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

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.

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

Food for Agile Thought #379: Patton’s Product Vision, Spotify Model Revisited, Design Thinking’s Failure, More Scrum Bashing

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-02-10 News

TL; DR: Patton’s Product Vision — Food for Agile Thought #379

Welcome to the 379th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,703 peers. This week, we follow Jeff Patton when he revisits his beliefs on the product vision. Also, Henrik Kniberg reflects on the ‘Spotify Model,’ if there is such a model, to begin with, how it started, what its principles are, and whether copying it is a good idea, and Reforge engages in more Scrum bashing with little knowledge of how Scrum works in practice when not run by dogmatic lunatics. Moreover, we sketch how to help your stakeholders build trust in your delivery capabilities and point to twelve success principles of employing a Definition of Done to ensure that.

Then, we learn why Rebecca Ackermann fears that, instead of democratizing access to design, Design Thinking accomplished the opposite, and we reject the idea that ‘90% of product managers are incompetent or lazy or quietly quitting’ because stakeholders consider them unresponsive to their product requests. Our weekly dose of AI is provided by Lenny Rachitsky and Marily Nika, who delve into the importance of artificial intelligence concerning the future of product management.

Finally, we enjoy Tanmay Vora’s illustration of ‘six components of creating a culture of change acceptance based,’ from ownership to relevance, and listen to Jocko Willink diving into decision-making and why people closest to problems need a voice in how to solve them. Lastly, Dan Shipper details how he used GPT-3 and the content from a newsletter archive to create a niche chatbot.

Food for Agile Thought #379: Patton’s Product Vision, Spotify Model Revisited, Design Thinking’s Failure, More Scrum Bashing — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #378: Top 1% Product Managers, Is Scrum Process-Heavy? 2023 State of PM, Could ChatGPT Do My Job?

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-02-03 News

TL; DR: Top One Percent Product Managers — Food for Agile Thought #378

Welcome to the 378th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,661 peers. This week, we reflect on the (product management) industry’s obsession with the top one percent, given the ambiguity about what product managers do. Also, we analyze why Lean Startup is an excellent blueprint for Scrum teams seeking to extend their knowledge of the problem and solution space while breaking down Scrum into components and composite elements, asking: Is Scrum process-heavy? Moreover, we enjoy Jason Yip’s approach to becoming a leadership whisperer.

Then, ProductPlan released the latest edition of its ‘data-backed exploration of how product teams support the entire product lifecycle, from idea to launch and beyond,’ and we learn from a 17th-century naval disaster how not to pursue product design. Speaking of which: We are thirty years into ‘Agile,’ and Jeff Gothelf asks why so few companies incentivize learning and experimentation.

Finally, we list seven estimation anti-patterns, from pretending certainty to effort tampering to story point inflation, and reflect on the increasing popularity of tracking velocity across teams, according to data from the Annual State of Agile reports. Moreover, Sally Goble shares proven practices to get your codebase back into shape, and we advocate that forcing change is often fruitless; why not persuade them with science?

Food for Agile Thought #378: Top 1% Product Managers, Is Scrum Process-Heavy? 2023 State of PM, Could ChatGPT Do My Job? Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #377: Spotify Model Critique, Building Products With AI, Gemba Walk Guide, Product or Feature?

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-01-27 News

TL; DR: Spotify Model Critique — Food for Agile Thought #377

Welcome to the 377th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,609 peers. This week, we start with a Spotify Model critique: Jason Yip dissected what many consider an agile framework from an insider’s perspective. Also, we point to issues contributing to management’s failure to keep pace with innovation, from branded management practices vying for attention to business school complicity to confusing management with exact science, and we appreciate John Cutler’s sketch of a simple framework to become a better leader.

Then, we apply the 5C model to ‘bring some structure and product thinking to AI solutions.’ Additionally, we share practical advice on a common product management challenge: feature or product? Also, we listen to Jason Knight and Jeff Gothelf philosophizing about the necessary shift from output to outcome orientation and why organizations still struggle to do so, and we explain Spotify’s approach to validation employing the broader DIBB framework: Data, Insight, Belief, and Bet.

Finally, John Shook shares his guidelines for Gemba walks as an outside advisor, from asking why to showing respect. Moreover, RebootHQ released a bundle of free self-guided courses, and Puppet made the 10th edition of the State of DevOps Report available. Lastly, we shed light on quality metrics, defining different ones for different stakeholder groups while warning of the risks of gaming them.