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

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-03-24 News

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

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

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-03-17 News

TL; DR: The Decline of the Agile Brand — Food for Agile Thought #384

Welcome to the 384th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 45,437 (1) peers. This week, we listen to Brett Maytom and Michael Küsters on the decline of the Agile brand. Moreover, we explore whether Scrum is not only applied empiricism but also “some sort of natural pattern” before Seth Godin suggests tried and tested practices to help you maneuver complex projects, from “budgets are a tool, not a weapon” to “heroism is more fun but less reliable than good planning.” Moreover, we describe four effectiveness-impacting biases, from the urgency effect to the planning fallacy.

Then, we sketch a developer-friendly role model of a product manager, from demonstrating evident expertise to helping with the dirty work, which pairs well with Marty Cagan’s concept of roles of an empowered product team. Next, Teresa Torres and Hope Gurion discuss the responsibility of empowered product teams for their outcomes, while Lenny Rachitsky interviews Stanford University professor and author Christina Wodtke on how OKRs can help your team achieve better results.

Finally, we share a bunch of primers on user story mapping, planning poker and story points, and practical user research. Lastly, we ask: Can wisdom from the past still be relevant to today’s VUCA-determined world? Is there something like a Stoic Scrum Master?

Food for Agile Thought #383: Building Products without Value, Developers Talking to Customers, Marty Cagan’s Product Model, Roadmap Questionnaire

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-03-10 News

TL; DR: Building Products without Value — Food for Agile Thought #383

Welcome to the 383rd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 37,076 peers. This week, Jeff Patton attempts to explain why organizations “irrationally and addictively” build products without value. In addition, we address a controversial topic that might help alleviate the “no real value” problem: writing good code requires more technical skills; Developers also need to talk to their customers. Also, improving Product Backlog management in Scrum might support avoiding becoming focused on merely shipping stuff.

Then, we present a “set of principles, practices, and competencies” that together represent the best tech-powered companies’ way of working, bolstered by a “list of potentially helpful questions (and multiple-choice answers) to help you explore the ideas, strategies, opportunities, problems, bets, initiatives, and projects on your roadmap.” Moreover, should you consider turning your service business into a product, you don’t want to miss a podcast with “Productize” author Eisha Armstrong.

Finally, we share experts’ insight into Spotify’s approach to learning about a Squad’s health. Speaking of team health, we also reflect on why answering Scrum’s obsolete three Daily Scrum questions negatively influences your team and share a framework to “meet conversational stuckness and tensions at the appropriate level.” Lastly, we dive into an interesting question: Is it still form follows function in the digital space?

Food for Agile Thought #383: Building Products without Value, Developers Talking to Customers, Marty Cagan’s Product Model, Roadmap Questionnaire — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #382: Avoiding Product Waste; Meaningful Product Metrics, Prompt Engineering Guide; Club Scrum?

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-03-03 News

TL; DR: Avoiding Product Waste — Food for Agile Thought #382

Welcome to the 382nd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,960 peers. This week, we explore the best approaches to avoiding product waste. Also, drawing ideas from prolific experts in the field of complexity like Dave Snowden, John Cutler provides an easy ‘entry point into a discussion about complexity [and] complex systems.’ Dealing with complexity eases when an organizational culture guarantees psychological safety. We share four ways of safely creating teams, two based on trust and two based on respect. Lastly, our weekly ChatGPT dose addresses the typical workload of a Scrum Master.

Then, we share insights into metrics of Duolingo’s long game of building a product user love and share voluntarily. Moreover, Teresa Torres dives into the results of the first Continuous Discovery Habits survey and shares outstanding results; for example, shifting from outputs to outcomes. (Pair that one with Cori Widen’s article on the pitfalls of continuous discovery research.) Also, Jiaona Zhang, teaching Stanford’s graduate-level product management course, discusses careers.

Finally, we speculate on why some reject a highly successful practice: the Double Diamond. Is it just a personal agenda? Additionally, we share a primer on best employing ChatGPT for user research, from competitor analysis to defining key metrics to reaching the target audience for insights. Speaking of which: DAIR.AI created a ‘new prompt engineering guide that contains all the latest papers, learning guides, lectures, references, and tools related to prompt engineering.’

Food for Agile Thought #382: Avoiding Product Waste; Meaningful Product Metrics, Prompt Engineering Guide; Club Scrum? — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #381: Agile Is Alive and Kicking, Sales-Led Development Problems, Innovation Budget Cuts, Show the Team the Money

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-02-24 News

TL; DR: Agile Is Alive — Food for Agile Thought #381

Welcome to the 381st edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,846 peers. This week, we learn again that rumors of “Agile’s” demise are greatly exaggerated — Agile is alive. (Check out the Tip of the Week as a reply to this week’s 🍋.) Also, we delve into the history of the technical debt concept and suggest how to manage the challenge sustainably and effectively. Next, follow the money: Allan Kelly addresses a typically ignored yet essential topic in many organizations: team finances.

Then, we reflect on the problems of allocating most development work to customization while starving the core product, also known as sales-led development. Moreover, we answer a vital question many product people share today: how to sustain the innovation momentum with fewer bucks? And Elad Gil asks whether early SaaS or AI companies are ever defensible at an early stage and delivers a comprehensive list of potential ways to build a moat. Alternatively, you can also steal from aggregated a list of ‘best practices used by successful product companies.’

Finally, Deb Liu suggests changing perspective when you are in a perceived conflict: retell your story with the other as the hero, and Buffer shared their extensive study on how ‘remote workers from around the world feel about remote work.’ Lastly, Jordan Harbinger interviews Alastair Smith on dictatorship. What I find particularly interesting about the talk is why bad behavior often makes for good politics. (I felt instantly reminded of some agile transformations in the past.)

Food for Agile Thought #381: Agile Is Alive and Kicking, Sales-Led Development Problems, Innovation Budget Cuts, Show the Team the Money — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #380: How ChatGPT Works, Classic Product Manager Mistakes, Why Agile Does Not Work for You, Product Delivery Success with Scrum

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-02-17 News

TL; DR: How ChatGPT Works — Food for Agile Thought #380

Welcome to the 380th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,747 peers. This week, we learn how ChatGPT works; Stephen Wolfram wrote an epic article essential for everyone working in the knowledge space. Moreover, we introduce a new category — 🍋 The Lemon of the Week — for pieces that get everything wrong. It would be best if you were strong for the first example; someone built a stack-ranking system for Developers based on velocity. Back to the real world: We share a simple revelation, explaining all: ‘We cannot know the value of our work until it’s done and in use.’ (Of course, everyone wants us to predict what value will be created in advance precisely; you notice the contradiction.) Also, we push back against the consensus and delve into the possibilities to overcome the ‘various hurdles keeping us from doing our best work.’

Then, we compile a comprehensive list of behavioral anti-patterns for newbies and seasoned product practitioners alike, from building your work on assumptions to falling in love with your solution. Roman Pichler addresses how to best utilize Scrum’s potential to deliver valuable Increments as a product mensch, from including product discovery to aligning stakeholders, and we put ‘forward an alternative mental model for product development: think about building a garden, not a factory.’

Finally, the Scrum Master Salary Report 2023 is out; see below. Additionally, Teresa Torres shares the result of the first Continuous Discovery Habits survey. On the tool side, we found a simple yet helpful tool identifying the key features of your product and an introductory guide on supporting your CoP to mature, from guiding principles to meeting formats.