Food for Agile Thought’s issue #197—shared with 22,468 peers—delves into agile decision making when there is no apparent right answer; we are inspired by a saboteur’s manual to check our projects for similar indications and we go back to a classic on agility from 1972. (Yes, there is life before the Manifesto.)
We also learn about the opportunities that a recent pre-packaged management fad bears for UX folks; we check a flowchart on product prioritization, and we get a better understanding on what companies believe product managers do all day.
Lastly, we applaud Marty Cagan on yet another encouraging video on the challenges product menschen face every.
Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #196?
🏆 The Essential Read
(via Mind The Product): 📺 Product is Hard
Marty Cagan reflects on why Agile and Lean won’t solve all your problems and to how to get your product right anyway.
Agile Decision Making & Scrum
(via Doist): Principles for Decision-Making in a Flat Organization
Roman Imankulov shares his experience on agile decision making: How to decide with a group of people when there is no obvious right answer.
We don’t try to reach consensus […] as an end in itself. We use consensus-building as a tool to get to the best technical (and sometimes procedural) outcome when we make decisions.
: The Happy Project Saboteur
Kai Gilb provides an intuitive list of means, approaches, and mental models on how to kill any project.
(via Harvard Business Review): Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow
Another proof that ‘Agile’ is not a new concept—see phase 5—without even mentioning the term: an article by Larry E. Greiner from 1972, republished in 1998 as a ‘classic.’
📅 Scrum Training & Event Schedule
You can secure your seat for Scrum training classes, workshops, and meetups directly by following the corresponding link in the table below:
| Date | Class and Language | City | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 January 29 to February 19, 2026 | Guaranteed: AI for Agile BootCamp #5 (English; Live Virtual Cohort)A | Live Virtual Cohort | €499 incl. 19% VAT |
| 🖥 🇩🇪 February 10-11, 2026 | Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) | Live Virtual Class | €1,299 incl. 19% VAT |
| 🖥 🇬🇧 March 10-11, 2026 | Professional Scrum Master—Advanced Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) | Live Virtual Class | €1,299 incl. 19% VAT |
| 🖥 🇩🇪 March 24-25, 2026 | Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) | Live Virtual Class | €1,299 incl. 19% VAT |
You can book your seat for the training directly by following the corresponding links to the ticket shop. If the procurement process of your organization requires a different purchasing process, please contact Berlin Product People GmbH directly.
Product & Lean
(via Medium): Customer Centricity — The Management Fad We Can Hop On
Jared Spool believes that customer centricity opens the door for UX leaders to promote and spread critical UX strategies.
(via ProductCraft): Flowchart: Should We Build This Feature?
Christine Itwaru created a decision support model to help with answering the old question: shall we build it?
(via Product Habits): How 51 leading tech teams define the Product Manager role
Product Habits analyzed 51 job postings from tech companies in Silicon Valley for what tasks companies are hiring product managers.
📺 Join 1,450-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
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