by Stefan Wolpers|FeaturedAgile and ScrumLean and Product
TL;DR: When Incentives Sabotage Product Strategy
Learn why many Product Owners and Managers worry about the wrong thing: saying no instead of saying yes to everything. This article reveals three systematic rejection techniques that strengthen stakeholder relationships while protecting product strategy to avoid that organizational incentives sabotage product strategy.
Discover how those drive feature demands, why AI prototyping complicates strategic decisions, and how transparent Anti-Product Backlog systems transform resistance into collaboration.
by Stefan Wolpers|FeaturedAgile and ScrumAgile Transition
TL; DR: The End of “Good Enough Agile”
“Good Enough Agile” is ending as AI automates mere ceremonial tasks and Product Operating Models demand outcome-focused teams. Agile professionals must evolve from process facilitators to strategic product thinkers or risk obsolescence as organizations adopt AI-native approaches that embody Agile values without ritual overhead.
TL;DR: A Harvard Study of Procter & Gamble Shows the Way
Recent research shows AI isn’t just another tool—it’s a “cybernetic teammate” that enhances agile work. A Harvard Business School study of 776 professionals found individuals using AI matched the performance of human teams, broke down expertise silos, and experienced more positive emotions during work. For agile practitioners, the choice isn’t between humans or AI but between being AI-augmented or falling behind those who are. The cost of experimentation is low; the potential career advantage, on the other hand, is substantial. A reason to embrace generative AI in Agile?
TL; DR: Bridging Agile and AI with Proper Prompt Engineering
Agile teams have always sought ways to work smarter without compromising their principles. Many have begun experimenting with new technologies, frameworks, or practices to enhance their way of working. Still, they often struggle to get relevant, actionable results that address their specific challenges. Regarding generative AI, there is a better way for agile practitioners than reinventing the wheel team by team—the Agile Prompt Engineering Framework.
Learn why it solves the challenge: a structured approach to prompting AI models designed specifically for agile practitioners who want to leverage this technology as a powerful ally in their journey.
by Stefan Wolpers|FeaturedAgile and ScrumAgile Transition
TL; DR: Getting Hired as a Scrum Master or Agile Coach
Are you considering a new Scrum Master or Agile Coach job? However, you are not sure that it is the right organization? Don’t worry; there are four steps of proactive research to identify suitable employers or clients for getting hired as a Scrum Master and avoid disappointment later.
I have used those four steps for years to identify organizations I would like to work with, and they never failed me. Read on and learn how to employ search engines, LinkedIn’s people search, reach out to peers in the agile community, and analyze the event markets in the quest for your next Scrum Master job.
TL; DR: 60 ChatGPT Prompts for Agile Practitioners
ChatGPT can be an excellent tool for those who know how to create prompts. The simplest form of prompting ChatGPT is to feed it the task and ask for results. However, this approach is unlikely to trigger the best response from the model.
Instead, invest more time in prompt engineering, and provide ChatGPT with a better context of the situation, desired outcomes, data, constraints, etc. The following article offers a primer to creating ChatGPT prompts for Scrum practitioners to get you started running. You will learn:
Prompt engineering basics
Prompt engineering with services like PromptPerfect
Using ChatGPT for prompt engineering. (Yub, that works, too.)
TL; DR: The Scrum Master Interview Guide to Identify Genuine Scrum Masters
In this comprehensive Scrum Master Interview guide, we delve into 83 critical questions that can help distinguish genuine Scrum Masters from pretenders during interviews. We designed this selection to evaluate the candidates’ theoretical knowledge, practical experience, and ability to apply general Scrum and “Agile “principles effectively in real-world scenarios—as outlined in the Scrum Guide or the Agile Manifesto. Ideal for hiring managers, HR professionals, and future Scrum teammates, this guide provides a toolkit to ensure that your next Scrum Master hire is truly qualified, enhancing your team’s agility and productivity.
If you are a Scrum Master currently looking for a new position, please check out the “Preparing for Your Scrum Master Interview as a Candidate” section below.
So far, this Scrum Master interview guide has been downloaded more than 25,000 times.
TL; DR: 82 Product Owner Interview Questions to Avoid Imposters
If you are looking to fill a position for a Product Owner in your organization, you may find the following 82 interview questions useful to identify the right candidate. They are derived from my sixteen years of practical experience with XP and Scrum, serving both as Product Owner and Scrum Master and interviewing dozens of Product Owner candidates on behalf of my clients.
So far, this Product Owner interview guide has been downloaded more than 10,000 times.
TL; DR: Scrum Training Classes, Liberating Structures Workshops, and Events
Age-of-Product.com’s parent company — Berlin Product People GmbH — offers Scrum training classes authorized by Scrum.org, Liberating Structures workshops, and hybrid training of Professional Scrum and Liberating Structures. The training classes are offered both in English and German.
Check out the upcoming timetable of training classes, workshops, meetups, and other events below and join your peers.
TL; DR: Scrum Expansion Pack — Food for Agile Thought #497
Welcome to the 497th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,573 peers. This week, Jeff Sutherland, John Coleman, and Ralph Jocham introduce a Scrum Expansion Pack to help teams stay outcome-focused in complex, AI-driven environments. John Cutler questions the continued use of stories and epics, advocating for outcome-oriented practices, and Roman Pichler highlights how strategic ownership empowers product teams. Interestingly, Sam Altman and Steven Sinofsky offer diverging views on AI’s trajectory and our misunderstandings of its nature.
Next, Brian de Haaff urges product teams to embrace strategic planning instead of reactive agility in AI. Aakash Gupta and Jeremy Epling discuss how Vercel’s v0 accelerates prototyping, while Ben Hylak reviews o3 Pro’s orchestration strength. Andy Cleff shares lessons from Spotify’s structural evolution. Also, Sarah Wang, Shangda Xu, Justin Kahl, and Tugce Erten highlight enterprise AI’s shift to essential, AI-native infrastructure and procurement maturity.
Lastly, Barry O’Reilly explores AI-native leadership by unlearning control and leveraging agents, while Alex Ewerlöf shows how Wardley Maps and Pace Layering align tech and business strategy. Lucy Pitticas-Rothwell details how Product Ops measures impact qualitatively. Finally, Paweł Huryn and Erin Mikail Staples emphasize tailoring AI evaluation—moving beyond generic metrics to domain-specific, human-in-the-loop approaches that ensure trust and effectiveness.
TL; DR: Meeker’s AI Trends — Food for Agile Thought #496
Welcome to the 496th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,588 peers. This week, Mary Meeker explores AI trends in a massive presentation and how it is reshaping industries faster than the Internet ever did, with massive adoption and investment. Teresa Torres and Hope Gurion discuss selecting ideal pilot teams for transforming toward a product operating model, while Itamar Gilad builds on Marty Cagan’s concept by identifying eight core functions of empowered organizations. Charlie Guo humorously outlines how to fail at adopting AI, and Peter Yang compares Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini across key use cases, each excelling in different areas.
Next, Christina Wodtke shows how product sense can be trained through deliberate practice and reflection. Jake Bowen-Bate defends the product triad model amid rising AI role blending. Also, Geoffrey A. Fowler highlights Claude’s lead in AI reading tests, and Thomas Ptacek critiques LLM skeptics in software. Janna Bastow shares examples of practical acceptance criteria to improve clarity, reduce scope creep, and enhance product delivery across teams.
Lastly, Jeff Sutherland, John Anthony Coleman, and Ralph Jocham unveil the Scrum Guide Expansion Pack for today’s complex realities. Moreover, Maarten Dalmijn champions fluid team roles over rigid Scrum labels. Laurianne McLaughlin and M. Shawn Read highlight essential AI-era leadership traits. Finally, Steven Sinofsky reframes AI as another disruptive abstraction. Jason Cohen breaks down three viable, strategic pricing models.
TL; DR: Johanna Rothman, Roman Pichler, and Maarten Dalmijn speaking at Hands-on Agile 2025
The third batch of videos of Hands-On Agile 2025 is in, and you don’t want to miss them: Johanna Rothman warns against fake “Agile,” urging a focus on genuine agility by choosing fit-for-purpose lifecycles and improving feedback loops. At the same time, Roman Pichler outlines five common product strategy mistakes and how to avoid them for better product outcomes, and Maarten Dalmijn highlights systemic blockers to empowered teams and advocates for shifting from rules to cultivating environments that enable high performance.
TL; DR: State of Enterprise AI 2025 — Food for Agile Thought #495
Welcome to the 495th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,598 peers. This week, Eden Kung explores how early AI adopters gain a strategic edge through agent-based productivity and decision-making, according to Box’s State of Enterprise AI 2025 report. Janna Bastow advocates making product ideation a continuous habit to align with strategy and customer needs, and Afonso Franco interviews Alex Osterwalder on transforming Strategyzer and leading innovation. Grant Harvey analyzes Claude 4’s capabilities and quirks, while Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen highlight Dario Amodei’s warning about AI-driven white-collar job loss.
Next, Paweł Huryn shares a rich AI PM roadmap for building products without coding, and Scott Sehlhorst urges outcome-focused thinking. Also, Mike Cottmeyer and Len Greski explore sustainable agility; Louis Columbus uncovers shadow AI copilots reshaping consulting, and Magnus Hedemark details Duolingo’s AI-first failure, revealing the risks of replacing instead of partnering with human expertise.
Lastly, Mark Levison cautions against using GenAI to automate away Scrum collaboration, urging smarter PO-led enhancement, and David Burkus shares strategies for dealing with bad bosses. Noam Segal and Lenny Rachitsky uncover widespread burnout in tech, while Alex Ewerlöf highlights how generalist teams boost delivery. Finally, Doc Norton urges replacing rigid “best practices” with adaptive, learning-focused “leading practices.”
