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Food for Agile Thought #403: Life Coaching In Agile? Full Stack Product Management, Agile Maturity Models, Optimal UVPs

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-07-28 News

TL; DR: Life Coaching In Agile? — Food for Agile Thought #403

Welcome to the 403rd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 48,157 peers. This week, Ronald Purser critically examines the life coaching industry, often selling pseudo-solutions to profound issues. Is that trend spilling over to Agile? Also, Maarten Dalmijn questions the efficacy of Agile Maturity Models, while Julee Everett makes a strong case for full-time Scrum Masters based on financial benefits. Moreover, Vidas Vasiliauskas reflects on Teamhood’s evolution with Scrum, highlighting the significance of continuous improvement.

Then, Howie Mann proposes a novel way of handling product feature requests by focusing on recent problems, and Šejla Vatreš probes into the emerging trend of ‘full stack’ product managers and its potential implications. Additionally, John Utz examines the common disconnect between expected product features and valuable outcomes, especially in annual budgeting, and Ash Maurya underscores the importance of creating a unique value proposition (UVP) that captivates customer attention.

Finally, Nick Brown scrutinizes the metric of Flow Efficiency in Agile, using data from over 60 teams at ASOS to discuss its merits and pitfalls. Daniel Stillman presents a compelling 2018 study that illustrates how a “committed minority group” making up at least 25% can initiate cultural change within a community. Lastly, we suggest applying Hanlon’s Razor to improve relationships and enhance empathy, which can lead to less judgment, increased rationality, and personal happiness.

Food for Agile Thought #403: Life Coaching In Agile? Full Stack Product Management, Agile Maturity Model, Optimal UVPs — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #402: Agile First Principles, Digging Moats, Steve Jobs on ‘No,’ The Right Product Metrics

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-07-21 News

TL; DR: Agile First Principles — Food for Agile Thought #402

Welcome to the 402nd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 48,061 peers. This week, Maarten Dalmijn unravels Agile first principles without the usual labels, while Steve Jobs elucidates the importance of ‘no.’ Pierre Pureur and Kurt Bittner propose incorporating sustainability into a team’s DoD, and Pete Hodgson examines the nuances of effective collaboration within platform teams. Additionally, we delve into health checks for agile teams.

Then, Saeed Khan advises on ensuring lasting business success beyond mere feature delivery, Packy McCormick’s challenge to tech industry beliefs regarding the need for ‘moats’, and Jin Leem’s intriguing parallels between Roman military innovation and modern design thinking principles.

Finally, Jason Cohen discusses the importance of a comprehensive metric system over a singular metric; Catherine Norris stresses the art of saying ‘no’ in product management, and Ash Maurya critiques the traditional experimental approach, arguing it often leads to unproductive cycles. Lastly, Ethan Mollick notices the AI industry’s neglect of user documentation despite fast-paced advances.

Food for Agile Thought #402: Agile First Principles, Digging Moats, Steve Jobs on ‘No,’ The Right Product Metrics — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #401: Product Thinking, Prioritization to Accountability, Product-Market Fit Game, Inside The Scrum Team

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-07-14 News

TL; DR: Product Thinking — Food for Agile Thought #401

Welcome to the 401st edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 47,937 peers. This week, we join Murray Robinson, Shane Gibson, and Jeff Patton to delve into product thinking. Also, we highlight misconceptions around Agile adoption, clarifying that the term “faster” is not mentioned in definitions of “Agile” or “agility” before we move to combine Wardley Mapping, Domain-Driven Design (DDD), and Team Topologies to develop “adaptive socio-technical systems.” Moreover, Peter Stevens created an informative and concise 15-minute animated presentation introducing Scrum.

Then, we explain why opting for agile coaches instead of product coaches as a cost-saving alternative often falls short, and John Cutler suggests that product leaders must establish their product’s investment and governance framework to avoid one being imposed on them. Moreover, we emphasize the importance of finding product-market fit in a startup, pointing to a comprehensive guide that provides valuable lessons from six pivots and achieving product-market fit. Another goodie comes from Paweł Huryn, as he delves into the implications, exploring the distinction between product management and product marketing.

Finally, we highlight the importance of post-mortem meetings to uncover lessons from failed projects. Learn more about running them, including their definition, timing, benefits, conducting methods, etc. The DORA 4 metrics, derived from Accelerate, help engineering teams understand what it means to operate as an elite team. However, there is a problem with typical implementations. Lastly, Dean Peters explores how ChatGPT can aid product managers in formulating user stories, providing a fictional example of a product manager, and we take another shot at the perils of an oversized Product Backlog.

Food for Agile Thought #401: Product Thinking, Prioritization to Accountability, Product-Market Fit Game, Inside The Scrum Team — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #400: Doing Great Work, Introverted Product Managers, Sphere of Influence, Experimentation Fallacy

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-07-07 News

TL; DR: Doing Great Work — Food for Agile Thought #400

Welcome to the 400th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 47,822 peers. This week, we explore the common elements of doing great work across various fields, and we reflect on a discussion around the rigidity of Agile rules, encapsulating the paradox of Agile’s call for adaptation and experimentation versus the perceived necessity of rules. Moreover, we consider a coaching tool, prompting introspection on control, influence, and concerns while analyzing transformations’ need for a radical shift from rigid, top-down management to flexible, people-centric operations rooted in simplified structures and autonomous teams.

Then, we warn against nine common stakeholder management pitfalls and highlight the common pitfall of product teams getting too engrossed in perfecting their process at the cost of practical action. Also, an introverted product manager shares her journey from self-doubt to finding her unique way of navigating the role’s demands, and Jiaona Zhang, SVP of Product at Webflow, discusses building a “minimum lovable product.”

Finally, we emphasize Wardley Mapping’s role in strategy and its evolution, making intangible elements visible for effective product development and organizational transformation. Additionally, we advocate for Trunk-Based Development (TBD) and discuss the importance of CEOs dedicating significant time to innovation activities, implementing novel metrics, and developing inclusive, high-performing teams. Lastly, this week’s lemon offers Scrum “best practices,” from “Practice stand-ups, literally” to “Plan new sprint when product backlog has enough items.” Yes, you read correctly.

Food for Agile Thought #400: Doing Great Work, Introverted Product Managers, Sphere of Influence, Experimentation Fallacy — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #399: Winnable (Strategy) Games, Rapid Experimentation, Selling Agile to the C-Suite

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-06-30 News

TL; DR: Winnable Games — Food for Agile Thought #399

Welcome to the 399th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 47,711 peers. This week, John Cutler suggests considering your way of working as an enticing, challenging, and winnable game, and we dig into how to get bosses on board with Agile with trust-building tactics, busting fears around big shake-ups. Also, we flip the ADHD narrative, revealing its potential strengths for teams. Moreover, Fred Hebert argues that complexity is inevitable in life and systems, and efforts to control it overly can backfire. The goal, then, is to delay chaos by carefully steering complex systems.

Then, Aatir Abdul Rauf shares insights on what Product Managers can learn from Product Marketing Managers and vice versa, given Airbnb’s decision to eliminate the PM role and merge PM & PMM functions. Jason Cohen breaks down the essence of ‘leverage,’ achieving big impacts with little effort, while we explore the power of rapid experimentation in tackling uncertainties.

Finally, we use the Sydney Opera House’s infamous miscalculation to explain why we are rubbish at estimating and delve into probabilistic forecasting in Agile, analyzing data from 25 ASOS teams to test this forecasting method’s accuracy. Additionally, we learn more about FAST agile, a practice that remarkably enhances the scaling of super-sized teams and self-organization within organizations. We also share a cheat sheet for understanding tech debt.

Food for Agile Thought #399: Winnable (Strategy) Games, Rapid Experimentation, Selling Agile to the C-Suite — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #398: Agile Laggards, Building Trust and Influence, Moving From Output to Outcome, Engineers Product People Like

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-06-23 News

TL; DR: Agile Laggards — Food for Agile Thought #398

Welcome to the 398th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 47,569 peers. This week, we challenge pessimism around agile laggards, arguing that they are potentially more advantaged than their precursors. Also, we explore the benefits of Continuous Delivery and advocate that high-performing teams do not stop at the ‘run‘ level. Instead, the real magic happens with full ownership. Speaking of owning your process: if you take Scrum seriously, employing agile coaches next to Scrum Masters is unnecessary.

Then, we uncover a profound challenge faced by Product Owners: fitting into their organizations and double down on the issue with Leah Tharin, Teresa Torres, and Hope Gurion analyzing how to move organizations and teams from output to outcome. Moreover, we ask regarding strategy and competitors: should we pay attention to them? Also, Anthony Murphy explores the critical components of trust in stakeholder management, offering actionable strategies to establish and foster it.

Finally, Ash Maurya discusses entrepreneurs’ challenges in juggling big-picture vision and immediate action, suggesting skipping product roadmaps in favor of traction roadmaps. John Cutler explores a theory about companies stuck in a ‘doing OK’ basin, neither thriving nor failing, slowly drifting towards obscurity. At the same time, Seth Godin reflects on projects which are promises involving coordination for future value delivery.