TL; DR: Logical Fallacies, Agile 2.0 — Food for Agile Thought #304
Welcome to the 304th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 32,756 peers. This week, we share an epic list of logical fallacies created by faulty reasoning that influence decision-making. We also listen to an idea of what the next iteration of ‘Agile’ might be — 20 years after the manifesto, and we reject the idea that simply sticking to the INVEST principles will automatically create good user stories.
We then share a list of visualization models to help deal with complexity in product management. Moreover, we learn why going with evidence, not opinions might turn out to be highly lucrative, and we reflect on the benefits of taking our time to get products right.
Lastly, we point at the disservice we accept when we apply false analogies to creating software, and we embrace a template for a Futurospective.
Join Richard Kasperowski and your peers at the 34th Hands-on Agile Meetup on September 7, 2021: “High-Performance Teams: Core Protocols for Psychological Safety and Emotional Intelligence.”
TL; DR: Failed Agile Rebellion, Prioritizing Hypotheses — Food for Agile Thought #303
Welcome to the 303rd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 32,688 peers. This week, we delve into the failed agile rebellion. Moreover, we aggregate a list of 26 patterns for creating new software successfully, and we point at the root cause of transformation-related cultural problems. Also, we share new ideas on how to ‘bring about cultural shifts and mindset changes’ so you can abandon the idea to simply replicate the approach from a case study in your organization.
We then dive into determining which hypotheses you should test, build, or discard; we detail how to replicate a legacy system’s functionality on a new technology stack, and we point to a playbook that focuses on the essential elements for running a Product Discovery, a good primer for teams starting in this field.
Lastly, we get into estimation, estimates, crazy deadlines, and how not to lose your head when a lot is at stake.
TL; DR: Agile Lies, 15. State of Agile Survey — Food for Agile Thought #302
Welcome to the 302nd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 32,531 peers. This week, we lament the state of agile in the industry today, from its perception to agile lies to what people experience in the trenches. Also, we refer to a recent article by Jeff Patton that claims that the Agile Manifesto lacks a value statement, and we reflect on the benefits of creating situations for personal growth where failure will be safe.
We then summarize why the relationship between the marketing and engineering has been tense and filled with frustration for a long time. Moreover, we delve into how to set up ProductOps for the first time, and we provide a detailed guide on how to get going with the mystical minimum viable product.
Lastly, we download the latest version of the ‘State of Agile Survey,’ and we suggest planning and estimating a massive software project, requiring several teams, across several quarters of effort.
TL; DR: Knowledge Work & Cottage Industry, Pre-Mortems — Food for Agile Thought #301
Welcome to the 301st edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 32,359 peers. This week, we reflect on knowledge work, Taylorism, management & trust, and the future of working from home. Also, we tell the story of an empowered Agile product group of three Scrum teams working as contractors for the U.S. federal government, and we learn that digital marketing agencies can succeed in applying Scrum in a non-software environment.
We then talk about becoming the best product manager you can be; we combine Agile, Lean, and Design Thinking in a novel way, and we learn how to apply pre-mortems to avoid ship-wrecking major product launches. (There is a template for running the session, too.)
Lastly, we enjoy John Cutler and Shreyas Doshi delving into the dos and don’ts of a product manager’s career growth, creative intelligence, and product leadership.
TL; DR: Killing Product Thinking — Food for Agile Thought #300
Welcome to the 300th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 32,162 peers. This week, we delve into killing product thinking w/ Jeff Patton. Also, we remind ourselves why the idea that “building software should be like building a house” is an unsuitable metaphor and why structure drives strategy so often. (Spoiler alert: the preferred way would be way messier.)
We then reflect on the many ways you can turn a hypotheses validation into a v1, and we explain how user research fits into continuous product discovery. Moreover, we present the “3Q-DO NO HARM” framework to help you avoid causing harm at scale with your product.
Lastly, we share a team alignment exercise built on Liberating Structures.
