X

Food for Agile Thought #220: Taylorism & Agile, Kick-Start Self-Organization, Product vs. Company Strategy, PM Time Allocation

TL; DR: Taylorism & Agile, Kick-Start Self-Organization — Food for Agile Thought #220

Food for Agile Thought’s issue #220—shared with 24,421 peers—asks whether Taylorism is probably less of a villain than often believed; we get back to the agile-industrial complex, and we appreciate a simple introduction on how to kick-start self-organization.

We then learn more about value propositions in niche markets; we can compare our activities as product managers with the results of a recent study, and we listen to a discussion on six critical ingredients for a great product strategy.

Lastly, we consider a heretic thought: might the benefit of team longevity be overrated?

Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #219?

🗞 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.

🏆 The Essential Post

Renee Troughton: Taylorism isn’t as far from Agile and Lean as you would think

Renee Troughton believes that Taylor’s Scientific Management is less of a villain that many agile folks believe,

📅 Agile Camp Berlin 2020 — We Are Back!

The Agile Camp Berlin 2020 will happen from April 17-18, 2020, at the Evangelische Schule Berlin Zentrum right in the center of Berlin.

We have already sold 40 percent of the available 200 tickets. You can secure yours right here:

Learn more: 📅 Agile Camp Berlin 2020 — We Are Back!

Agile & Scrum

Ron Jeffries: Advocating Against Advocating Against

Ron Jeffries points at that practices are devised, not just to solve a specific problem, but to make room for improvements.

Gustavo Razzetti (via Medium): How To Get Your Team Started With Self Organization

Gustavo Razzetti describes a roadmap to increase autonomy and to distribute authority in your organization.

Heidi Helfand (via The Agile Revolution): 🎙 [Episode 174: Dynamic Reteaming

Craig Smith interviews Heidi Helfand on why the best teams are not always the stable ones.

📅 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

Amancio Bouza (via Medium): Value Proposition Interface Canvas

Amancio Bouza shares an interesting extension to the value proposition canvas for a niche market: APIs.

(via ProductCraft): Tactical vs. Strategic: Where PMs Spend Time

Paul Young delves into the results of a recent study on what activities product managers allocate their attention.

Des Traynor (via Intercom): 🎙 The intersection of company and product strategy: six key ingredients for a great product strategy

Des Traynor and Paul Adams discuss six key ingredients for a great product strategy.

📯 Join more than 400 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.

>

Learn more: Agile Metrics Survey 2020.

📅 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 1,800-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

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

✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Taylorism: Join the 6,375-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 #219: Conflict Fear, Tough Conversations, Product Owner Stances, Skip MVPs.

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.
Related Post