Manage This - The Project Management Podcast Episode 242 – When Lean Meets “Chunky”: Project Leadership in Big Enterprises
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Feb 2, 2026 Katie Tamblyn, data and software consultant and author of The Lean Agile Dilemma, shares how to make Lean-Agile work inside large, layered organizations. She contrasts chunky corporates with startups. Topics include coordinating across silos, adapting Agile for replatforming, handling legacy data, communicating vision across departments, and where to safely experiment and use AI.
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Acquisition Added Corporate Layers
- Bill Yates recalled his small company being acquired by EDS and gaining layers of corporate process.
- He noted those layers added overhead but also stability and useful governance once understood.
Weekly Code Walkthrough Clash
- Bill described mandatory Friday code walkthroughs after acquisition that conflicted with billable work but ultimately added value.
- He learned to accept and later leverage the process to find product improvements during replatforming.
Use Orienteering For Replatforming
- Use "orienteering": keep Agile practices but treat replatforming features as fixed waypoints and navigate between milestones swiftly.
- Demonstrate progress via creative interim outcomes since customers often can't switch to an MVP immediately.
