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Food for Agile Thought #417: Working Backward at Amazon, “Marty Cagan’ization?” Agile Contracts, AI to Analyze User Feedback

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-11-03 News

TL; DR: Working Backward at Amazon, “Marty Cagan’ization?” — Food for Agile Thought #417

Welcome to the 417th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 49,538 peers. This week, we delve into Working Backward at Amazon with Lenny Rachitsky and Bill Carr and explore Viktor Cessan’s proposition of borrowing ecology’s “Interspecific Interactions” framework to enhance workplace interactions. Peter Stevens sheds light on ten agile contract models, evaluating their alignment with operational agility. Further, Alexey Krivitsky and Roland Flemm provide insights on transitioning from Component Teams to more flexible organizational designs, drawing from James Shore’s talk. Lastly, we uncover the detrimental Scrum anti-patterns across planning, communication, and quality adherence that often lead to underperformance in Scrum teams.

Then, Bandan Jot Singh’s critical take on the global ‘Marty Cagan’ization’ in the product domain urges a balanced evaluation of its impact on product professionals. Scott Belsky explores AI’s potential to disrupt business models, hinting at a meritocratic shift in creative fields yet posing questions on brand perception. Lenny Rachitsky delves into a discussion with Eric Ries on the Lean Startup methodology, while Michael H. Goitein highlights the perilous ‘Product Gap’ in organizational transformations, drawing a vivid analogy to point at the dangers of assigning critical Product roles to the inexperienced.

Lastly, Paulo Caroli illuminates the ‘Design Ahead’ technique to synchronize design and development phases. Moreover, Kyle Byrd explores the subtle effects of OKRs on strategic choices, delving into the dichotomy of causal and effectual reasoning. Also, Aatir Abdul Rauf introduces an efficient method for PMs to harness AI tools to sift through customer feedback, refine product strategies, and gauge competitive standing. Conversely, Steven Sinofsky critiques the President’s Executive Order on AI as an impulsive move, potentially thwarting innovation while bypassing democratic scrutiny and lacking accountability and transparency.

Food for Agile Thought #417: Working Backward at Amazon, “Marty Cagan’ization?” Agile Contracts, AI to Analyze User Feedback — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #416: Feature Team Fallacy, Measuring Product Discovery, Forget the Spotify “Model,” Working Backwards

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-10-27 News

TL; DR: Feature Team Fallacy — Food for Agile Thought #416

Welcome to the 416th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 49,471 peers. This week, we dive into compelling critiques and analyses: Bryan Finster assesses the LeSS approach to team structures, pointing at the Feature Team Fallacy, while Mark Levison sheds light on misconceptions about the “Spotify Model.” Johanna Rothman highlights the pitfalls of dehumanizing metaphors in software development. Additionally, a collaborative piece delves deep into the implications and nuances of the Agile Mindset in decision-making and its role in organizational behavior. Moreover, we address how to Say No without burning bridges.

Then, Jeff Gothelf discusses the actual indicators of product discovery’s effectiveness, cautioning against vanity metrics. Charles Lambdin parallels Gandalf’s adventures and Agile’s inherent adaptability, questioning traditional roadmaps. Dan Collins underscores the pivotal role of churn prevention in SaaS, emphasizing customer-centric strategies. Lastly, Laura Morgan provides a personal account, highlighting three transformative moments in her professional journey.

Finally, Paulo Caroli introduces a Press Release template inspired by Amazon’s customer-centric approach. Also, Jim Morris tackles the challenges of sharing group dynamics techniques to combat dominant voices and foster inclusivity. Marcus Castenfors laments the absence of robust product visions in companies and champions the Design Sprint process for alignment. Lastly, Tim Harford at #mtpcon London 2023 enlightens on common tech innovation missteps, emphasizing the transformative power of simple solutions and AI’s impending influence on employment.

Food for Agile Thought #416: Feature Team Fallacy, Measuring Product Discovery, Forget the Spotify “Model,” Working Backwards — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #415: Product Nightmares, Assumption Testing Guide, Freemium Fiasco, Agile Inflection Point?

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-10-20 News

TL; DR: Product Nightmares — Food for Agile Thought #415

Welcome to the 415th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 49,394 peers. This week, we delve into various aspects of Agile and Scrum, starting with Dean Peters’ eerie depiction of product nightmares as Halloween monsters, urging an outcome-driven strategy. Mike Griffith contemplates the mainstream adoption of Agile amid declining conference attendance, hinting at a possible inflection point. Jason Evanish warns against toxic positivity’s corrosive effects on workplace morale and productivity. Also, Viktor Cessan shares how a tailored feedback format enriched communication in a re-missioned team. And, seriously, this Week’s Lemon suggests a hybrid approach of Agile and Waterfall.

Then, Teresa Torres highlights the value of regular assumption testing for quick product idea evaluations, and Marty Cagan commends Spotify’s innovation amidst market challenges. Moreover, Itamar Gilad addresses idea prioritization, advocating for a strategic framework with a clear mission and measurable growth model, while Leah Tharin explores the transition to a freemium model, emphasizing aligning sales and marketing incentives, revamping onboarding experiences, and assessing a product’s freemium suitability to prevent revenue loss.

Lastly, Nicola Ballotta delves into Engineering Metrics, showcasing them as instrumental tools in quantifying and enhancing various software development aspects and aligning engineering operations with broader business goals. Additionally, we unveil a novel Stability Metric (ψ) based on queueing theory to bolster predictability in agile systems. The authors suggest the application of ψ as a tool for teams to improve project timeline foresight and enhance predictability. Finally, we point to the recording of Bob Galen’s session on ‘An Agile Coaches Guide to Storytelling” at the 53. Hands-on Agile.

Food for Agile Thought #415: Product Nightmares, Assumption Testing Guide, Freemium Fiasco, An Agile Inflection Point? — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #414: Agile Scaling Effectiveness, Product Waste, Customer Obsession, Good Mistakes

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-10-13 News

TL; DR: Agile Scaling Effectiveness — Food for Agile Thought #414

Welcome to the 414th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 49,319 peers. This week, Christiaan Verwijs and Daniel Russo analyze Agile scaling effectiveness, highlighting minor differences and suggesting alignment with organizational culture, while Thorsten Ball discusses modern software bloat due to user expectations. Adam Mastroianni and Russ Roberts contrast factual and emotional retention when learning, and Tim Harford emphasizes the importance of a safe environment for acknowledging errors for continuous learning and improvement. Also, we ask: ‘Should we change Scrum?’

Then, Maret Kruve suggests segmenting customer feedback for a better understanding of product needs, and John Cutler discusses the invisible yet significant impact of waste in product development through 15 metaphors. Moreover, Jeff Gothelf provides tips for building a customer-centric organization, plus Rob Zuber encourages businesses to experiment with AI, sharing CircleCI’s journey from brainstorming to AI integration.

Lastly, Paulo Caroli discusses the ‘Build the MVP Canvas’ activity for structured product idea validation. Roman Pichler introduces the downloadable checklist for the GO Product Roadmap, and Egor Savochkin talks about the pace of software development, linking it to technical debt. Finally, Stephen Dubner emphasizes viewing tragedies as cumulative missteps to shift the perspective for mitigation.

Food for Agile Thought #414: Agile Scaling Effectiveness, Product Waste, Customer Obsession, Making Good Mistakes — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #413: Firing Agile Coaches? Are All Feature Factories Bad? Why Didn’t They Say No? Dumb Decisions?

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-10-06 News

TL; DR: Firing Agile Coaches? — Food for Agile Thought #413

Welcome to the 413th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 49,263 peers. This week, Anthony Mersino reflects on firing agile coaches due to financial constraints and urges a focus on continuous improvement to prove value. David Rodenas discusses the misguided adoption of “Agile” due to a lack of understanding, and Marty Cagan emphasizes holistic organizational involvement in digital transformations. Joost Minnaar advocates for subtraction over addition in workplace transformation, promoting identifying and eliminating unnecessary tasks for more effective change.

Then, Sam Gimbel addresses the general disdain towards ‘feature factories,’ advocating for a more nuanced approach and customer-centric development. John Cutler delves into the tendency of teams to overcommit, attributing it to a culture of affirmative bias and advocating for realistic engagement in work commitments. Moreover, Kilian Butler narrates Papercup’s experience in machine learning product development, offering practical insights to help others navigate this challenging yet rewarding domain.

Lastly, Jimmy Janlén explores blending Scrum and Kanban for optimized workflows, providing a roadmap for an informed choice or fusion of these agile frameworks. Oscar Ibars discusses the art of saying ‘no’ in Product Management to maintain realistic project scopes. Paweł Huryn delves into Product-Led Growth strategies, emphasizing customer-centric approaches for product growth. Also, David Perell shares 50 insightful ideas focusing on critical thinking, human behavior understanding, and system optimization, introducing principles like Inversion, Doublespeak, and the Theory of Constraints.

Food for Agile Thought #413: Firing Agile Coaches? Are All Feature Factories Bad? Why Didn’t They Say No? Dumb Decisions? — Age-of-Product.com

Food for Agile Thought #412: The Dark Age Has Returned, Product Management Axioms, Scrum Guide 202(X), Storytelling as a PM

by Stefan Wolpers | 2023-09-29 News

TL; DR: The Dark Age of Waterfall — Food for Agile Thought #412

Welcome to the 412th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 49,218 peers. This week, Henrik Mårtensson criticizes the re-emergence of the Waterfall method in software development; Ken Schwaber discusses refining the 2020 Scrum Guide to better serve as a reflective framework, inviting community feedback. Also, Emily Webber highlights three collaboration anti-patterns that create power imbalances and hinder problem-solving, while Burcu A. Şengün offers ten valuable tips for budding Scrum Masters, emphasizing patience, continuous learning, and effective communication. Moreover, the Lemon introduces “time-mapped Estimation” to simplify Scrum estimations by mapping story points to person-hours. (Yub, you read this correctly.)

Then, Saeed Khan introduces four Product Management Axioms to guide and communicate fundamental principles in product management, and Rich Mironov discusses the organizational transformation from a services-centric to a product-centric model, stressing the distinct business models and the need for a clear stance to improve alignment and efficiency.. Anthony Murphy showcases the value of structured storytelling in product management, a skill transitioned from his military training. He asserts that a well-constructed narrative greatly enhances clarity and influence in professional communication.

Finally, Kimberly Hendrick celebrates user stories as a catalyst for meaningful dialogue rather than mere task descriptors. At the same time, Ari Tikka critiques the unscientific “Team Performance Curve” in “The Wisdom of Teams” by Katzenbach and Smith, advocating for emphasizing organizational conditions over “teamyness” for enhanced team performance. Johanna Rothman proposes reducing Work in Progress (WIP) and increasing team size to improve collaboration and efficiency, evolving them into small-world networks for better results. Lastly, Marc Randolph reflects on Netflix’s trust-centric approach during its DVD-by-mail era, illustrating how trust, balanced with verification, fortified customer relations.