LogoZeroBlockers
Login
Subscribe
LogoZeroBlockers

Archive

AI Makes Work Easier, and Growth Harder

Feb 2, 2026

•

6 min read

AI Makes Work Easier, and Growth Harder

Today, a designer can generate fifteen variations in fifteen minutes. The output is faster, and the quality is often higher. But something essential is missing: the learning that used to come from the struggle. This is the central paradox of the AI era.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden
AI has Collapsed the Career Ladder. The Four Questions That Define Your Career Stage

Jan 26, 2026

•

7 min read

AI has Collapsed the Career Ladder. The Four Questions That Define Your Career Stage

Your career stage isn't defined by what's printed on your business card. It's defined by the question you're primarily trying to answer in your work. There are four questions you should answer to know where you are, each representing a distinct level of thinking.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden

Product Teams

The 4 Risks of Empowering Teams

Jan 19, 2026

•

8 min read

The 4 Risks of Empowering Teams

It's not all smooth sailing when you shift from Waterfall or Water-Scrum-Fall to truly empowered teams. There are four key challenges that you need to be aware of, and work around, to effectively manage the transition to autonomous product development.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden

Dependencies

+1

The 4 Types of Team Dependencies That Kill Performance (and How to Spot Them)

Jan 12, 2026

•

6 min read

The 4 Types of Team Dependencies That Kill Performance (and How to Spot Them)

Dependencies remove autonomy, which kills accountability. Once you have handoffs you allow people the wiggle room to throw up their hands and say "I did my job". We need to remove dependencies if we want teams to be accountable for outcomes - and that start with identifying the different types of dependencies that can exist.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden

Dependencies

+1

Why We Need a Brook's Law for Teams

Jan 5, 2026

•

6 min read

Why We Need a Brook's Law for Teams

In 1975, Fred Brooks published "The Mythical Man-Month," introducing what became known as Brooks' Law: "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later." Brooks observed that communication overhead grows much faster than productive capacity when you add people to complex projects.The same is true for adding more projects into a portfolio.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden
Common Objections to Empowering Teams (and How to Rebut Them)

Dec 29, 2025

•

3 min read

Common Objections to Empowering Teams (and How to Rebut Them)

Our current way of working, isn't working. Up to 90% of features fail to deliver the expected business value. Empowered teams improve outcomes because they are closer to customers and can iterate faster towards solutions that work for both customers and the business. They only problem is that it is a complete reversal of how many companies work today so there is quite a bit of pushback.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden

Alignment

+2

How to Run an Effective Quarterly Planning Session for Empowered Teams

Dec 15, 2025

•

3 min read

How to Run an Effective Quarterly Planning Session for Empowered Teams

Quarterly planning aligns Product Teams with Stream Teams through collaboration, not control. The Product Team shares their vision and strategy, while Stream Teams determine how to achieve it. This approach preserves team autonomy while ensuring everyone works toward common goals. Done well, quarterly planning enables product teams to focus on impact, navigate dependencies efficiently, and continuously learn. Done poorly, it can result in misalignment, overcommitting, or a lack of accountability.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden
Repaying the Trust in Empowered Teams

Dec 8, 2025

•

3 min read

Repaying the Trust in Empowered Teams

When a team is empowered to decide what to build and when, it requires a huge amount of trust form management. A Product Team stays responsible for the outcomes of the Product regardless of whether they have empowered Stream Teams or not. This delegation of authority represents a significant investment of trust that Stream Teams must actively work to maintain and strengthen.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden
Communication between Teams is a Bug, Not a Feature

Dec 1, 2025

•

3 min read

Communication between Teams is a Bug, Not a Feature

"This wasn't what we expected." The Marketing team stares at the new product dashboard, three weeks past its intended launch date. The Frontend team built exactly what was specified, but the data from the Backend team's API doesn't match their needs. The proposed solution? More meetings. Daily cross-team syncs, weekly alignment sessions, and a new Slack channel for real-time coordination.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden
The Weekly Product Review: Bridging Team Autonomy and Product Success

Nov 24, 2025

•

3 min read

The Weekly Product Review: Bridging Team Autonomy and Product Success

Empowering teams requires trust. Stream Teams are given the autonomy to achieve the product objectives they’ve been set, and they are accountable for outcomes rather than just outputs. However, autonomy does not mean operating in isolation - effective product development requires ongoing monitoring to ensure teams are driving meaningful impact. This is where the Weekly Product Review (WPR) comes in.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden
When Things Go Wrong: The Real Benefit of Empowered Teams

Nov 17, 2025

•

3 min read

When Things Go Wrong: The Real Benefit of Empowered Teams

In product development, encountering unexpected results isn't just common – it's inevitable. The true measure of a team's effectiveness lies not in avoiding failures, but in how they respond when faced with disappointing data or failing features.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden
Navigating the Specialist-Generalist Career Challenge

Nov 10, 2025

•

3 min read

Navigating the Specialist-Generalist Career Challenge

In cross-functional teams, generalists perform better. Their ability to flex across disciplines, helping out wherever needed, makes them indispensable in modern product development. Yet, when it comes to hiring and promotions, companies overwhelmingly favour specialists. This creates a fundamental tension: teams need adaptable generalists, but individuals must specialise to advance their careers.

Rory Madden
Rory Madden
1234...9
ZeroBlockers

ZeroBlockers

Helping teams remove the blockers that hurt the effectiveness and efficiency of software development.


Home

© 2026 Socially Motivated Ltd.
beehiivPowered by beehiiv