If you weren’t at the virtual Hands-on Agile 2025 conference earlier this month, you missed an incredible opportunity to explore the shift from concept-based to context-based agility with nearly 800 fellow agilists. But don’t worry – I’m here to share some of the key takeaways and insights!
Check out the slides from the Live Stream speakers below; I will keep you posted on the availability of the recordings.
Welcome to the 480th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,711 peers. This week, we feature Anthropic’s Economic Index, which tracks AI and jobs, showing a preference for augmentation over automation. Richard Hanania argues AI job fears are overblown, pointing to historical resilience. Ben Thompson examines OpenAI’s Deep Research, an AI-powered assistant that synthesizes vast information but raises concerns about knowledge gaps and secrecy. In agility, Simon Powers dissects why Agile transformations stall—citing lack of authority, iterative adoption struggles, and hidden budgets. Adrian Howard debunks common Scrum misconceptions, showing that most criticisms stem from misuse rather than the framework itself. Also, Ken Schwaber reflects on Scrum.org’s founding, tackling assessment challenges, certification culture, and the deeper purpose of Scrum education.
Next, we dive into AI’s evolving role in product management, strategic alignment, and organizational transformation. Peter Yang shares a week in AI-powered product leadership, revealing 17 impactful use cases that enhance strategy, design, and decision-making. Teresa Torres & Hope Gurion challenge organizations on their readiness for the Product Operating Model, and Arne Kittler explores the intersection of product direction and commercial strategy, using Martin Eriksson’s Decision Stack to highlight how product teams and go-to-market strategies can collaborate for growth and faster decision-making.
Lastly, Viktor Cessan introduces a tool to quantify team dependency costs, helping teams optimize workflows and align structures with product goals. Marcelo Calbucci shares insights from The PRFAQ Framework, revealing how Amazon’s Working Backward process sharpens innovation through structured debate, and the Duolingo Team distills 14 years of growth into The Duolingo Handbook, outlining five principles that define their experiment-driven culture. Tim O’Reilly argues that AI won’t replace programmers but will reshape their roles, favoring those who adapt. Finally, Francesco Bonacci examines AI agents for computer use, detailing how autonomous systems execute tasks through reasoning, planning, and APIs.
Welcome to the 479th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,738 peers. This week, Zvi Mowshowitz and Ethan Mollick dissect OpenAI’s Deep Research, an AI-driven research agent poised to transform knowledge work but raising concerns about cost and safety. Andrej Karpathy offers a deep dive into Large Language Models, while Kyle Wiggers unpacks the EU AI Act’s first enforcement deadline, banning high-risk AI applications. In leadership, Lenny Rachitsky interviews Shopify’s Tobi Lütke on playing infinite games and leading with first principles. Meanwhile, Caroline Kealey declares change management dead, urging leaders to embrace adaptation, and Willem-Jan Ageling examines how organizational culture stifles agility—suggesting agility may not always be the right fit.
Next, Richard Mironov critiques ROI’s role in product decisions, arguing that uncertainty, risk, and hidden costs make it unreliable, advocating for strategic framing and cost trade-offs instead. Jason Knight interviews Martin Eriksson on why PMs struggle with strategy, emphasizing the need for clear company direction and leadership that empowers teams. Arvid Kahl shares a structured framework for backlog pruning, ensuring a focus on validated, high-value features that drive strategic growth.
Lastly, Charity Majors critiques Brian Chesky’s ‘Founder Mode’, arguing that leadership requires accountability, not heroism and that efficiency trumps empire-building in sustainable companies. Teresa Torres introduces the SPICEY framework for continuous discovery, emphasizing small, adaptable habits over perfection. John Cutler outlines four key competencies for product operating systems, highlighting leadership, domain expertise, systems thinking, and operations. Plus, Petra Wille launches All Things Product, a weekly podcast featuring Teresa Torres as the first guest.
Welcome to the 478th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,750 peers. This week, John Cutler explores the nuances of product operating systems, emphasizing leadership-driven design and enabling constraints. Ben Thompson, Dario Amodei, and Steven Sinofsky analyze DeepSeek ’s impact on AI, from China’s efficiency breakthroughs to the shift from scale-up to scale-out and its implications for global tech leadership. Meanwhile, Dave Arneson counters Marty Cagan’s claim that Agile is solely about delivery, highlighting its influence on modern product practices. Mike Cohn dispels the myth that Scrum has too many meetings, arguing for well-run, efficient collaboration, while Egor Savochkin shares actionable steps to streamline Scrum and enhance team productivity.
Next, Marty Cagan distinguishes “true agility” from process-heavy implementations, stressing its role in strategy and discovery. Paweł Huryn explores AI prototyping, while Aakash Gupta & Sergio Pereira discuss AI-driven product leadership in startups. Rohini Pandhi, in conversation with Lenny Rachitsky, shares lessons on hiring PMs and scaling multi-product strategies effectively.
Lastly, Grant Slatton explores the rise and fall of bureaucracies, proposing “bureaulogy” as a formal study. Mike Fisher highlights the power of cross-disciplinary thinking for innovation. Also, Gustavo Razzetti examines “conversational debt” and strategies for direct, trust-building dialogue. Finally, Ethan Mollick provides an updated guide on selecting the best AI models, which compares ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and others based on reasoning, real-time interaction, and emerging capabilities.
Welcome to the 477th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,791 peers. This week, Aakash Gupta provides an AI playbook for Product Managers to leverage AI effectively, while Martijn Oost critiques oversimplified organizational change, emphasizing context and experimentation. Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick delve into balancing psychological safety with high standards in tech teams. James Shore outlines six pillars for building exceptional product engineering organizations, and Esther Derby and Viktor Cessan share strategies for engaging resistant teams and fostering trust without imposing unwanted help.
Next, Roman Pichler introduces a holistic product strategy system for sustainable success, while Itamar Gilad emphasizes embracing uncertainty through outcome-focused planning and evidence-based decision-making. Ant Murphy highlights the power of a “NOT doing” list to reduce waste and foster simplicity, and Mike Belsito shares empathy-driven strategies to turn stakeholder challenges into innovation opportunities.
Lastly, John Cutler emphasizes nuanced capacity allocation for sustainable growth, David Burkus advocates fostering team accountability through empowerment and honesty, Ash Maurya highlights automated customer feedback loops for continuous learning, and Alex Ewerlöf discusses delivering value, adapting to market shifts, and fostering personal growth to navigate challenges effectively.
Welcome to the 476th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,817 peers. This week, we feature John Cutler on how Lean principles adapt to stabilize scaling challenges, Simon Powers on budgeting strategies for impactful organizational change, and Steven Sinofsky dissecting engineering patterns that fail despite sounding practical. James Hawkins addresses escaping the “deadline doom loop,” while Steve Denning examines the synergy of hierarchies and networks for fostering innovation and competence.
Next, Dan Olsen debunks claims of product management’s demise, highlighting AI’s role in enhancing PM effectiveness. Peter Yang interviews Aman Khan on PM Career-Defining AI Skills in 2025, while Mihika Kapoor shares her playbook for turning bold ideas into viral internal successes. Moreover, David Pereira offers practical guidance on refactoring, bridging technical and business priorities through actionable insights and real-world examples.
Lastly, we explore Stefan Lindegaard’s toolbox for scaling high-performance teams with tools like the Capability Gap Map. Petra Wille highlights trust and generosity as keys to thriving communities, and Melissa Suzuno showcases Vistaly’s role in continuous discovery. Finally, Katelyn Bourgoin shares psychology-driven strategies to shape customer pricing perceptions effectively.
