Leaders are Accountable Too

Leaders are Accountable Too

From Troubleshooting Agile by A weekly problem-solving session for all things agile

February 26, 2026 · 19 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the importance of accountability in leadership and personal growth, drawing insights from their book and various influential works.

If taking accountability scares you, you’re doing it wrong! In this episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey talk about the background of the final chapter of their book, Agile Conversations, including Jeffrey’s “Aha” moment watching a Kent Beck speech, why the idea of accountability teaches us to lie as kids, and what really happens when we ditch the fear and hold ourselves to account. SHOW LINKS: - XP Explained book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/67833.Extreme_Programming_Explained - Rapid Development book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/93892.Rapid_Development - Dynamics of Software Development ("don't flip the bozo bit"): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1416996.Dynamics_of_Software_Development - Nurtureshock: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6496815-nurtureshock - Greenshifting: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/greenshifting - Kent Beck Ease at Work: https://www.infoq.com/news/2007/04/beck-ease-at-work/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeA4CBInqKo - The Art of Action: https://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink - Radiating Intent: https://medium.com/@ElizAyer/dont-ask-forgiveness-radiate-intent-d36fd22393a3 - Accountability and…

People in this episode

Hosts: Squirrel, Jeffrey

Topics covered

  • accountability
  • fear
  • Agile methodology
  • personal growth
  • leadership

Keywords

  • accountability
  • Agile Conversations
  • leadership
  • fear
  • personal growth
  • Kent Beck
  • Agile methodology

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Agile Conversations, XP Explained, Rapid Development, Dynamics of Software Development, Nurtureshock, Greenshifting, The Art of Action, Radiating Intent, Accountability and Compassion

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