Food for Agile Thought #219: Conflict Fear, Tough Conversations, Product Owner Stances, Skip MVPs

TL; DR: Conflict Fear, Tough Conversations — Food for Agile Thought #219

Food for Agile Thought’s issue #219—shared with 24,328 peers—focuses on how to handle tough conversations and overcome conflict fear. We also appreciate a team-building canvas based on core protocols.

We then educate ourselves on the different stances of the Product Owner role; we give skipping the minimum viable product a second thought, and we embrace one more time the benefits of transparency to build trust.

Lastly, we enjoy a short lesson from the trenches on how holacracy works.

Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #218?

Food for Agile Thought #219: Conflict Fear, Tough Conversations, Product Owner Stances, Skip MVPs

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

🏆 The Essential Post

Sandy Mamoli (via InfoQ): How I Tried Holacracy and Lived to Tell the Tale

Sandy Mamoli shares from her successes and failures in her team’s quest to create a self-organizing organization, what worked and what didn’t.

📯 Join more than 250 Peers and Participate in the Agile Metrics Survey 2020

Let’s stop guessing and start crowdsourcing data and information on this critical topic: Who is using what metrics under which context to what success? Participate in the agile metrics survey now.

Agile Metrics Survey 2020 — Age-of-Product.com

Learn more: Agile Metrics Survey 2020.

Agile & Scrum: Conflict Fear

Emily Ludolph (via 99u): 8 Ways to Flip Your Fear of Conflict

Emily Ludolph describes eight steps of how to stop being scared of disagreements and make them productive.

Len Lagestee: On Having the Tough Conversations

Len Lagestee shares a simple framework on how to prepare yourself — the coach — for the inevitable dreaded disputes to come.

Richard Kasperowski: Want an Awesome Team? Start With You.

Richard Kasperowski proposes the team transformation canvas—based on core protocols—to facilitate a fast individual and team boot-up.

📅 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I + Liberating Structures — Berlin, February 18-20, 2020

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. The class will be offered in English. You can book your ticket right here:

Learn more: 📅 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I + Liberating Structures — Berlin, February 18-20, 2020.

Product & Lean

(via Scrum.org): Stances of the Product Owner

Robbin Schuurman and Chris Lukassen created a new training class for Product Owners, detailing the path of becoming professional in their role.

John Maeda (via Fast Company): It’s time to stop designing “minimum viable products”

In this excerpt from his new book, John Maeda reveals how the increased customer expectation in new products came to be, probably leading to the demise of the MVP.

Ellen Gottesdiener: How to Make Product Decisions With Transparency and Trust

Ellen Gottesdiener points at the benefits product managers can create by creating transparency and trust with their 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
🖥 🇩🇪 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
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

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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.

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

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