Food for Agile Thought #218: Alignment & Autonomy, Waterfall, Parkinson’s Law, Hypothesis Prioritization, UX Research in Agile

Food for Agile Thought’s issue #218—shared with 24,269 peers—delves into alignment and autonomy at an organizational level; we shed more light on something we all believe in understanding well — the waterfall process —, and we explore the necessary mindset to become a good coach.

We also learn more about an extension to the Lean UX canvas, handling the prioritization of hypotheses; we discover techniques to take agile UX research to the next level, and we applaud a new 2020 Product conference listing.

Lastly, we enjoy a BBC article on the man who brought you timeboxes. Well, sort of.

Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #217?

Food for Agile Thought #218: Alignment & Autonomy, Waterfall, Parkinson’s Law, Hypothesis Prioritization, UX Research in Agile

🗞 Do you want to get this article in your inbox in the future? You can sign up here for our weekly ‘Food of Agile Thought newsletter’ and join 29k other subscribers.

Scrum Guide 2020 — Download the new edition of the Scrum Guide Reordered — Age-of-Product.com

🏆 The Essential Post

Manuel Küblböck (via Medium): How we align our goals

Alignment: Manuel Küblböck analyzes how to become aligned as an organization yet still preserve autonomy.

Agile Alignment & Scrum

Martin Fowler: WaterfallProcess

Martin Fowler delves into ‘waterfall,’ starting with the Royce paper, and notes that its meaning would be ill-defined and its origin obscure.

(via BBC News): The ‘law’ that explains why you can't get anything done

Tiffanie Wen reflects on Cyril Northcote Parkinson’s essay from 1955 and what it has to do with deadlines, organizational debt, bureaucracy, and time-boxing.

“It is a commonplace observation that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”

Chris Jones (via svpg): The Coaching Mindset

Chris Jones looks at the necessary mindset of a coach to become a servant leader that has an impact.

📅 One Last Seat Available: Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Berlin, December 10-11, 2019

Join your peers for this hands-on Scrum Master training, including up to two attempts at the Professional Scrum Master® I certification by Scrum.org. Learn everything about empiricism, self-organization & the ‘Definition of Done’ in two energizing days in Berlin, Dec 10-11, 2019. The class language is German.

📅 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Berlin, December 10-11, 2019

Learn more: 📅 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Berlin, December 10-11, 2019.

Product & Lean

Jeff Gothelf: The Hypothesis Prioritization Canvas

Jeff Gothelf extents the Lean UX canvas to help facilitate a conversation with your team and stakeholders to determine which hypotheses will get your attention.

(via ThoughtWorks): Six tactics to maximize UX research in agile

Kuppy Tanaporn Benjapolakul shares her take on how to integrate user experience (UX) research in an agile work environment.

Teresa Torres: 2020 Product Conferences

Teresa Torres started aggregating her 2020 Product Conferences directory.

📯 15 Sprint Review Anti-Patterns Holding Back Scrum Teams

Are we still on the right track? Answering this question in a collaborative effort of the Scrum Team as well as internal (and external) stakeholders is the purpose of the Sprint Review. Given its importance, it is worthwhile to tackle the most common Sprint Review anti-patterns.

15 Sprint Review Anti-Patterns Holding Back Scrum Teams — Age-of-Product.com

Read more: 15 Sprint Review Anti-Patterns Holding Back Scrum Teams.

📅 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
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 December 10-11, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 December 12, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Product Discovery and Validation Class (PPDV; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 December 18-19, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Master Advanced Training (PSM II; English; 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
🖥 🇩🇪 January 28-31, 2025 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 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 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
Professional Scrum Training by PST Stefan Wolpers, Berlin  Product People

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.


Scrum Guide Reordered Free Download Age-of-Product.com

📺 Join 1,775-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel:

✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Alignment: Join the 6,300-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.

Large scale agile: Join the Hands-on Agile Slack Group

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.

Scrum Master Interview Question: free download of the most popular ebook on Scrum Master job interviews — by Age-of-Product

🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #217: Agile Playbooks, Sprint Length, Working w/ Finance, Journey to Product Teams.

Find this content useful? Share it with your friends!

Leave a reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.