TL; DR: Large Scale Agility, Silos & Politics — Food for Agile Thought #248
Welcome to the 248th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 26,751 peers. This week, we learn to assess agile coaches regarding their competence for large scale agility; we integrate chaos into the organization, and we have a look at 32 Jira competitors.
We then come back to product work beyond the product-market fit threshold; we learn how to use cohort analysis to forecast revenue, and we listen to the maestro of innovation: Is it an art form or a craft?
Lastly, we are grateful for Ryan Dawson and Laura Edwards shedding some light on an unpleasant topic: silos, local optimization, and politics.
TL; DR: Agile 101, Inspecting and Adapting Agility — Food for Agile Thought #247
Welcome to the 247th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 26,724 peers. This week, we unearth a great introductory video for stakeholders, the Agile 101. In the light of the pandemic, we inspect and adapt the principles of agile management, and we learn about the importance of no longer giving in to a need: tell people what to do or hand them solutions.
We also think about how to influence others without having any real authority, a handy trick for every product mensch. We try to understand why some people can regularly create product success and follow the difference between an MVP and a prototype.
Lastly, we thank Hugo Bowne-Anderson for pointing at something not immediately obvious: an adverse outcome doesn’t mean a wrong decision.
TL; DR: Reliable Predictions, Well-Done Discovery — Food for Agile Thought #246
Welcome to the 246th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 26,711 peers. This week, we dissect reliable predictions; we explore a new Retrospective template to analyze year-long projects, and we warm up to the idea that visual thinking makes us better coaches.
We then learn how to measure and guide our product discovery efforts; we stop believing that prioritization needs to be based on value, and we get our hands on customer-retention statistics.
Lastly, we are grateful for a new framework that makes psychological safety in the workplace more tangible.
TL; DR: Agile Well-Done, Fired by an Agile Team — Food for Agile Thought #245
Welcome to the 245th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 26,683 peers. This week, we learn about eight signs that indicate Agile well-done and how to organize a Gemba walk. Moreover, we also ask: can self-organizing teams fire teammates themselves?
We then delve into stakeholder alignment as well as eight ways to get your Product Backlog into shape without looking like an Excel sheet. We also discover hidden fears that might drive product management sub-consciously more that we want to admit.
Lastly, we come back once more to critical components of an agile friendly culture.
TL; DR: Agile’s State 2020, Tech Radar 2020 — Food for Agile Thought #244
Welcome to the 244th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 26,621 peers. This week, we learn more about Agile’s State 2020; we explore the latest technology trends and dig into the performance and happiness surveys of remote workers.
We also compare three frameworks for strategic alignment; we consider a suggestion on how to design a product organization and come back to product requirements.
Lastly, we applaud Cal Newport for suggesting how to fix the numerous issues of remote work for newly distributed organizations.
TL; DR: Agile Training Wheels, Adoption & Maturity—Food for Agile Thought #243
Welcome to the 243rd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 26,567 peers. This week, we make the case to get the agile training wheels off; we deal with an example of widespread confusion among experienced agilists, and we approve of a comprehensive list of remote team building activities.
We also delve into the nasty evolution of tricky user interfaces; we come back to envisioning the (product) future, resulting probably in feature factories, and we deal with the need for delegation.
Lastly, we get to the bottom of Zoom fatigue and how we can compensate for the effect.
