News — Find all Issues of the Food for Agile Thought Newsletter

Food for Agile Thought #372: State of Agile Report 2022, Annual Planning in Uncertain Times, ChatGPT on Agile and Scrum, The Art and Science of Pricing

by Stefan Wolpers | 2022-12-09 News

TL; DR: State of Agile 2022, ChatGPT on Agile and Scrum — Food for Agile Thought #372

Welcome to the 372nd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,387 peers. This week, we share the State of Agile 2022 Report and probe ChatGPT on Agile and Scrum. Moreover, we dissect a common corporate anti-pattern while transforming into an agile organization: They continue incentivizing individuals. Also, we discuss the concept of technical debt—a ‘metaphor for communicating the long-term implications of architectural decisions and trade-offs to stakeholders’—and its limitations.

Then, we offer advice on how to lead stakeholders and developers, guide individuals, and create value together without having the authority to tell them what to do. Next, Lenny Rachitsky interviews Madhavan Ramanujam, author of ‘Monetizing Innovation,’ about all the elements that go into your pricing strategy. Of course, getting pricing right requires experiments. Fortunately, we also share a hypothesis for supporting an organizational culture of experimentation by applying a pattern language to cover that part.

Finally, First Round Capital compiled six ‘unique approaches to end-of-year planning,’ covering fresh tactics, different perspectives, and tested frameworks. Moreover, the Concepts & Tools section would not be complete this week without this comprehensive guide to decision-making, from the benefits of including others to games, exercises, tools, and how to avoid premature convergence. Lastly, Andy Cleff analyzes the context and options of saying ‘no’ gracefully, and Ben Thompson also explores ChatGPT by asking, ‘Did Thomas Hobbes believe in the separation of powers?’

Food for Agile Thought #372: State of Agile 2022 Report, Annual Planning in Uncertain Times, ChatGPT on Agile and Scrum, The Art and Science of Pricing — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #371: User Story Guide, Not all Planning Is Helpful, ROI of Product Management, Free Facilitation Resources

by Stefan Wolpers | 2022-12-02 News

TL; DR: User Story Guide, Free Facilitation Resources — Food for Agile Thought #371

Welcome to the 371st edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,352 peers. This week, we share an extensive user story guide to create successful products, covering a lot of ground from 3Cs to INVEST to 3Ws. Also, we delve into the benefits of applying principles and patterns from the team topologies concept to remote and hybrid work environments. Moreover, John Cutler busts the myth that all planning is in some way helpful when he points to nine situations where planning might not be beneficial, from planning before the last responsible moment to planning to maximize output.

Also, we appreciate a Forrester Consulting study on the benefits of taking product management seriously, including “key recommendations on making product bets with greater impact.” (Download the study for free.) Then, we analyze different scenarios you may encounter when elevating a team from feature factory workers to problem solvers and dive into the advantages of a product design philosophy popularized by Amazon: Working backward. And Petra Wille shares how to best support your team as a product coach.

Finally, we share lessons learned on how ThoughtWorks helped Etsy create a new product culture, scaling discovery and delivery. The Institute of Cultural Affairs curated an extensive repository of free learning resources for facilitators, from group facilitation methods to virtual facilitation. Lastly, Russ Roberts interviews Annie Duke on the benefits of letting go and how to avoid confusing grit with character.

Food for Agile Thought #371: User Story Guide, Not all Planning Is Helpful, ROI of Product Management, Free Facilitation Resources — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #370: Calm Innovation, Delivery Dates, Participatory Decisions, Bad Bosses

by Stefan Wolpers | 2022-11-25 News

TL; DR: Calm Innovation, Delivery Dates — Food for Agile Thought #370

Welcome to the 370th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,317 peers. This week, Shane Parrish interviews Tobi Lütke of Shopify about calm innovation, fighting bureaucracy, and scaling Shopify. Also, we reflect on facilitation and decision-making, including the opportunity costs of premature convergence, and learn more about the “Technology, Organization, and Product (TOP)” approach to agility. Moreover, we dissect the background of bad bosses.

Also, we learn from Ian McAllister about essential PM skills, broadening your horizon, and the importance of diversifying your skills as you move up the ladder. Speaking of which, we also share ten real-life examples of mistakes with long-term career-limiting effects for product managers, and we analyze three, unfortunately, prominent ways to trigger waste and frustration in product management.

Finally, we play our favorite broken record again: hands-off the deliberately abstract concept of story points. Moreover, we detail why teams underestimate work—learn more about hubris, dominant voices, and lacking the big picture—and advocate reducing cycle time to improve throughput and predictability. Lastly, Ken Norton shares his approach to what to do “when it’s time for some tough talk.”

Food for Agile Thought #370: Calm Innovation, Delivery Dates, Participatory Decisions, Good People to Bad Bosses — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #369: Joy of Agility, CEOs and Product Leaders, Team Change is Inevitable, Product Data Mistakes

by Stefan Wolpers | 2022-11-18 News

TL; DR: Joy of Agility — Food for Agile Thought #369

Welcome to the 369th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,291 peers. This week, we delve into the Joy of Agility and learn about the inevitability of team change and how dynamic reteaming may support dealing with it. Then we consider whether how decisions are made is more important than who makes them and why startups should have a risk roadmap, a plan for what they need to learn, from de-risking their organization to techniques used.

Also, we notice that ‘strong alignment and candid communication between a CEO and CPO’ are prerequisites for an organization’s product success. However, they can slowly dissipate when the organization is on a growth trajectory. Marty Cagan delves into multiple product management topics, from strategy, vision, and ethics, to the ways of working on a recent podcast. Additionally, Lenny Rachitsky interviews Alex Hardiman, the Chief Product Officer at the New York Times, for example, about the background of the Wordle acquisition.

Finally, we use a well-known Indian parable to point at three anti-patterns when using data, from rejecting ‘unfitting’ data to not turning disagreements into learnings. Moreover, we highlight the criticality of developing ‘inclusive mindsets to understand your own perspectives, the perspectives of others, and how they influence collaboration in design.’ Lastly, W.B. explores fundamental limitations to A/B tests that many businesses fail to consider—with possibly grave consequences.

Food for Agile Thought #369: Joy of Agility, CEOs and Product Leaders, Team Change is Inevitable, Product Data Mistakes — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #368: Successful Product Development, Gracefully Firing People, Mental Models to Help Kill Projects, Dysfunction Mapping

by Stefan Wolpers | 2022-11-11 News

TL; DR: Successful Product Development — Food for Agile Thought #368

Welcome to the 368th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,252 peers. This week, we delve into the importance of opportunity, output, outcome, and impact for successful product development. Moreover, we describe a step-by-step process on how to identify and subsequently also rectify dysfunctions within organizations. Then, Farnam Street points at essential leadership lessons from Michael Abrashoff’s book ‘It’s Your Ship,’ from rewarding risk-takers to skipping commend-and-control to letting go of your ego.

Also, referring to Astro Teller, CEO of Google’s moonshot factory, Annie Duke describes ways that help to kill innovation projects responsibly, and Marty Cagan defines the foundation of empowered product teams concerning customers, stakeholders, and engineers. Additionally, we advocate that using Gherkin as a notation for user stories will significantly improve communication with engineers.

Finally, Julie Zhuo lists five values of being data-informed, from accepting probabilities to setting verifiable goals, and we share an approach to answering a classic leadership question on the nature of a metric’s plunge. Also, given the turbulent week at Twitter, Lenny Rachitsky interviews Matt Mochary on how to best approach layoffs without botching the process and killing culture and innovation with one stone.

Food for Agile Thought #368: Successful Product Development, Gracefully Firing People, Mental Models to Help Kill Projects, Dysfunction Mapping — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #367: The Power of Working Together, Product Leadership, No Learning w/o Closing Loops, Decisions under Complexity

by Stefan Wolpers | 2022-11-04 News

TL; DR: The Power of Working Together — Food for Agile Thought #367

Welcome to the 367th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,223 peers. This week, we enjoy an interview with Alan Mulally, former President and CEO of the Ford Motor Company, on working together. Also, we point at a critical element of the seemingly dull Deming cycle: incomplete execution loops result in zero learning. Moreover, we explore our need for certainty and how this influences decisions in complex systems, reflect on what it takes to create successful (engineering) teams, and close with a simple thought: When is it time to stop using Scrum?

Then, we describe a Product Owner’s startup journey from an enthusiastic start in a new position to figuring out that he was oversold to fixing the whole thing and how he did so. Also, we point to common backlog issues preventing you from reaping the benefits of the artifact and reflect on product leadership from leadership styles—are you a fixer or an artist?—to necessary traits.

Finally, we revisit Melvin Conway’s epochal discovery, delve into a list of metrics by product type that can inspire you to design your dashboards for discovery, and appreciate the first list of product conferences in 2023.