Food for Agile Thought #385: ChatGPT in Product Development, Organizational Change Patterns, The Art of the User Story, Do We Need Sprint Goals?

TL; DR: ChatGPT in Product Development — Food for Agile Thought #385

Welcome to the 385th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 45,612 (1) peers. This week, we delve into ChatGPT in product development, pointing to what ChatGPT can and cannot do. Also, John Cutler asked some friends a simple question: “How does change actually happen at your company,” and we explain the relationship between organizational design and an organization’s size. Moreover, we learn how to deal with controversial topics that “elicit strong emotions, have little or no effort invested into resolution, and unequal participation” as a coach.

Then, we dive into the challenges of integrating UX research and Scrum and what a token for discussion — also known as a user story — has to do with it while questioning the utility of strictly adhering to the mandate of employing a Sprint Goal every single Sprint. Also, we learn how Fender, the famous guitar maker, overcame its existence-threatening churn rate among new customers and reflect on why larger organizations quickly become less innovative and what autonomous teams and ‘saying no’ have to do with it.

Finally, we check out ChatGPT 4 for Scrum practitioners; we report on a recent analysis of how OpenAI’s GPT technology could affect the workforce and walk you through the current ChatGPT ecosystem, helping everyone to understand why it has been called AI’s iPhone moment.

Food for Agile Thought #385: ChatGPT in Product Development, Organizational Change Patterns, The Art of the User Story, Do We Need Sprint Goals? — Age-of-Product.com

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🏆 The Tip of the Week: ChatGPT in Product Development

Marily Nika: The Promises and Pitfalls of ChatGPT [in Product Development]

Marily Nika delves into ChatGPT-supported product development, pointing to what ChatGPT can and cannot do.

🍋 The Lemon of the Week

Emmanuel Maggiori: I’ve been employed in tech for years, but I’ve almost never worked

Emmanuel Maggiori blames “Agile” in general and Scrum in particular for the demise of the productivity of engineers.

➿ Agile & Scrum

John Cutler: Organic, Planned, and Manager-Drive Change

John Cutler asked some friends a simple question: “How does change actually happen at your company?”

Viktor Cessan: Coaching controversial topics

Viktor Cessan delves into dealing with controversial topics that “elicit strong emotions, have little or no effort invested into resolution, and unequal participation” as a coach.

Michael Küsters: The Rule of Three

Michael Küsters explains the relationship between organizational design and an organization’s size

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🎯 Product

Jason Godesky (via Medium): The Art of the Vertical Slice

Jason Godesky dives into the challenges of integrating UX research and Scrum and what a token for discussion — also known as a user story — has to do with it.

Mike Cohn: Does Your Sprint Really Even Need a Sprint Goal?

Mike Cohn questions the utility of strictly adhering to the mandate of employing a Sprint Goal every single Sprint.

Jeff Gothelf: Case Study: How product management saved Fender guitars

Jeff Gothelf shares how the famous guitar maker overcame its existence-threatening churn rate among new customers.

📯 ChatGPT 4: A Bargain for Scrum Practitioners?

When OpenAI released its new LLM model GPT-4 last week, I could not resist and signed up for $20 monthly. I wanted to determine whether ChatGPT 4 is superior to its predecessor, which left a good impression in recent months; see my previous articles on Scrum, Agile, and ChatGPT.

I decided to run three comparisons, using the identical prompt to trigger answers from the new GPT-4 and previous GPT-3.5 models. Read on and learn what happened. It was not a foregone conclusion.

ChatGPT 4: A Bargain for Scrum Practitioners? — Age-of-Product.com

👉 Learn more: ChatGPT 4: A Bargain for Scrum Practitioners?

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

(via Connected): Innovation 2.0 : Faster, smarter, safer and bigger

Alex Christodoulou reflects on why larger organizations quickly become less innovative and what autonomous teams and ‘saying no’ have to do with it.

Michael Kan (via PCMag): OpenAI: ChatGPT Could Disrupt 19% of US Jobs, Is Yours on the List?

Michael Kan reports on a recent analysis of how OpenAI’s GPT technology could affect the workforce.

Mike Loukides (via O’Reilly Media): What Are ChatGPT and Its Friends?

Mike Loukides walks us through the current ChatGPT ecosystem, helping us to understand why it has been called AI’s iPhone moment.

🎶 Encore

Bob Galen: SAFe — The Gift that Keeps on Giving & Growing

Bob Galen comments on the latest SAFe® version.


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🖥 🇩🇪 March 11-12, 2025 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
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Help your team to learn about ChatGPT in product development by pointing them to the free Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide:

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🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #384: The Decline of the Agile Brand, Product Managers Devs Don’t Hate, Product Core Competencies, Scrum a Natural Pattern?

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