TL; DR: Pre-Mortems, Leaving the Feature Factory — Food for Agile Thought #271
Welcome to the 271st edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 28,708 peers. This week, we understand the advantages of pre-mortems to kick-off agile transformations; we discover learning obstacles rooted in entrenched ways of operating, and we appreciate the learnings from a long yet successful lean transformation.
We then learn about how quarterly process changes can unshackle a product team to realize its full potential; we check a system to apply objectives and key results (OKR) to product management, and we acknowledge common traps of validating product ideas, such as false positives.
Lastly, we dissect the consequences of remote work, ranging from the remote hype cycle, the risk of return, new physical and digital solutions, and the implications of remote and hybrid work.
Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #270?
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🏆 The Tip of the Week
: We're Never Going Back
Packy McCormick dissects the—still underappreciated—consequences of remote work, from the remote hype cycle, the risk of return, new physical and digital solutions, and the implications of remote and hybrid work.
Agile & Scrum
(via InfoQ): Kick-off Your Transformation by Imagining It Had Failed
Ayman Idris describes the advantages of pre-mortems, thus creating safety for everyone to point at potential risks in advance.
(via Planet Lean): 10 obstacles to a lean transformation
Terry O’Donoghue summarizes lessons learned during a years-long—and ultimately successful—transformation of the Halfway Group.
: The Obstacles to Unlearning
Barry O'Reilly introduces his Cycle of Unlearning to help large corporations with entrenched ways of operating change.
📅 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Online: December 15-18, 2020
This guaranteed Professional Scrum Master training is an official Scrum.org class that leads to and includes the industry-recognized PSM I certification. The training is designed as a live virtual class of 4 hours per day and will be offered in German.
Learn more: 📅 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Online: December 15-18, 2020.
Product
(via UX Collective): Going from feature factory to continuous discovery in 1 year
Andrew Jordan Miller shares a success story of quarterly process changes to unshackle a product team and realize its potential.
: OKRs in Product Management
Roman Pichler details a system of how to apply objectives and key results to product management.
: Don’t ask customers about your idea
Linda Zhang shares common traps of validating product ideas, such as false positives.
(via Nielsen Norman Group): The 6 Steps to Roadmapping
In this article, Sarah Gibbons covers six critical steps to creating roadmaps that you can apply to any scope or industry.
📯 Hiring: 71 Scrum Product Owner Interview Questions to Avoid Agile Imposters
If you are looking to fill a position for a Product Owner in your organization, you may find the following 71 interview questions useful to identify the right candidate.
Learn more: 71 Scrum Product Owner Interview Questions to Avoid Agile Imposters.
📅 Scrum Training & Event Schedule
You can secure your seat for Scrum training classes, workshops, and meetups directly by following the corresponding link in the table below:
| Date | Class and Language | City | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 💯 🇩🇪 May 19-20, 2026 | Guaranteed: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) | Live Virtual Class | €1,299 incl. 19% VAT (If applicable.) |
| 💯 🇬🇧 May 28 to June 25, 2026 | Guaranteed: AI4Agile BootCamp #7 (English; Live Virtual Cohort) | Live Virtual Cohort | €499 incl. 19% VAT (If applicable.) |
| 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 June 8, 2026 | GUARANTEED: Claude Cowork: Stop Prompting. Start Delegating. (English; Self-paced Online Course) | Self-Paced Online Course | $129 incl. 19% VAT (If applicable.) |
| 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 June 9, 2026 | GUARANTEED: HoA 74: "CLAUDE.md" — The One File That Makes AI Remember How You Work. (English) | Meetup | FREE |
| 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 June 10-July 2, 2026 | GUARANTEED: Claude Cowork BootCamp #2 (English; Live Virtual Cohort) | Live Virtual Cohort | $249 incl. 19% VAT (If applicable.) |
| 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 June 11, 2026 | GUARANTEED: HoA 75: Token Economics. (English) | Meetup | FREE |
| 🇩🇪 June 30-July 1, 2026 | Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) | Live Virtual Class | €1,299 incl. 19% VAT (If applicable.) |
| 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 July 1, 2026 | GUARANTEED: AI 4 Agile Course v3 — Master AI for Agile Practitioners (English; Self-paced Online Course) | Self-Paced Online Course | $149 incl. 19% VAT (If applicable.) |
See all upcoming classes here.
You can book your seat for the training directly by following the corresponding links to the ticket shop. If the procurement process of your organization requires a different purchasing process, please contact Berlin Product People GmbH directly.
📺 Join 2,500-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel:
- 🆕 Scrum Guide 2020: Eight Remarkable Changes — Hands-on Agile #28.
- Remote Agile (1) Replay: Practices and Tools for Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, and Product Owners.
- Scrum Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns.
✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Pre-Mortems: Join the 8,800-plus Strong ‘Hands-on Agile’ Slack Community
I invite you to join the “Hands-on Agile” Slack Community and enjoy the benefits of a fast-growing, vibrant community of agile practitioners from around the world.
If you like to join all you have to do now is provide your credentials via this Google form, and I will sign you up. By the way, it’s free.
