TL; DR: UX & Engineering, AI in Product — Food for Agile Thought #359
Welcome to the 359th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 35,852 peers. This week, we delve into UX & engineering, detailing how product discovery benefits from including engineers early in the process, from timely feasibility discussions to designing minimum viable experiments (MVE). Also, we reflect on the many aspects of velocity, “if you are planning for a stable team with high morale that can consistently deliver,” and explore a vital character trait of any trainer, coach, entrepreneur, or artist — tenacity — with Jerry Colonna and Jules Pieri.
Then, Allan Holub explores the importance of product management for agile teams, from C-level buy-in to empowering people w/o leaving them to JIRA’s perils, while dissing Scrum. Moreover, Ryan J. Salva shares the success story of Copilot, GitHub’s OpenAI’s ML engine, while Martin Spinnangr asks: Continue, pivot, kill, or charge ahead?
Finally, Sachin Rekhi points to four Lean Startup issues, from agnostic experimentation to over-focusing on MVPs to incrementalism, and we dig into the benefits of journaling for decision-making. Also, we explore the effects of limiting beliefs on change, from anchoring to selection bias. PS: Can I interest you in Dr. Laurence J. Peter explaining some of the observations leading to his theory?
Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue 358?
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🏆 The Tip of the Week: UX & Engineering
(via epicpeople): User Research & Engineering: Better Together During Discovery
Julia Tan and Carolina Aldas delve into UX & engineering, detailing how product discovery benefits from including engineers early in the process, from timely feasibility discussions to designing minimum viable experiments (MVE).
➿ Agile & Scrum
(via Stack Overflow): Does high velocity lead to burnout? That may be the wrong question to ask.
Ben Matthews reflects on the many aspects of velocity, “if you are planning for a stable team with high morale that can consistently deliver.”
and : 🎙 The Other Side of Fear
In this podcast, Jerry Colonna and Jules Pieri explore a vital character trait of any trainer, coach, entrepreneur, or artist: tenacity.
: Dealing with limiting beliefs
Michael Küsters explores the effects of limiting beliefs, a “belief confining us, or reducing our options in some way,” on change, from anchoring to selection bias.
🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM I Certificate — Live Virtual Class: October 4-5, 2022
Discover Scrum’s four success principles in this guaranteed official Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master training class, leading to and including the industry-recognized PSM I certification. The training will be offered in English.
Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM I Certificate — Live Virtual Class: October 4-5, 2022.
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🎯 Product
and : 🎙 The Role of Product Management on Truly Agile Development Teams
Allen Holub at his best, exploring C-level buy-in, empowering people w/o leaving them, JIRA’s perils, and dissing Scrum.
(via UX Collective): The toughest question of product discovery
Martin Spinnangr asks: Continue, pivot, kill, or charge ahead?
and : 🎙 The role of AI in new product development
In this podcast, Ryan J. Salva shares the success story of Copilot, GitHub’s OpenAI’s ML engine.
📯 Retrospective First Principles
What is your take on the Retrospective: A routine exercise at the end of a Sprint, supported by standard operating procedures? Or a critical part of a Scrum team’s journey of continuous improvement? As you may assume, I advocate for the latter. In my experience, Scrum teams start utilizing Retrospectives to their full potential when they embrace a short set of Retrospective first principles, outlining the essence of the Why, the What, and the How.
For classic nerds: “Molon labe (Ancient Greek: μολὼν λαβέ, romanized: molṑn labé), meaning ‘come and take [them][…]’”
Learn more: Retrospective First Principles.
🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring
(via Reforge): 4 Major Problems With The Lean Startup Methodology
Sachin Rekhi points to four Lean Startup issues, from agnostic experimentation to over-focusing on MVPs to incrementalism.
(via Farnam Street): How a Decision Journal Changed the Way I make Decisions (Template Included)
Shane Parrish digs into the benefits of journaling for decision-making. Moreover, he also provides a template for your start.
🎶 Encore
and : 🎙 The History of Tesla
In this podcast, Gennaro Cuofano interviews author and WSJ reporter Tim Higgins about the rise of Tesla.
(via BBC Archive): 📺 1974: Are YOU at your level of INCOMPETENCE? | The Peter Principle
In this classic video, Dr. Laurence J. Peter explains some of the observations leading to his theory.
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📺 Join 4,000-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel to improve learning, for example, about UX & Engineering:
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile 43: Outcome-Based Product Planning with Jeff Gothelf.
- Hands-on Agile 42: Lean Roadmapping and OKRs with Janna Bastow.
- Hands-on Agile 40: The Best Team Ever with David Burkus.
- Hands-on Agile 38: The Product Owner with Roman Pichler.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: The Power and Pains of Autonomy with Jimmy Janlén.
- Hands-on Agile 31: The Zones of Value Framework with Valerio Zanini & Zeina Zeitouni.
- Hands-on Agile 35: Designing Powerful Questions to help you Coach & Create with Daniel Stillman.
- Hands-on Agile 34: Core Protocols for Psychological Safety with Richard Kasperowski.
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