Episodes
June 21, 2025
The Inevitable Underestimation of Power Platform Projects
#161. Whether you’re an internal developer working for a Microsoft customer or a consultant working for a Microsoft partner: every Power Platform or Dynamics 365 project you have ever worked on has been underestimated. Becaus...
March 10, 2025
Preparing for the First Sprint: Design Thinking and Discovery with Hamish Sheild
#160. Hamish Sheild is a Microsoft MVP and Power Platform consultant specialising in applying Design Thinking practices to our apps and projects to make them more human-centred. Hamish and I discuss the different activities a...
Feb. 7, 2025
Here's when to use a waterfall approach with Power Platform
#159. Should you use a traditional, waterfall approach to build Power Platform apps? In this episode, I break down six situations when you might be tempted to use a waterfall method and share my thoughts on whether that's rea...
Jan. 1, 2025
What is Scrum and why should Power Platform teams care?
#158. It's 2025, and I still meet Power Platform and Dynamics 365 professionals that don't know what Scrum is or have an incomplete understanding of what Scrum is. Especially in job interviews! In this short episode, you'll l...
Dec. 2, 2024
Are Scrum Masters Overrated?
#157. Rethink the role of the scrum master. Two recent events—a thought-provoking article by agile coach Maarten Dalmijn and a leave of absence by Matthew, a beloved scrum master in my team—prompted me to question if scrum ma...
Aug. 4, 2024
Improving Your Scrum Practice - Mastering Professional Scrum - chapter 1
#156. Neil Benson dives into the essentials of continuously improving Scrum practices in this episode of the Amazing Apps podcast. Drawing on the book "Mastering Professional Scrum" by Stephanie Ockerman and Simon Reindl, Nei...
April 14, 2024
Do We Need to Rethink How We Build Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Apps?
In this episode of Amazing Apps, host Neil Benson explores the importance of rethinking our approach to building business applications. Join us as we delve into the benefits of questioning our assumptions and adapting to new ...
Feb. 26, 2024
The Power of Learning Through Experiments in Power Apps Development
#154. Neil Benson takes us on a journey of learning through experimentation. Starting with the historical origins of smallpox inoculation, Neil discusses the importance of conducting experiments to drive innovation and proble...
Jan. 8, 2024
Should .NET Developers Stick or Switch to Power Platform?
#153. Neil Benson is joined by Keith Atherton, a proper pro developer. Keith shares his journey from developing custom apps using .NET, C# and SQL Server to embracing and mastering the development of enterprise business appl...
Nov. 6, 2023
Unpacking User Stories and Backlog Refinement with Dani Kahil
#152. Host Neil Benson is joined by the talented Dani Kahil for an insightful discussion on managing backlogs and enhancing user stories in Azure DevOps and Jira. Neil shares his experiences with Jira, highlighting some conf...
Oct. 2, 2023
Super CRM: a case study
#151. Amazing Apps host, Neil Benson, dives into a case study from one of his team's own projects: "Member Super", a financial services organisation in Australia. With over a million members, they needed a CRM application tha...
Sept. 19, 2023
A Big Bang? Going Live with Dynamics 365 or Power Platform with Andrew Bibby
#150. What does it take to have a successful go live event for your Dynamics 365 or Power Platform application. Neil Benson sat down with Andrew Bibby, a seasoned expert in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform business a...
Sept. 6, 2023
Breaking Free from the Tyranny of the Deliverable with Andrew Welch
#149. Andrew Welch is the Chief Technology Officer at HSO. Andrew is an expert in IT strategy and has a wealth of experience advising customers on their big strategic technology decisions. He is also an author, Microsoft MVP,...
Aug. 21, 2023
Amazing CRM & ERP Apps in Manufacturing with Shawn Tabor
#148. Get ready for another captivating episode of Amazing Apps! In this episode, Neil Benson engages Shawn Tabor, Director of Consulting Services at Hitachi Solutions, in an insightful conversation about the dynamic realm of...
Aug. 21, 2023
Power Platform pipelines or Azure DevOps pipelines for ALM? with Benedikt Bergmann
147. When should you use Power Platform pipelines and when should you use Azure DevOps pipelines to deploy your Power Platform or Dynamics 365 applications? That's the question that Benedikt Bergmann answers in this episode o...
Aug. 1, 2023
Can you really gain competitive advantage with Dynamics 365? with Martin Hinshelwood
146. In this episode, we're thrilled to have Martin Hinshelwood from naked Agility join host, Neil Benson. Martin shares his perspectives on improving the success of agile engagements through the role of a consulting product ...
July 20, 2023
Chris Huntingford Doesn't Believe in Citizen Developers
145. We're back with another incredible episode of Amazing Apps, and this time we have an amazing guest on board. Neil Benson is joined by the Low Code Lead & Platform Evangelist at ANS Group, Chris Huntingford. Chris spills ...
July 5, 2023
Joining an existing team as a new scrum master with Matthew Venamore
#144. Neil Benson is joined by Matthew Venamore, a scrum master with extensive experience coaching Dynamics 365 teams. Matthew shares valuable insights into the challenges faced by new scrum masters when joining existing tea...
June 23, 2023
Who do we need in our Business Apps team?
143. On this episode of Amazing Apps, we discuss resourcing agile teams using the Scrum framework. Neil Benson talks about who we should have on our teams as product owner, developers and scrum master. Should Microsoft partne...
June 2, 2023
Smaller Teams, Bigger Wins: how to split your enterprise apps teams
141. Neil Benson discusses the challenges of organizing a large Scrum team to maximize efficiency. He suggests rotating developers between teams and organizing teams around specific components or external systems they need to...
May 19, 2023
Navigating the role of an architect in a Dynamics 365 Scrum team with Allan de Castro
#141. On this episode of Amazing Apps, podcast host Neil Benson is joined by Allan de Castro, a senior technical consultant for the Power Platform at Avanade France. They discuss their experience applying Scrum to recent proj...
April 27, 2023
Running experiments to build Dynamics 365 and Power Platform apps
Today, it’s just me, and I’d like to discuss what EMPIRICISM means to teams building complex, enterprise Dynamics 365 and Power Platform applications. In this episode, I’ll break down what empiricism is and its importance in ...
March 29, 2023
Agile Testing for Dynamics 365 with Emma Beckett
#139. Today’s guest is Emma Beckett, an experienced test professional who runs her own company, Fortitude 17, in London, UK. A professional footballer, Emma pursued a career in software testing, even though her first role in ...
March 21, 2023
Deep dive into Dynamics 365 Marketing with Malin Martnes
#138. My guest today is Malin Martnes, a Microsoft MVP and MCT who runs her own company MaCoTra AS in Oslo, Norway. As you’ll hear, Malin doesn’t have any technical background on Dynamics 365 and Power Platform but she focuse...