Agility and Scrum According to OpenAI’s ChatGPT — Be Surprised!

TL; DR: Business Agility, Scrum and Generative AI’s Take on Getting There

There has been a lot of talking about generative AI recently, mainly fueled by excellent work results in the text and graphics area. A few days ago, OpenAI made a new model available that “interacts in a conversational way. The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.” (Source.)

I thought it might be fun to ask ChatGPT a few questions about business agility in general and Scrum in particular.

Generative AI: OpenAI’s ChatGPT on Business Agility and Scrum — Age-of-Product.com
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Shift Left: Value Creation in Scrum

TL; DR: Value Creation in Scrum

As a tactical framework, Scrum is good at delivering Increments into customers’ hands. As we work in iterations, we probably do that several times per month, mitigating risk by closing feedback loops. Nevertheless, there is a potentially hazardous void in the framework that successful Scrum teams start plugging early: how to figure out what is worth building—product discovery—in the first place. As a result, value creation in Scrum is not as straightforward as you might have thought.

Value Creation in Scrum — Shift Left — Age-of-Product.com
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Scrum Tools and Practices to Enhance an Incomplete Framework, Part 1

TL; DR: Scrum Tools, 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.

Scrum Tools and Practices to Enhance an Incomplete Framework — Age-of-Product.com
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When Is It Time to Stop Using Scrum?

TL; DR: When Should a Team Stop Using Scrum?

When is the time to look beyond Scrum? After all, many things—ideas, practices, mantras, etc.—outlive their utility sooner or later; why would Scrum be an exception? Moreover, we are not getting paid to practice Scrum but solve our customers’ problems within the given constraints while contributing to the sustainability of our organization. Scrum is a tool, a helpful practice but neither a religion nor a philosophy. Which brings us back to the original question: Is there a moment when a Scrum team should stop using Scrum?

When Is It Time to Stop Using Scrum? Age-of-Product.com
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A New Scrum.org Class: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills (PSFS)

TL; DR: The Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Training (PSFS)

It does not happen often, but Scrum.org announced a class: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills (PSFS)!

The Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills (PSFS) training is a one-day Scrum.org class for advanced Scrum practitioners and agile coaches, including the industry-acknowledged PSFS certification. I will offer PSFS training classes both in English and German.

👉 Check out the upcoming PSFS class in English on September 29, 2022!

Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills (PSFS) — Age-of-Product.com
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Agile Micromanagement — Seriously? Making Your Scrum Work #27

TL; DR: Agile Micromanagement

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Indeed, given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. For example, the Scrum Guide clearly states the importance of self-management at the Scrum team level. Nevertheless, the prevailing cause of many messed-up attempts to use Scrum result from what I call agile micromanagement, a pseudo-commitment to agile principles only to be overridden whenever it seems beneficial from a stakeholder’s or manager’s perspective.

Join me and delve into the importance of self-managing Scrum teams in less than two minutes.

Agile Micromanagement — Making Your Scrum Work #27 — Age-of-Product.com
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