Agile Transition — learn from success, failure on Age-of-Product.com

Can Pure Scrum Actually Work?

by Stefan Wolpers | 2024-12-16 Featured Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL; DR: Pure Scrum?

Can you rely on pure Scrum to transform your organization and deliver value? Not always. While Scrum excels in simplicity and flexibility, applying it “out of the box” often falls short in corporate contexts due to limitations in product discovery, scaling, and portfolio management.

This article explores the conditions under which pure Scrum thrives, the organizational DNA required to support it, and practical scenarios where it works best—along with a candid look at where it struggles. Discover whether pure Scrum is a realistic approach for your team and how thoughtful adaptation can unlock its true potential.

Learn about conditions under which pure Scrum thrives and the organizational DNA required to support it — Age-of-Product.com

Product Team Empowerment Anti-Patterns

by Stefan Wolpers | 2024-12-02 Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL; DR: Product Team Empowerment Anti-Patterns

Leadership anti-patterns often undermine product team empowerment — an essential success factor in Marty Cagan’s product operating model. These failures include micromanagement, overly rigid constraints, conflicting stakeholder demands, informal power struggles, and inadequate tools.

Learn more about addressing these challenges by redefining success, aligning incentives, fostering alignment, and balancing autonomy with standardization.

Product Team Empowerment Anti-Patterns — Age-of-Product.com

The Inverted MoSCoW Framework: Stop Building What You Do Not Need

by Stefan Wolpers | 2024-11-25 Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL;DR: Inverted MoSCoW

The inverted MoSCoW framework reverses traditional prioritization, focusing on what a product team won’t build rather than what it will. Deliberately excluding features helps teams streamline development, avoid scope creep, and maximize focus on what truly matters.

While it aligns with Agile principles of simplicity and efficiency, it also requires careful implementation to avoid rigidity, misalignment, or stifling innovation. Used thoughtfully, it’s a powerful tool for managing product scope and driving strategic clarity.

Read on and learn how to make the inverted MoSCoW framework work for your team.

The Inverted MoSCoW Framework: Stop Building What You Do Not Need and Focus on Creating Value — Age-of-Product.com

Why Leaders Believe the Product Operating Model Will Succeed Where Agile Initiatives Failed

by Stefan Wolpers | 2024-11-18 Featured Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL; DR: Why Leaders Support the Product Operating Model Despite Agile’s Failure

Why might leaders turn to the Product Operating Model (POM) after a previous Agile transformation, for example, based on SAFe, failed?

This article uncovers the psychological, organizational, and strategic reasons behind this seeming contradiction, exploring what motivates leaders to believe that a new approach will succeed where others have not.

Why Leaders Believe the Product Operating Model Will Succeed Where Agile Initiatives Failed — Age-of-Product.com

Product Washing: The Pitfalls of a Superficial Product Operating Model Transformation

by Stefan Wolpers | 2024-11-11 Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL; DR: Product Washing

By all means, the “Product Operating Model” (POM) has surged in popularity, especially among traditional organizations keen to prove their adaptability. (And, of course, among the McBostonians who, now that ”Agile” is dead, need a substitute to bill their junior consultants.) Which brings us to the problem of Product Washing.

On the surface, the product operating model promises a more customer-focused, outcome-driven approach. Empowered teams create value iteratively rather than following rigid, output-focused roadmaps. Best of all, they do so autonomously, well-aligned with the organization’s overall strategy and the possibly myriad other teams working on different initiatives. Think of SAFe done right.

Yet, for all its promise, the product operating model risks becoming another buzzword rather than an actual driver of transformation. Organizations that tout a “product-led” philosophy often do so without making the profound changes needed to live by it. This hollow adoption of product practices, or what we might call “Product Washing,” leaves companies stuck in the same old dynamics but with a new vocabulary: transformation by reprinting business cards. (Does this sound familiar?)

Product Washing: The Pitfalls of a Superficial Product Operating Model Transformation — Age-of-Product.com

Transformation to Agile Primitives: Rebuilding Agility from the Ground Up

by Stefan Wolpers | 2024-10-07 Agile and ScrumAgile Transition

TL;DR: A Guide to Escape Agile Framework Fatigue

Undergoing a transformation to Agile Primitives from a botched [insert your failed agile framework of choice here] isn’t about adopting another framework; it’s about returning to core principles that empower teams and deliver real value. (Please note: If you haven’t read the article on Agile Primitives, please do so now.)

This journey requires leaders to model desired behaviors, embrace vulnerability, and foster a culture where failure is a learning opportunity. Middle management should be engaged as enablers, not obstacles. It’s not a quick fix but a commitment to genuine agility through people-centric practices.

By focusing on the Agile Primitives, organizations can reignite the spirit of agility and achieve meaningful, lasting transformation. Start today with this comprehensive sketch of what you need to address in your organization to overcome dysfunction, create value, and become competitive and profitable again.

Transformation to Agile Primitives: Rebuilding Agility from the Ground Up — A Guide to Escape Agile Framework Fatigue. By Age-of-Product.com.