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Food for Agile Thought #227: Agile Core Beliefs, Psychology of Feature Adoption, Agile Coaching Competencies, Design’s Unsexy Middle Bits

TL; DR: Agile Core Beliefs, Psychology of Feature Adoption—Food for Agile Thought #227

Welcome to the 227th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 25,021 peers. This week, we address agile core beliefs; we embrace the idea of a one-day Sprint, and we come back to agile coaching competencies.

We also learn how to move on as a product team, struggling with becoming data-informed; we explore cognitive biases in the adoption progress of new features, and we figure out how to speed up A/b tests without sacrificing accuracy.

Lastly, we appreciate the notion that we are not all designers—despite stickies, sharpie, and prototyping apps.

Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #226?

🗞 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 Tip of the Week

Christina Wodtke (via Medium): Design’s Unsexy Middle Bits

Christina Wodtke rejects the idea that we are all designers, triggered by Design Thinking’s popularity.

Agile Core Beliefs & Scrum

Geoff Goodhew (via The Startup): Thinking Agile: Core Beliefs

Geoff Goodhew explores the core beliefs that underlie Agile, from the Prime Directive to Kaizen to emergence.

Robert Pieper (via Scrum.org): 📺 What is the Best Sprint Length? Can a Scrum Sprint be Just One-Day Long?

In this short video, Robert Pieper advocates giving micro-Sprints a try by breaking down problems into micro-problems.

(via InfoQ): Lessons on the Competencies of Coaching from Spotify and ICAgile

Rafiq Gemmail summarizes the learnings from two watch worthy videos on agile coaching.

📅 Sponsor the Agile Camp Berlin, April 17-18, 2020

It is official: Agile Camp Berlin is sold out; 200 agile coaches, Scrum Masters, and Product Owners from 18 countries will meet in about 10 weeks at the Evangelische Schule Berlin Mitte.

These two energizing days in late April provide ample opportunity for companies and organizations that provide tools and services to meet with the movers and shakers of our industry.

While all the tickets are gone, there are still sponsoring opportunities available. So, don’t hesitate, download the ACB20 sponsoring brochure, and reach out to me.

Learn more: 📺 Watch last year’s sponsor feedback and download the ACB20 sponsoring brochure.

Product & Lean

John Cutler (via Amplitude): 50 Questions I Ask PMs About Data and Their Teams

John Cutler shares 50 useful conversation starters for teams who want to be more data-informed but struggle to get there.

Jonathan Senin (via Mind The Product): Overcoming Cognitive Biases That Reduce Feature Adoption

Jonathan Senin explores some of the users’ psychological reasons for rejecting your brand-new cool feature.

Oleg Yakubenkov: Why your A/B tests take longer than they should

Oleg Yakubenkov details how you can reduce the time required to get the signal on the change you are testing.

📯 20 Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns

Sprint Planning is a core event, defining how your customers’ lives will improve with the next Product Increment. Learn more on how to improve its effectiveness by avoiding 20 common Sprint Planning anti-patterns.

Read more: 20 Sprint Planning Anti-Patterns.

Diagram source: Scrum.org.

📅 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

See all upcoming classes here.

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 1,875-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

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✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Agile Core Beliefs: Join the 6,700-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 #226: Agile Coaching, Swarming, Backlog Bankruptcy, PM Sanity Test.

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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