Mik + One Podcast
Nothing is off the record as Mik sits down with industry-leading guests and delves into how they deliver value and drive digital transformations in their organizations.
Empower your organization to thrive in the age of digital disruption
Mik + One captures conversations with software delivery leaders and shares their journeys of introducing transformative ideas for delivering software at scale.
Dr. Mik Kersten
Chief Technology Officer
Planview
Dr. Mik Kersten is the chief technology officer at Planview, joining the company in 2022 through the acquisition of Tasktop, where he was CEO. Mik founded Tasktop and is the best-selling author of “Project To Product: How to Survive and Thrive in the Age of Digital Disruption with the Flow Framework®“. Mik’s experiences working with some of the largest digital transformations in the world has led him to identify the critical gap between business leaders and technologists, resulting in his creation of the Flow Framework® to connect strategy to delivery. He started his career as a Research Scientist at Xerox PARC where he built the first aspect-oriented development environment. He then pioneered the integration of development environments with Agile and DevOps tools while working on his Computer Science PhD at the University of British Columbia. Founding Tasktop out of that research, Mik has written over one million lines of open-source code that are still in use today and has brought seven successful open-source and commercial products to market.
Most recent episodes
Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One are industry luminaries Dr. Suzette Johnson and Robin Yeman. Suzette and Robin explore the integration of lean, agile, and digital methodologies into the increasingly complex realm of cyber-physical systems.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/robin-yeman-and-suzette-johnson/ Episode 59 | 09/15/24Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One are Martin Harrysson & Megha Sinha from McKinsey & Company. With a focus on their research which quantified the benefits of shifting from project to product models, Martin and Megha share insights on how these transformations can significantly enhance profitability and efficiency.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/martin-harrysson-and-megha-sinha/ Episode 58 | 08/06/24Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Dr. Steve Mayner, a revered expert and coach in digital leadership, organizational change strategy, continuous learning culture, agile contracts, and SAFe practices within government contexts.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/steve-mayner/ Episode 57 | 07/02/24Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is technology luminary Gene Kim. Gene Kim is an esteemed author and technology thought leader with over two decades of experience studying high-performing technology organizations.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/gene-kim-ep-57/ Episode 56 | 12/14/23Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Scott Densmore, VP of Engineering at GitHub, to discuss the future of connected work and the impact of GitHub Copilot on developer productivity.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/scott-densmore/ Episode 55 | 10/19/2023Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Professor Mohan Sawhney, Associate Dean of Digital Innovation and a Clinical Professor of Marketing at Northwestern University.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/episode-55-mohan-sawhney/ Episode 54 | 08/08/23Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Pallab Chatterjee, a visionary entrepreneur and technology expert.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/pallab-chatterjee/ Episode 53 | 06/07/23Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is technology visionary George Kadifa to discuss generative AI and its potential impact on the tech industry.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/george-kadifa/ Episode 52 | 03/21/2023In this episode of Mik + One we’re flipping the script! Debbie Konrad interviews Mik and they have a discussion about the recently published 2023 Project to Product State of the Industry Report.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/mik-kersten-interview/ Episode 51 | 01/24/23Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Carol Houle, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Financial Services and Insurance at Atos.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/carol-houle/ Episode 50 | 12/20/22Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Mark Fields, Senior Advisor to TPG Capital, a member of Planview’s board of directors, and former CEO of Ford Motor Company.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/mark-fields/ Episode 49 | 11/22/22Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Brendan Hopper, the CIO for technology at Commonwealth Bank Group.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/brendan-hopper/ Episode 48 | 08/29/22Joining Mik on this episode of Mik + One is Steve Berez, advisory partner at Bain & Company and co-author of Doing Agile Right, Transformation Without Chaos.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/steve-berez/ Episode 47 | 07/19/22Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Razat Gaurav, Chief Executive Officer at Planview. In this episode, Mik and Razat discuss the trillion-dollar opportunity ahead to rebuild the future of how the enterprise works.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/razat-gaurav/ Episode 46 | 06/17/22Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Sejal Amin, current Chief Product and Technology Officer for Khoros, where she leads global product development teams to build great experiences for customers. In this episode, Mik and Sejal discuss a wide range of topics around continuous improvement, team health, organizational design, and flow.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/sejal-amin/ Episode 45 | 05/03/22Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Jean-Michel Lemieux, author, investor, advisor, and former CTO and SVP of Engineering at Shopify. In this episode, Mik and Jean-Michel discuss a wide range of topics around engineering, architecture, scale, organizational design, and flow.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/jean-michel-lemieux/ Episode 44 | 04/05/22Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Geordie Henderson, General Manager of AWS Messaging and Streaming at Amazon Web Services, and previously the VP of Engineering at Hootsuite. In this episode, Mik and Geordie share insights into organizational design and innovation to build, integrate and lead successful software organizations.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/geordie-henderson/ Episode 43 | 03/15/22In this episode of Mik + One, Mik is joined by Darrell Fernandes, Head of Product Technology at TIAA, a Fortune 100 financial services organization that is the leading provider of financial services in the academic, research, medical, cultural and governmental fields. In this episode, Mik and Darrell delve into key themes around driving organizational improvement and customer value.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/darrell-fernandes/ Episode 42 | 02/22/22Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Manuel Pais, co-author of Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/manuel-pais/ Episode 41 | 02/01/22To kick off the first episode of 2022, Mik is joined by two guests from Bank of New Zealand: Paul Littlefair, Chief Technology Officer, and BMK Lakshminarayanan, Value Stream Architect.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/bank-of-new-zealand/ Episode 40 | 12/07/21We’re delighted to welcome back Dean Leffingwell, Co-founder and Chief Methodologist at Scaled Agile. Dean is an entrepreneur and software development methodologist best known for creating SAFe®, the most widely used framework for business Agility.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/dean-leffingwell-2/ Episode 39 | 11/23/21Joining Mik on the latest episode of Mik + One is Sally Elatta, CEO and Founder of AgilityHealth and Agile Videos. In this episode, Mik and Sally discuss the importance of using business agility and measurement as critical ways in driving innovation.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/sally-elatta/ Episode 38 | 11/09/21In this episode, Mik is joined by Dave Snowden, CSO & Founder of Cognitive Edge and Director of the Cynefin Center. In this episode, Mik and Dave talk about Cynefin, a framework created by Dave Snowden used to aid decision-making.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/dave-snowden/ Episode 37 | 10/26/21Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Felipe Castro, renowned author, speaker and trainer on objectives and key results (OKRs). In this episode, Felipe shares how to connect business agility and the concepts of DevOps, to business planning and customer results.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/felipe-castro/ Episode 36 | 07/20/21In this special episode of Mik + One, Mik summarizes some of his favorite episodes from the last 18 months and provides insight into some of his key takeaways.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/summer-special/ Episode 35 | 06/28/21In this episode, Mik is joined by Christian Idiodi, Partner at Silicon Valley Product Group. Mik and Christian talk about establishing product management disciplines and discuss other key discussions including leadership, management, OKRs and more.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/christian-idiodi/ Episode 34 | 06/15/21Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Courtney Kissler, Chief Technology Officer at online retailer, Zulily. Mik and Courtney talk about Courtney’s experience in driving technological transformations at many large organizations and cover key topics such as creating a generative culture, tech debt, OKRs and more.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/courtney-kissler/ Episode 33 | 06/01/21Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Scott Prugh, Chief Technology Officer at CSG. In this episode, Mik and Scott talk about Scott’s experience and learnings from within the DevOps community, as well as many other key topics including the three domains in DevOps portfolio management, product value streams and more.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/scott-prugh/ Episode 32 | 05/18/21Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Carmen DeArdo, Principal Flow Advisor and VSM Practice Lead at Tasktop, and co-author of the award winning book, Standing on Shoulders: A Leader’s Guide to Digital Transformation.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/carmen-deardo/ Episode 31 | 05/04/21In this episode of Mik + One, Mik sits down with Gene Kim, best-selling author of The Phoenix Project and The Unicorn Project, as well as co-author of The DevOps Handbook.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/gene-kim-ep-31/ Episode 30 | 04/20/21It’s episode 30 and what a guest we’ve got! Mik welcomes Brian Solis, Global Innovation Evangelist at Salesforce and world-renowned keynote speaker and an award winning author of eight bestselling books.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/brian-solis/ Episode 29 | 04/06/21In this episode, Mik is joined by two IT leaders from American Airlines: Maya Leibman, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer, and Ross Clanton, Managing Director of Technology Transformation.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/american-airlines/ Episode 28 | 03/23/21Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Pieter Jordaan, Group CTO at TUI, the world’s leading integrated tourism group operating in more than a hundred destinations worldwide. In this episode, Mik and Pieter discuss Pieter’s contribution to TUI’s successful digital transformation to cloud and product value streams.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/pieter-jordaan/ Episode 27 | 03/09/21Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Robin Yeman, Senior Fellow and Agile DevSecOps Enterprise coach at Lockheed Martin. In this episode, Mik and Robin discuss how Robin approaches leadership with complex systems of systems and other key discussion points including developing a common language across silos, the need to deliver value at the speed of relevance, and more.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/robin-yeman/ Episode 26 | 02/22/21In this episode of Mik + One, Mik is joined by Eric Willeke, Co-Founder and Principal of Elevate.to. In this episode, Mik and Eric touch on many key points around simplicity and flow to drive successful digital transformations.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/eric-willeke/ Episode 25 | 02/09/21In this episode of Mik + One, Mik is joined by Rene Te-Strote, Senior IT Project Lead at BMW Group. Mik and Rene discuss foundational principles applied to innovate and point BMW Group in the right direction, how Rene accelerated the speed of innovation in an industrial context, insights into the next 10 years within the automotive industry, and more.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/rene-te-strote/ Episode 24 | 01/26/21Kicking off the first episode of 2021, Mik is joined by Adrian Cockcroft, VP of Cloud Architecture Strategy at Amazon Web Services. In this episode, Mik and Adrian discuss Adrian’s predictions for application architecture in 2021, what’s happening with microservices architecture and other key discussion points.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/adrian-cockcroft-ep-24/ Episode 23 | 12/14/20In the final Mik + One episode of 2020, Mik is joined by Gail Murphy, Tasktop Co-Founder, and Professor of Computer Science and VP of Research and Innovation at the University of British Columbia. This episode with Mik and Gail includes discussion points around productivity and unproductivity, software development as a complex task, and the importance of flow.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/gail-murphy-ep-23/ Episode 22 | 11/03/20Joining Mik on this episode of Mik + One is “sage and poet of product thinking” John Cutler, Head of Product Research & Education at Amplitude. Many discussion points are included in this episode, including, rethinking how to apply product thinking to force multipliers and change steps, mapping organizational structure to strategy to drive innovation, and embracing the interplay of skills and knowledge across the organization.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/john-cutler/ Episode 21 | 11/17/20Joining Mik on this episode of Mik + One is David Anderson, Director of Technology, Liberty IT. In this episode, Mik and David talk removing “undifferentiated heavy lifting” from the work environment, creating “two-way door” architecture for flexibility and flow, shifting away from traditional IT to partner-enabling technology, and more.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/david-anderson/ Episode 20 | 11/03/20Joining Mik on this episode of Mik + One is Justin Watts, Director of Agile Change at Lloyds Banking Group one of the UK’s Big Four banks.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/justin-watts/ Episode 19 | 10/19/20Joining Mik on this episode of Mik + One is Peter D. Moore, a business and digital technology strategy advisor specializing in helping companies manage for exponential revenue, margin and net income growth.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/peter-moore/ Episode 18 | 10/06/20On this episode of Mik + One, Mik is joined by Bryon Kroger, Founder and CEO of Rise8, and former co-founder and COO of the USAF’s Kessel Run. Discussion points include the remarkable story of Project Kessel Run at the U.S. Airforce, adopting a “think big, start small” strategy to software transformation, avoiding the Lean trap and alignment trap, and more.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/bryon-kroger/ Episode 17 | 09/22/20Joining Mik on this episode of Mik + One is John Willis, Senior Director of the Global Transformation Office at Red Hat. In this episode, Mik and John discuss embracing failure for continual learning, Flow Metrics as the next evolution of software delivery measurement, and more.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/john-willis/ Episode 16 | 09/08/20In this episode, Mik is joined by two guests: Dr. Nicole Forsgren, VP of Research & Strategy at GitHub, and Dr. Denae Ford Robinson, Senior Researcher in the SAINTes group at Microsoft Research.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/dr-nicole-forsgren-dr-denae-ford-robinson/ Episode 15 | 08/25/20Joining Mik in this episode of Mik + One is Adrian Cockcroft, VP of Cloud Architecture Strategy at Amazon Web Services. In this episode, Mik and Adrian provide concrete advice on moving ahead in the digital world, and cover many key discussion points including product-centred innovation, feedback loops and Flow Time.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/adrian-cockcroft/ Episode 14 | 08/11/20In this episode of Mik + One, Mik’s guest is Heather Munoz, Head of Retail Brokerage Practice, E*TRADE. With extensive experiences in leading Software Development practices for financial technology organizations over the last 25+ years, Heather is passionate about building great teams with strong focus on trust, transparency and changing the way development and product work together.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/heather-munoz/ Episode 13 | 07/28/20In this episode of Mik + One, Mik continues the conversation with Don Reinertsen. The second part of this two-part special includes discussions around assessing the reserve buoyancy of a project, using loss of safety margin as a leading indicator of project deterioration, and becoming more rigorous about how we think about technical debt.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/don-reinertsen-part-2/ Episode 12 | 07/14/20In the twelfth Mik + One, Mik sits down with Don Reinertsen, President of Reinertsen & Associates, a product development consulting firm located in Redondo Beach, CA, and Author of three best-selling books on product development: Developing Products in Half the Time; Managing the Design Factory: A Product Developer’s Toolkit; and The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/don-reinertsen-part-1/ Episode 11 | 06/30/20In this episode of Mik + One, the official Project to Product podcast, Mik is joined by Dominica DeGrandis, Principal Flow Advisor at Tasktop and Author of “Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow.”
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/dominica-degrandis/ Episode 10 | 06/16/20Recorded at the 2019 annual SEACON conference in London, Mik has two special guests, Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais, authors of Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/team-topologies/ Episode 9 | 05/26/20Recorded at the annual 2019 SEACON Conference in London, in this episode Mik’s plus one is Jon Smart, Partner, Business Agility at Deloitte. Mik and Jon cover a variety of topics including the value and importance of focusing on ‘Better Value, Sooner, Safer, Happier’, the importance of focusing on outcome instead of output, and team incentivisation to reduce silos across the value stream.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/jon-smart/ Episode 8 | 05/12/20In the eighth episode of Mik + One, the official Project to Product podcast, Mik’s guest is Dean Leffingwell, Co-founder and Chief Methodologist at Scaled Agile. In this episode, Mik and Dean cover everything from SAFe 5.0 and the importance of having business agility, to abandoning organizational hierarchies, to the importance of focusing on outcome-based metrics, and more.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/dean-leffingwell/ Episode 7 | 04/28/20In the seventh episode of Mik + One, Mik’s guest is Dave West, CEO and Product Owner of Scrum.org. In this episode, key discussions include how traditional enterprises can be successful in the digital age, the importance of placing small bets, and the main things that large organizations can act on now to deliver value.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/dave-west/ Episode 6 | 04/14/20Joining Mik for the sixth episode of Mik + One is Sam Guckenheimer, Product Owner for Azure DevOps at Microsoft, and a regular keynote speaker at industry-wide events, and the author of four fantastic books.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/sam-guckenheimer-ep-6/ Episode 5 | 04/02/20In this episode of Mik + One, Mik’s guest is Shelley Perry, Managing Partner & Founder of ScaleLogix, and who has immense experience setting tech companies up for success.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/shelley-perry/ Episode 4 | 03/08/20In honor of International Women’s Day 2020, Mik is joined by three incredible women within the industry: Gail Murphy, Tasktop Co-Founder, and Professor of Computer Science and VP of Research and Innovation at the University of British Columbia, Nicole Bryan, Vice President of Product Development at Tasktop; and Naomi Lurie, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Tasktop.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/international-womens-day/ Episode 3 | 02/25/20In another fantastic episode, Mik’s plus one is Dr. Carlota Perez, author of Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages. In this episode, Mik and Carlota discuss where we are in the Turning Point of the Technological Revolution, the challenges of achieving the Golden Age, what Carlota is currently working on, and more.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/carlota-perez/ Episode 2: Part 2 | 02/11/20In the second episode of Mik + One, Mik continues the conversation with Gene Kim, best-selling author of The Phoenix Project and The Unicorn Project, as well as co-author of The DevOps Handbook for the second part of their discussion on The Unicorn Project and The Five Ideals. This episode provides a deeper insight into The Third Ideal: Improvement of Daily Work, The Fourth Ideal: Psychological Safety, and the Fifth Ideal: Customer Focus.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/gene-kim-part-2/ Episode 1: Part 1 | 01/28/20In the first episode of Mik + One, Mik sits down with Gene Kim, best-selling author of The Phoenix Project and The Unicorn Project, as well as co-author of The DevOps Handbook. In part one of this special two-part episode, Mik and Gene talk about Gene’s journey, and how it led to The Unicorn Project, the profound wisdom of the First Ideal: Locality and Simplicity, and the Second Ideal: Focus, Flow and Joy.
https://flowframework.org/ffc-podcast/gene-kim/