TL; DR: Joy of Agility — Food for Agile Thought #369
Welcome to the 369th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,291 peers. This week, we delve into the Joy of Agility and learn about the inevitability of team change and how dynamic reteaming may support dealing with it. Then we consider whether how decisions are made is more important than who makes them and why startups should have a risk roadmap, a plan for what they need to learn, from de-risking their organization to techniques used.
Also, we notice that ‘strong alignment and candid communication between a CEO and CPO’ are prerequisites for an organization’s product success. However, they can slowly dissipate when the organization is on a growth trajectory. Marty Cagan delves into multiple product management topics, from strategy, vision, and ethics, to the ways of working on a recent podcast. Additionally, Lenny Rachitsky interviews Alex Hardiman, the Chief Product Officer at the New York Times, for example, about the background of the Wordle acquisition.
Finally, we use a well-known Indian parable to point at three anti-patterns when using data, from rejecting ‘unfitting’ data to not turning disagreements into learnings. Moreover, we highlight the criticality of developing ‘inclusive mindsets to understand your own perspectives, the perspectives of others, and how they influence collaboration in design.’ Lastly, W.B. explores fundamental limitations to A/B tests that many businesses fail to consider—with possibly grave consequences.
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🏆 The Tip of the Week: The Joy of Agility
and : 🎙 The Joy of Agility with Joshua Kerievsky
In this podcast, Andy Cleff and Jay Hrscko chat with Joshua Kerievsky about his latest book that addresses a critical topic: experiencing joy while working in an agile organization. The book ‘reflects over two decades of experimenting, learning, unlearning, and explores the nature of agility.’
➿ Agile & Scrum
and : 🎙 Team Change is Inevitable—What’s Important is How we Respond to It
Jason Knight interviews Heidi Helfand about team change, its inevitability, and how dynamic reteaming may support dealing with change.
(via Medium): Some thoughts on decision making
Jason Yip believes that ‘how decisions are made is more important than who makes them.’
(via Medium): The Risk Roadmap
John Zeratsky suggests that startups should have a risk roadmap, a plan for what they need to learn, from de-risking their organization to techniques used.
🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — December 12-13, 2022
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Enjoy the benefits of a compact immersive class with like-minded agile peers from 09:00 – 17:30 o’clock CET.
Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — December 12-13, 2022.
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🎯 Product
: CEOs and Product Leaders
Ken Norton notices that ‘strong alignment and candid communication between a CEO and CPO’ are prerequisites for an organization’s product success. However, they can slowly dissipate when the organization is on a growth trajectory.
(via Mind The Product): 🎙 Product Vision and Strategy
In this podcast, Marty Cagan delved into multiple product management topics, from strategy, vision, and ethics, to the ways of working.
and : 🎙 An inside look at how the New York Times builds product
Lenny Rachitsky interviews Alex Hardiman, the Chief Product Officer at the New York Times, for example, about the background of the Wordle acquisition.
📯 Scrum Tools and Practices to Enhance an Incomplete Framework, Part 1
“The Scrum framework is purposefully incomplete, […].” (Source.) This half-sentence is probably one of the more often misinterpreted statements of the Scrum Guide. On the one side, it defines the necessity to enhance Scrum with other practices and tools. On the other side, it is the reason that so many attempts to practice Scrum are simply botched, resulting in ScrumBut versions of epic diversity. So, let’s look at proven Scrum tools and practices enhancing a purposefully incomplete framework without defying or negating its first principles.
Please note that the following Scrum tools and practices list is not complete. Please feel free to add more suggestions by commenting.
Learn more: Scrum Tools and Practices to Enhance an Incomplete Framework, Part 1.
🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring
(via Medium): The Blind Men, the Elephant, and the 3 Data Mistakes
Julie Zhuo uses a well-known Indian parable to point at three anti-patterns when using data, from rejecting ‘unfitting’ data to not turning disagreements into learnings.
(via IDEO U): How to Get Started with Inclusive Design
Coe Leta Stafford and Nusrat Ahmed point to the criticality of developing ‘inclusive mindsets to understand your own perspectives, the perspectives of others, and how they influence collaboration in design.’
: Caveats and Limitations of A/B Testing at Growth Tech Companies
W.B. explores fundamental limitations to A/B tests that many businesses fail to consider—with possibly grave consequences.
🎶 Encore
: The problem with outcomes vs outputs, problems vs. solutions, opportunity
John Cutler talks about the dichotomy in product development.
📅 Scrum Training & Event Schedule
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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 successful product development:
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile 45: FAST: An Innovative Way to Scale with James Shore.
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile 44: Honey, I Shrunk the Backlog with Allan Kelly.
- 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 38: The Product Owner with Roman Pichler.
✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn more about the Joy of Agility — Join the 12,000-plus Strong ‘Hands-on Agile’ Slack Community
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Help your team with experiencing the joy of agility by pointing them to the free Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide:
