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Food for Agile Thought #203: Zombie Scrum, Black Mirror Ethics, Apex Predators in Agile, How to Product Update

Food for Agile Thought’s issue #203—shared with 23,236 peers—revisits the case for a combined top-down, bottom-up approach to agile transformations; we learn how to identify and deal with Zombie Scrum, and we consider the usefulness of making a Development Team member also the Scrum Master.

We then address how to communicate product changes to customers in a way that they will not freak out; we go Black Mirror with ethic tests, and we consider how to communicate as a product mensch with engineers without making them freak out either.

Lastly, we ask whether it is futile to resist the slow but steady assimilation of coaches into an organization’s culture?

Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #202?

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🏆 The Essential Read

Michiel van Gerven (via Organize Agile): Why true agile transformation requires apex predators

Michiel van Gerven chooses a great metaphor to stress the importance of a combined top-down and bottom-up approach to make agile transformations work.

Agile & Zombie Scrum

Mia Horrigan (via Zen Ex Machina): How to survive the Zombie Scrum Apocalypse

Mia Horrigan shares her slides from the Lean-Agile Systems Thinking (LAST) Conference on symptoms of Zombie Scrum and how to fight it.

Bob Galen: The Trap of being an Embedded Agile Coach

Bob Galen analyzes the options of avoiding being assimilated by an organization’s culture.

The Travel Chica: Can a Development Team Member also be the Scrum Master?

Fellow PST Stephanie Ockerman reflects on the combination of Scrum roles in one individual and its usefulness.

📅 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I + Liberating Structures — Berlin, September 17-19, 2019

This extended PSM class adds a third day to the Professional Scrum Master training that focuses on the application of Liberating Structures to Scrum Events such as the Sprint Retrospective or the Sprint Review to apply the PSM training immediately to practical problems.

Learn more: 📅 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I + Liberating Structures — Berlin, September 17-19, 2019.

Product & Lean

Jason Evanish: How to Write Product Updates that Delight Customers & Reduce Churn

Jason Evanish shares his approach on how to communicate product changes properly to customers.

Roisi Proven (via Mind The Product): 🎙 The Black Mirror Test

In this podcast, Roisi Proven shares how to put product decisions through a rigorous ethics test, modeled after the TV show.

Hadrien Raffalli (via Pivotal): The Art of Interrupting Software Engineers

Hadrien Raffalli introduces his routine to facilitate conversations with the engineers he works with regularly.

📅 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 28-31, 2025 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Feburary 4-6, 2025 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile 2025: From Concept-Based to Context-Based Agility (English) Live Virtual Conference FREE
🖥 🇬🇧 February 12-13, 2025 Professional Scrum Master Advanced Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 February 27, 2025 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class (PSFS; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 March 6-April3, 2025 GUARANTEED: Align, Discover, Deliver: The Product Backlog Management Cohort Class (English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Cohort €499 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 March 11-12, 2025 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 March 26-27, 2025 Professional Scrum Master Advanced Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 April 10, 2025 Professional Product Discovery and Validation Class (PPDV; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 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.


📺 Join 1,550-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

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✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Zombie Scrum: Join the 5,775-plus Strong ‘Hands-on Agile’ Slack Community

I invite you to join the “Hands-on Agile” Slack Community and enjoy the benefits of a fast-growing, vibrant community of agile practitioners from around the world.

If you like to join all you have to do now is provide your credentials via this Google form, and I will sign you up. By the way, it’s free.

🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #202: Cognitive Biases, Agile Around the Globe, ProductOps, Metrics of Innovation.

Categories: News
Stefan Wolpers: Stefan, based near Hamburg, Germany, has worked for 18-plus years as a Product Manager, Product Owner, Agile Coach, and Scrum Master. He is a Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) with Scrum.org and the author of Pearson’s “Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide.” He has developed B2C as well as B2B software, for startups as well as corporations, including a former Google subsidiary. Stefan curates the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and organizes the Hands-on Agile Conference, a Barcamp for agile practitioners.
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