TL; DR: Bureaucratic Blunderland, Saying No—Food for Agile Thought #275
Welcome to the 275th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 29,852 peers. This week, we delve into the sheer variety of folly at play in any bureaucratic blunderland; we analyze different kinds of technical debt and how to best measure it, and we embrace a simple process to apply swarming as a team practice to solve critical challenges.
We then learn five practical tips to say no without offending senior or assertive stakeholders, and we enter a quest for magic metrics by ‘counting things that happened that you care about.’ We also check general product manager salary data based on January 2021.
Lastly, we examine a formula and a process that may allow us to figure out why things are less agile than hoped.
Did you miss previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #274?
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🏆 The Tip of the Week
: Bureaucratic Blunderland
Charles Lambdin delves into the sheer variety of folly at play in any bureaucratic ‘wonderland of blunders.’
➿ Agile & Scrum History
: The Play, the points, and the biggest lie in software
Gojko Adzic reflects on how to start moving away from reporting on effort metrics by changing the language.
and : 📺 How To Find Your Team's Motivation with Todd Henry
David Burkus chats with Todd Henry about motivating your team by learning what drives each individual’s motivation.
🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — January 26-29, 2021
This guaranteed advanced Scrum Master training (PSM II) by Berlin Product People is an official Scrum.org class for advanced Scrum Masters, including the industry-acknowledged PSM II certification. The PSM II training class is designed as a live virtual class of 4 h per day from 9 to 13 o’clock CEST and will be offered in English.
Learn more: 📅 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — January 26-29, 2021.
🎯 Product
: 5 Tips for Saying No to Stakeholders
Roman Pichler offers five practical tips to say no in the right way—without offending senior or assertive stakeholders.
: Start by Counting Things
John Cutler dives into the quest for magic metrics by ‘counting things that happened that you care about.’
(via 280 Group): Product Manager Salary [2021 Data]
In this article, the 280 Group details general Product Manager salary data based on salary information in January 2021.
🛠 Tools & Measuring
: How to measure technical debt
Andre Schweighofer analyzes different kinds of technical debt and how to best measure it.
(via Industrial Logic): Swarm Programming with the Swarm Board
Tim Ottinger describes a simple process to apply swarming as a team practice to solve critical challenges successfully.
(via Product Coalition): RAGE. A simple way for product managers to answer the question ‘Why does everything take so long?’
Brad Dunn created a formula and a process that may allow us to figure out why things are less agile than hoped.
📯 Scrum Commitments: Tying Loose Ends and Shoehorning the Definition of Done
As 2020 comes to an end, you are probably considering how to further your career as a Scrum Master or Product Owner in 2021.
While the new Scrum Guide is less prescriptive and more inclusive, it also ties loose ends by including elements better, namely the previously free-floating Sprint Goal and the Definition of Done with the creation of Scrum commitments. This inclusion works remarkably well in the former’s case; regarding the latter, we need a shoehorn, though.
Read more on how you can use the Scrum Guide 2020 Reordered to spot patterns quickly.
👉 Learn more: Scrum Commitments: Tying Loose Ends and Shoehorning the Definition of Done.
📅 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 15-29, 2026 | Guaranteed: Claude Cowork BootCamp (English; Live Virtual Cohort) | Live Virtual Cohort | $149 incl. 19% VAT (If applicable.) |
| 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 April 22-23, 2026 | Guaranteed: Professional Scrum Product Owner – AI Essentials Training (PSPO AIE; German; Live Virtual Class) | Live Virtual Class | €799 incl. 19% VAT (If applicable.) |
| 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 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.) |
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 2,600-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 the Bureaucratic Blunderland: Join the 9,000-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.
