unleashed
Agents Unleashed is a podcast for curious change agents building the next generation of adaptive organizations — where people and AI learn, work, and evolve together.
Hosted by Mark Richards, Ali Hajou, Stephan Neck, and Nikolaos Kaintantzis, the show blends stories from the field with experiments in agility, leadership, and technology. We explore how work is changing — from agile teams to agentic ecosystems — through honest conversation, a dash of mischief, and the occasional metaphor that gets away from us.
We’re not selling frameworks or chasing hype. We’re practitioners figuring it out in real time — curious, hopeful, and sometimes hilariously wrong.
Join us as we unpack what it really means to be adaptive in a world where intelligent agents (human and otherwise) are rewriting the rules of change.
Episodes

Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
“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 NeckIf you’ve ever believed that failing once in remote PI Planning means catastrophe, this episode of SPCs Unleashed proves otherwise. Mark Richards, Ali Hajou, Stephan Neck, and Nikolaos Kaintantzis discuss how their early horror stories—teams flying to the wrong city, frantic breakout links—led them to design stronger approaches for future PI events.Key HighlightsFail Forward: Mark shares why the first distributed attempt bombed—and how reflection turned it into a gold mine of learning.Engineering the Experience: Ali’s meticulous tip sheets and distribution-list tactics show how to orchestrate a seamless remote event.Trust Before Tools: Stephan and Niko emphasize that real alignment arises from respect, empathy, and creative team rituals.Agenda as a Design Task: Spreading sessions over multiple days, blending synchronous and asynchronous touchpoints, and scheduling “handover time” across time zones.Leader Visibility: Dispersed teams need more leadership presence—Gemba time is crucial, even if it’s virtual.Actionable InsightsCustomize Your Toolkit: Match your collaboration tools to your security constraints, culture, and level of remote maturity.Establish a “Summon” Method: Instantly ping relevant players with at-mentions, shared boards, or specialized scripts.Prototype Your Flow: Small-scale tests of your agenda can reveal hidden friction points before the big day.ConclusionDistributed PI Planning isn’t a fallback option; it can be a fresh opportunity for stronger collaboration. By preparing deeply and focusing on human connections, you’ll discover remote sessions can be surprisingly powerful—even under pressure.

Saturday Feb 08, 2025
Saturday Feb 08, 2025
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 alignment, transparency, and performance. They explore the balance between automation, stakeholder engagement, and avoiding vanity metrics.Key Takeaways:Purpose-driven dashboards: Focus on real-time guidance, stakeholder alignment, and context-driven insights rather than just data aggregation.“Dashboards should facilitate conversations; it’s not just about showing data.” - Mark RichardsAvoiding “vanity metrics”: Dashboards should reflect reality and enable actionable insights rather than presenting polished but meaningless metrics.“Ask why before creating a metric; not all data leads to action.” - Stephan NeckOwnership and adaptability: Teams and stakeholders must own and adapt dashboards for context-specific needs, evolving them as organizational priorities shift.“Dashboards aren’t pets; treat them like navigation systems.” - Nikolaos Kaintantzis The automation balance: Automate only after defining what needs automation, ensuring flexibility for improvement cycles.“Over-automated dashboards risk being inflexible and irrelevant as priorities change.” - Ali HajouStakeholder interaction: Dashboards should encourage dialogue and collaboration rather than replacing them.“Dashboards should trigger valuable discussions, not just display information.” - Stephan Neck

Saturday Feb 01, 2025
Saturday Feb 01, 2025
“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 practices. It involves ensuring that individuals, teams, and the organization as a whole are prepared for and supported through the transformation.Key Takeaways:What are the biggest change management challenges in transformations?What management strategies and/or techniques are applicable for successful transformations? What's "missing" on the SAFe Implementation regarding change management?When is change not change?

Saturday Jan 25, 2025
Saturday Jan 25, 2025
“If you want to coach senior leaders, you need to start by understanding what’s important to them—even if it has nothing to do with Lean Portfolio Management.” - Mark Richards.In this lively and thought-provoking episode of SPCs Unleashed, Nikolaos Kaintantzis, Mark Richards, and Stephan Neck explore the unique challenges and opportunities of coaching in the Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) space. With engaging stories and practical insights, the team highlights how coaching at this level requires stepping into "big shoes" and mastering new complexities.Key Takeaways:The Role of Growth: Niko emphasizes that becoming a coach in the LPM space is not instantaneous—it's a journey of growth that requires learning the language and culture of portfolio leadership while staying grounded in Lean principles.Understanding the Portfolio Context: Stephan describes the portfolio as an orchestra, where strategic alignment is the conductor, ensuring all "instruments" play harmoniously. Mark notes the need for adaptability, highlighting how portfolios must pivot based on evolving market conditions.Coaching Senior Leaders: The discussion illuminates the challenges of coaching time-pressed senior leaders. Mark explains that effective coaching often occurs during unconventional moments, such as commutes, and success requires aligning with the leaders’ priorities.The Power of Alignment: All three hosts agree that achieving alignment—whether through strategic themes, value stream mapping, or effective communication—is critical for unlocking the true potential of LPM.Lessons from Experience: The episode is filled with real-world anecdotes, such as Niko's story of taking board-level classes to understand better leadership challenges and the necessity of empathy and political awareness when coaching at higher organizational levels.This episode provides practical tips and thought-provoking ideas for SPCs looking to grow their impact in Lean Portfolio Management. It’s a must-listen for Agile leaders and coaches alike, covering topics from aligning strategy to navigating politics.

Saturday Jan 18, 2025
Saturday Jan 18, 2025
"PI Planning is where the framework meets reality—it’s a test of alignment, collaboration, and leadership." - Stephan NeckIn 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 engaging discussion about how SPCs can elevate their organizations’ PI Planning sessions from mere rituals to transformative events.The conversation illuminates the evolving role of SPCs in guiding teams through successful PI Planning while balancing the need for structure, adaptability, and human connection.Key Highlights:PI Planning as a Leadership Opportunity:The hosts emphasize the critical role of SPCs in facilitating alignment, fostering collaboration, and addressing potential bottlenecks before they escalate.Niko describes PI Planning as “a mirror for the organization,” reflecting its culture, communication, and leadership dynamics.Preparation is Key:Stephan outlines best practices for pre-PI Planning preparation, such as ensuring backlog readiness, clarifying team goals, and engaging with stakeholders early.The Art of Collaboration:Ali discusses how SPCs can act as mediators during the session, ensuring cross-team dependencies are identified and resolved while encouraging open dialogue.Adaptability in Action:The trio highlights the importance of remaining flexible when things don’t go as planned, sharing real-world examples where improvisation saved the day.Practical Advice for SPCsStart with Clear Objectives: Define what success looks like for the PI Planning session and align teams around shared goals.Focus on Dependencies: Encourage teams to identify and address cross-team dependencies during breakout sessions.Create Psychological Safety: Foster an environment where everyone feels comfortable voicing concerns or challenging assumptions.Leverage Metrics: Use relevant metrics to track progress and ensure alignment throughout the session.ConclusionPI Planning is more than a meeting—it’s a dynamic space where vision becomes actionable, alignment is tested, and SPCs have the opportunity to lead by example. This episode offers practical insights to help SPCs elevate PI Planning from a framework activity to a transformative event.References"Team of Teams" by General Stanley McChrystal"The Phoenix Project" by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford

Saturday Jan 11, 2025
Saturday Jan 11, 2025
"A facilitator lights the spark of collaboration, then steps back to let the fire grow" - Stephan NeckIn 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 its purpose and impact.Mark kicks off with a surprise question, challenging Niko and Stephan to identify the greatest difference between coaching and facilitation. Stephan's response lays the foundation for a rich discussion: facilitation, he suggests, is about sparking action and empowering others to take the lead.Key Highlights:Facilitation as a Catalyst: Stephan describes facilitation as a role that ignites movement and fosters collaboration without imposing control.Contrasting Coaching and Facilitation: Niko shares how facilitation emphasizes creating the space for others to solve problems, while coaching often involves guiding individuals to personal insights.Practical Techniques: The hosts explore tools and methods for effective facilitation, from structured workshops to adaptive approaches tailored to group dynamics.Challenges of Facilitation: Addressing common obstacles, such as resistance or lack of clarity, they offer strategies to maintain focus and drive outcomes.Insights for SPCsThe episode provides actionable advice for SPCs (SAFe Program Consultants) and other leaders:Create Psychological Safety: A safe environment encourages participation and innovation.Embrace Neutrality: Effective facilitators prioritize the group's goals over personal opinions.Adapt to Context: Every team and challenge is unique; flexibility is key to success.ConclusionFacilitation is more than guiding discussions—it's about empowering teams to take ownership of their outcomes. The hosts highlight that the best facilitators enable others to shine, stepping back once momentum is achieved.ReferencesFacilitator's Guide to Participatory Decision-Making: Sam Kaner"The Art of Facilitation" by Dale Hunter"Facilitation at a Glance!" by Ingrid Bens

Friday Jan 03, 2025
Friday Jan 03, 2025
“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 distinctions between Agile coaching, systemic coaching, consulting, and mentoring. Packed with real-world anecdotes and thought-provoking metaphors, this discussion dives into what truly makes a great coach.Key Takeaways:The Heart of Coaching: Coaching isn't about giving answers; it's about creating space for others to discover their potential. As Niko states, “You’re not important because you know everything. You’re important because you guide through the process.”Trust as a Foundation: Mark emphasizes the critical role of authenticity, vulnerability, and confidentiality in building trust, noting, “If you want trust, you need to be true to yourself.”The Balance of Roles: Stephan highlights the fluidity of coaching, comparing it to walking a tightrope—balancing precision, focus, and the right tools while navigating risk and distraction.Knowing When to Step Back: All three hosts agree on the importance of stepping into the background to let others shine, whether by switching hats (as Niko practices) or recognizing the right time to offer insights and guidance.Practical Tips for Aspiring Coaches: From mastering open questions to maintaining boundaries between professionalism and friendship, the group shares actionable advice for new SPCs to hone their coaching skills.This episode is a must-listen for SPCs and coaches at all levels looking to deepen their understanding of coaching and inspire true transformation in their organizations.Tune in now to learn how coaching goes beyond techniques—it’s an art of empowering others.

Friday Jan 03, 2025
Friday Jan 03, 2025
“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 Effective Onboarding of Leadership into SAFe — the essence of pivotal factors and ensuring that leaders not only understand the framework but can also adopt and champion its principles is key to driving long-term transformation.Key Takeaways:The importance of effective leadership: Recognizing that the possibilities of your SAFe implementation are both created and constrained by the leaders who engage with it, and that great SAFe happens when you find a great leader and help them grab hold of the ways SAFe can support them in their intent.Key areas for onboarding: Finding the great leaders already present in the organization and helping them amplify their impact by addressing real pain points and challenges.Strategies and “The secret sauce”: Build a healthy dialogue between leadership champions and their peers, and help them build the capability of their direct reports as a leadership team to enable them to spend more time focusing up and out.Overcoming challenges – No leadership “satire”: Mastering the patience to wait for the right moment and the insight to recognize it.

Saturday Oct 05, 2024
Saturday Oct 05, 2024
“Strategy agility isn't about waiting for a crisis. It's about building the muscle to stop, pivot, and adapt before disaster strikes.” - Mark RichardsThis episode sees hosts Nikolaos Kaintantzis, Stephan Neck, Mark Richards, and Ali Hajou conclude their exploration of SAFe’s competency framework by focusing on Strategy Agility. It's packed with insightful discussions about market sensing, organizing around value, and the need for continuous adaptation in today’s dynamic business environment.The Importance of Market Sensing: Ali shares a compelling story about a small electronics team that identified a market opportunity for emergency power switches. Their close collaboration with customers allowed them to innovate and adapt their strategy quickly based on real-world feedback.Strategic Alignment Through Market Signals: Stephan emphasizes that successful strategy agility hinges on sensing the right signals from the market. He advocates for early engagement with teams that handle market research to make informed decisions and keep strategies grounded in actual data.Reorganizing Around Value: Niko and Mark dive into the complexities of organizing and reorganizing teams around value streams. Mark cautions against treating reorganization as a one-time event, explaining that successful organizations constantly refine their structures to align with evolving strategies. Niko highlights that this should be seen as an ongoing process, not a major disruptive event.Adapting Without a Crisis: Mark and Stephan discuss how organizations often react swiftly in times of crisis, such as during COVID-19, but struggle to maintain that level of focus in normal conditions. They explore how companies can proactively build systems that allow for agile strategic shifts without waiting for external crises to force their hand.Advice for Young SPCs: The panel agrees that new SPCs should avoid jumping straight into enterprise-level strategy agility. Instead, they recommend focusing on smaller, more localized changes, such as helping Agile Release Trains (ARTs) adopt market sensing and lean startup techniques before tackling broader organizational strategies.

Saturday Sep 28, 2024
Saturday Sep 28, 2024
“You will cross some silos, stretch some rules, but in the end, you work together, have joy, and achieve greatness.” - Nikolaos KaintantzisIn this penultimate episode of the SPCs Unleashed Competency journey, hosts Mark Richards, Nikolaos (Niko) Kaintantzis, and Stephan Neck dive into the dimension of Lean Business Operations within the SAFe competency model. The trio explores the critical role of leveraging value stream thinking to enhance flow in business operations and product development, emphasizing the symbiotic relationship.Mark starts the discussion by addressing the often-confused concepts of the Operational Value Stream (OVS) and the Development Value Stream (DVS). He shares his experiences with value stream mapping and the challenges of simplifying these concepts for organizations. Niko brings a unique perspective by likening lean operations to Greek dancing, where collaboration and unity lead to crossing silos and achieving greatness.Stephan and Niko share their favorite techniques for effective value stream mapping, stressing the importance of involving the right people and focusing on a customer-centric approach. They highlight strategies for extending the flow of conversation beyond technology, including starting from the customer's perspective to identify triggers for change and mapping true value streams.The conversation delves into the challenges of integrating business and technology perspectives, especially when organizations are accustomed to operating in silos. The hosts emphasize the necessity of a holistic view and mutual understanding to drive innovation and efficiency. They also offer practical advice for SPCs, such as getting help from peers, practicing new tools personally before applying them with clients and focusing on taking actionable steps to address bottlenecks.The episode concludes with a spirited debate on the most relevant Measure and Grow metric. While opinions differ, the consensus highlights the importance of visualizing bottlenecks and promptly addressing them rather than just identifying issues.References:The Lean Machine - Dantar P. OosterwalLean Product and Process Development - Allen C. Ward