The Leanpub Podcast feat. Nicolas Brown, Author of Real World Agility

Episode Details

In this Leanpub Podcast episode, Len Epp interviews Nicolas Brown, author of Real World Agility: Backed by evidence, built for results.

Nicolas shares his unique path from the Royal Mail to working in e-commerce, financial services, and eventually as a sought-after agility and product consultant. He explains his evidence-based approach to agile coaching, and why focusing on flow, value, and culture leads to meaningful results. The conversation covers metrics, agile dogma, writing a book, and how leaders can create truly adaptive organizations.

📘 Learn more about the book: https://leanpub.com/realworldagility
🎙️ Listen to more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@leanpub

About the Book

Learn how to truly measure the impact of working with agility

Too many organisations mistake activity for impact, measuring velocity, story points, having "fun" retrospectives and feature delivery instead of real outcomes. Agility isn’t about delivering more, it’s about delivering better.

Teams end up trapped following rigid frameworks, chasing outputs instead of outcomes, and failing to deliver meaningful impact. Real World Agility cuts through the noise, offering practical insights into what actually works, and what doesn’t, when using agility in your way of working.

Drawing on years of hands-on experience as an Agile coach and practitioner, Nicolas Brown goes beyond theoretical discussions to uncover the real challenges organisations face. This book is for Agile practitioners, Coaches, Scrum Masters, Product Owners/Managers, and leaders who want to deliver better results, create alignment, and make agility work in the real world.

This book isn't about Scrum, Kanban or the latest framework. It is filled with real-world case studies, personal stories, and insights from applying agility across different large organisations. Real World Agility doesn't just share what worked, but also what failed, offering a candid look at what it takes to drive meaningful change.

Praise for Real World Agility

"Packed with real-world experiments, successes, and failures, this book is an indispensable guide for those who want to move beyond cargo cult behaviours and create tangible value at the same time as continuously improving. A must-read for modern ways of working practitioners."

Jon Smart, author of Sooner, Safer, Happier

"Nicolas has written the book I wish I had years ago—one that prioritizes data, experimentation, and impact. His pragmatic take on agility aligns with how modern teams should measure and improve their effectiveness."

Troy Magennis, President at Focused Objective, LLC and CTO at Predictability At Scale

"Whether you’re an experienced practitioner or just starting out, this book will challenge your thinking and equip you with the tools to drive meaningful change. A must-read for anyone serious about achieving true agility."

Helen Meek, Agile Coach, Trainer & Consultant and Co-Founder of the Agile Coaching Exchange

"Whether you're leading a product team, coaching an organisation through transformation, or trying to navigate the challenges of modern agility, Real World Agility will give you the tools and insights to cut through the noise and focus on what really matters."

About the Author

Nick is a seasoned agility and product consultant with a career spanning eCommerce, financial services, and professional services. He’s led on the adoption of agility at companies like PwC, Nationwide, Royal Mail and ASOS, focusing on ways of working, product thinking, and organisational flow. Currently, he works as a Principal Flow Consultant at Thrivve Partners, helping teams build great digital products, fast.

Nick is incredibly passionate about agility, product, and data, and builds open-source tools that make life easier for teams using Jira and Azure DevOps.

Leanpub book LAUNCH 🚀 Real World Agility: Backed by evidence, built for results by Nicolas Brown

Clips From This Episode of the Frontmatter Podcast