Category: Our posts by Stefan Wolpers

Age of Product’s Food for Thought of September 18th, 2016—shared with 4,585 peers— turns to Dark Scrum, and how the agile revolution is falling victim to its own success. We learn why leadership is overrated, and how self-organization requires to rethink its role.

We then dive deep into how to navigate the dangerous waters of office and project politics, and we learn how to say “No” without killing ourselves in the process.

We also understand the importance of playing to improve your life & work, and we check out mental models for product managers, including the lastest “CynAgileanUXanbanicrumify” trend.

Last, but not least, we learn how to avoid building bad features by keeping our customer-centricity mojo and prioritizing in the right way, and we pick up Elon Musk’s inspiring view of future, and what we should be working on.

Enjoy a great Sunday!

[bctt tweet=”Food For Thought #59: Dark Scrum, How to Say ‘No’, Surviving Office Politics, Mental Models for PM.”]

Age of Product’s Food for Thought of September 11th, 2016—shared with 4,435 peers—again turns to the question: What is Agile, agile, or probably “Agile”. With 70+ agile practices, we have a look at meaningful agile metrics, and how Scrum helps the FBI to track the bad guys. Nevertheless, we need to ask: What’s wrong with Scrum?

We then dive deep into product managers fooling themselves prior to burning out, and what you can do about it.

We also learn, what features a “good” team at Google—spoiler alert: being smart doesn’t suffice—, and why zero bullsh*t Lean is good product management. (If your backlog feels like a black hole, you want to listen to that podcast.)

Last, but not least, we deconstruct Theranos’ precocious “founder” in an epic story. And we learn that the former Apple engineer who led the transition of the Mac to Intel processors wasn’t considered a match for a Genius Bar job in an Apple store—at the age of 54.

Welcome to the era of ageism and enjoy a great Sunday!

[bctt tweet=”Food For Thought #58: Selling Agile, Agile Peer Recruiting, Cheat-Sheets.”]

Age of Product’s Food for Thought of September 4th, 2016—shared with 4,331 peers—explains the two agile camps—Manifesto-based agile mindset vs. selling packaged “Agile”, so to speak—, ventures out into hostile territories, and brushes up your framework knowledge with a handy cheat-sheet.

We then dive deep into learnings from Fortune 500 product teams running lean experiments, and what the modern product designer role covers. We enjoy the 100+ cognitive biases cheat-sheet—no more fooling yourself—, and finally have to ask: Do we really need Product Managers?

Last, but not least, we learn how Trello builds & scales its fabulous tool, and why management is too important to be left up to managers alone. Enjoy a great Sunday!

[bctt tweet=”Food For Thought #57: Selling Agile, Agile Peer Recruiting, Cheat-Sheets.”]

Continue reading Food For Thought #57: Selling Agile, Agile Peer Recruiting, Cheat-Sheets, Building Trello, Happiness

Age of Product’s Food for Thought of August 28th, 2016—shared with 4,165 peers—checks in on the state of autonomous teams from Dublin to Africa, and how team membership is usually managed in organizations.

Arrrgh! We also learn that pirates were pretty agile, true examples of self-organization, the application of which nowadays needs to be explained by a Harvard Business School professor.

We then try to better understand the cultural habits of highly effective (cross-functional) product teams, that allow, for example, AirBnB to spearhead the assimilation process of Cuba into the international tourism industry. (Product borgs, so to speak.)

Last, but not least, we need to come to terms with the idea, that work can actually fulfilling and fun, and not just pain and misery, at least at Menlo Innovations. Enjoy a great Sunday!

Age of Product’s Food for Thought of August 21st, 2016—shared with 4,036 peers—points to 15 simple phrases from great leaders that boost team engagement. Which might prove to be helpful, when Agile will break your organization.

We also learn why removing “Agile Coach” from your profile might make the resulting 100% Scrum master more authentic, and how to land your next Scrum master position in the first place. Or your dream product manager job.

We then try to weight the benefits and potential risks of Spotify’s product squad concept and finally have to admit that not every great product automatically creates great business. Speaking of which: What is also not creating a great business, is a bunch of 50% solution.

Last, but not least, we come back to the question if we will have a job in ten years from now, given the advances of machine learning, and hear from Mr. Facebook himself how to build a better tomorrow. Enjoy a great Sunday!