TL; DR: Managing Complexity, Difficult People on Software Projects—Food for Agile Thought #280
Welcome to the 280th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,344 peers. This week, we discover almost 50 different personality types you may encounter on software teams while managing complexity; we have a personal view on what success to a Scrum Master means, and we learn about the key takeaways from a development team’s transition from Scrum to Basecamp’s Shape Up.
We then delve into research outlining characteristics of organizations and tasks best suited to Agile. We also talk about chasing innovation, why it needs to be sustainable and the risks of taking it too far, and we embrace a one-hour virtual pre-mortem workshop before our team is heading into a high-stakes project.
Lastly, we download the brand-new free field guide on how to deal with complexity and uncertainty—courtesy of the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and Cognitive Edge.
TL; DR: Agile Manifesto’s History, Amazon’s Invention Machine—Food for Agile Thought #279
Welcome to the 279th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,267 peers. This week, we look back 20 years at the origins of the Agile Manifesto, why they came together; we detail the difference between Agile vs. Scrum and typical ‘big mistakes,’ and we check a list of five ‘no’ that might come in handy in challenging discussions.
We then listen to insider tales from Amazon—from the need to slow down to innovate to focus on customers’ needs to build by working backward, and we discuss the first principles of continuous discovery. Moreover, we explain why tension and conflict are necessary, helpful parts of product management.
Lastly, we appreciate the release of the third annual State of User Research report.
TL; DR: Ethical Agile Coaching, Best Practice Cult—Food for Agile Thought #278
Welcome to the 278th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,189 peers. This week, we delve into ethical agile coaching; we investigate whether being agile is necessary but not sufficient for being lean, and we learn why best practices can be harmful and why we, nevertheless, like following them.
We then reveal a shocking truth: most great product teams follow a system that resembles Waterfall to launch new innovative features. We also look at how agile practices have influenced and changed product management since the publication of the Agile Manifesto, and we point at the answer to the question of what makes for a healthy product culture.
Lastly, we appreciate Dave Snowden’s reflection on the nature and challenges of organizational change, employing a mapping metaphor.
TL; DR: Scrum Product Goal, Psychological Safety—Food for Agile Thought #277
Welcome to the 277th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,112 peers. This week, we delve into the Scrum Product Goal, and we address what happens to psychological safety when the leadership opens the pressure valve like in the case of Boeing. Also, we enjoy an interview on how to build super-cohesive teams.
We then apply lessons learned from FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss to stakeholder management, and we are crossing the chasm with Geoffrey Moore: How do you drive innovation? Moreover, we explore defining objectives and key results for your product team.
Lastly, we appreciate a list of 76 prioritization frameworks, and we analyze the reasons for the fall of Kodak and what it means for product management.
TL; DR: Agile at Tesla, Roadmap Bankruptcy—Food for Agile Thought #276
Welcome to the 276th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,023 peers. This week, we delve into Agile at Tesla; we learn how Retrospectives work in the most unlikely places, and we embrace a new approach of risk-mitigating by utilizing the Product Backlog.
We then analyze what product managers can do to deliver more value with existing processes; we detail three cases that indicate that your product roadmap is not up to the job but in desperate need of a restart, and we point at three common mistakes when calculating customer lifetime value.
Lastly, we explore a simple visualization tool to help teams turn learnings into a better way of working, and we ask: Is SAFe® safe?
TL; DR: Bureaucratic Blunderland, Saying No—Food for Agile Thought #275
Welcome to the 275th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 29,852 peers. This week, we delve into the sheer variety of folly at play in any bureaucratic blunderland; we analyze different kinds of technical debt and how to best measure it, and we embrace a simple process to apply swarming as a team practice to solve critical challenges.
We then learn five practical tips to say no without offending senior or assertive stakeholders, and we enter a quest for magic metrics by ‘counting things that happened that you care about.’ We also check general product manager salary data based on January 2021.
Lastly, we examine a formula and a process that may allow us to figure out why things are less agile than hoped.
