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Food for Agile Thought #321: Product Sprawl, Premature Convergence, Agile Coaches—A Family Tree, The Empathy Map

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-12-03 News

TL; DR: Product Sprawl, Premature Convergence — Food for Agile Thought #321

Welcome to the 321st edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 33,718 peers. This week, we look under the hood of many presumably well-planned products only to discover product sprawl. Also, we point to the fact that the term ‘Agile Coach’ covers a whole family of roles, and we share results of a study that sheds new light on team autonomy: Teams should choose either teammates or ideas but not both.

We then explain what happens when a team decides on a direction or tactic too early, and we compare the two different concepts of product-led and engineering-led organizations to create value. Moreover, we listen to Melissa Perri talking to David Bland, covering how to identify experiment-worthy assumptions, deal with slow feedback, and generally walk the (experiments) walk. Finally, we provide a practical introduction to the preferred discovery and alignment tool to help people get on the same page.

Lastly, we share lessons learned from Redgate Software’s deliberate reteaming process and the results from a survey of ‘100 industry participants on their perception of the benefits and challenges of adopting the SAFe framework.’

Food for Agile Thought #321: Product Sprawl, Premature Convergence, Agile Coaches—A Family Tree, The Empathy Map—Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #320: Change — The Core Belief Model, Agile Principles, The Innovation Culture Formula, Five ‘WHYs’ Done Correctly

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-11-26 News

TL; DR: The Core Belief Model, Agile Principles — Food for Agile Thought #320

Welcome to the 320th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 33,679 peers. This week, we point at the importance of an organization’s mindset as the starting point for any meaningful transformation, introducing the Core Belief Model. Also, we learn from McKinsey’s interview of six bp leaders on their learnings and reflections regarding a successful transformation, and we delve into the basics of ‘agile,’ from ‘starting with Why’ to the people factor to the perils of shielding teams from clients.

We then delve into the magic math behind an organizational culture where innovation thrives and into the differences between a PoC, a prototype, and an MVP. Also, we sketch four critical negotiations for product managers, from the overly optimistic salesperson to the executive with an ‘excellent’ idea, and we share a new canvas for the jobs-to-be-done framework to help you avoid unnecessary pivoting and churn.

Lastly, we appreciate Richard Kasperowski interviewing Mary and Tom Poppendieck on what you can do to keep your team together in this challenging time, and we share eight games to hack your culture to unlock high performance. Moreover, we learn that Péter Horváth believes that you should not simply ask ‘why’ five times in a row — for multiple psychological reasons.

Food for Agile Thought #320: Change — The Core Belief Model, Agile Principles, The Innovation Culture Formula, Five ‘WHYs’ Done Correctly — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #319: 20 Product Prioritization Techniques, Overengineering Can Kill Your Product, The Simplified Scrum Guide, Free OKR Tracking Tool

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-11-19 News

TL; DR: 20 Product Prioritization Techniques, The Simplified Scrum Guide — Food for Agile Thought #319

Welcome to the 319th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 33,623 peers. This week, we point to an epic guide on 20 product prioritization techniques, and we summarize seven lessons learned on change; from change is happening anyway to you never know when your efforts will pay off. Also, we point to an ‘extremely simplified definition of the Scrum framework,’ primarily based on the SG 2020 with a bit of the 2017 edition.

We then delve into gold-plating and its consequences, and we share Lenny Rachitsky’s definition of the job of a product manager, from delivering business impact to solving the most impactful customer problems. Moreover, we follow Teresa Torres when she suggests avoiding hands-offs between the product trio leading discovery and the team building the product.

Lastly, we praise the best-designed ‘thinking tool’ in history; we share Jeff Gothelf’s free OKR tracking spreadsheet using Google Docs, and we provide a good primer on how a statistical method can contribute to your team’s forecasting quality.

Food for Agile Thought #319: 20 Product Prioritization Techniques, Overengineering Can Kill Your Product, The Simplified Scrum Guide, Free OKR Tracking Tool — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #318: Kodak’s Shirley Cards, Prediction & Uncertainty in Product, Change Agent Leadership, Dark Side of Metrics

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-11-14 News

TL; DR: Kodak’s Shirley Cards, Dark Side of Metrics — Food for Agile Thought #318

Welcome to the 318th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 33,565 peers. This week, we tell the story of a lack of diversity and its consequences for humanity, photography, and product design: Kodak’s Shirley Cards. Also, we share a long list of improv games to support team building and help prevent burnout and fatigue, and we point at five possible values you could provide when asked for an estimate, from optimistic to risk-averse to worst-case estimates.

We then ask whether uncertainty might establish a better foundation for product discovery and product design, and we listen to Melissa Perri interviewing John Cutler on the importance of product education. Moreover, we advocate thinking of ‘time as a blade, a tool that can sharpen focus and trim waste,’ detailing Honeycomb’s approach to planning, and we reflect on how to overcome the annual planning waste while pointing at the reasons continuous planning fails in practice.

Lastly, we name the dark side of metrics: Companies expose themselves to metric corruption when optimizing those at the cost of all else, and we share an epic list of resources to further your change agent skills.

Food for Agile Thought #318: Kodak’s Shirley Cards, Prediction & Uncertainty in Product, Change Agent Leadership, Dark Side of Metrics — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #317: Underperforming Dev Team, PO vs. PM Madness, Failure Cultures Reward Failure, 2022 Product Conference List

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-11-07 News

TL; DR: Underperforming Dev Team, PO vs. PM Madness — Food for Agile Thought #317

Welcome to the 317th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 33,471 peers. This week, we share advice on how to support an underperforming dev team. Moreover, we listen to Richard Kasperowski and Woody Zuill talking about leadership, and we reflect on the agile mantra of failing fast. Could it be wrong?

We then delve into the Product Manager vs. Product Owner debate; we express concern about the rise of the third class beyond makers and managers in product teams: the process people, and we share Teresa Torres’ first version of her 2022 conference list.

Lastly, we explain three simple ways of getting a grip on splitting user stories, and we point out a surprising truth: the number of people needed for an interview study is often smaller than expected.

Food for Agile Thought #317: Underperforming Dev Team, PO vs. PM Madness, Failure Cultures Reward Failure, 2022 Product Conference List — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #316: Fixed Scope & Date, Yet Agile? Taking a Wedge to the Market, Agile Hangover, Value Stream Mapping Best Practices

by Stefan Wolpers | 2021-10-31 News

TL; DR: Fixed Scope, Yet Agile? Agile Hangover — Food for Agile Thought #316

Welcome to the 316th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 33,419 peers. This week, we ask: Fixed scope & date, yet there is agility? Moreover, we sum up some observations regarding agile transformations, from the beginning of the party to the probably ‘inevitable.’ We also list five stupid yet still popular management practices, from stack ranking to open offices, and we share seven principles and five steps to enhance your change leadership skills.

We then delve into a successful product strategy pattern that made Shopify, Tesla, or Airbnb successful: wedge yourself into the market, then expand, and ask: “What happens when your biggest strength and greatest asset as a product development organization becomes your biggest weakness?” Additionally, we elaborate on the Use Case Frequency Spectrum and how it applies to growing products that customers use once a year or less.

Lastly, we share a helpful infographic with the core elements of VSM to kickstart continuous improvement and a framework to improve user research, leading to better-informed decision-making.