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Food for Agile Thought #229: Traumatic Agile, Measuring Transformations, Experiments at Pinterest, Absurd Design Sprints

TL; DR: Traumatic Agile, Absurd Design Sprints—Food for Agile Thought #229

Welcome to the 229th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 25,103 peers. This week, we ask whether ‘Agile’ is a reactionary movement; we delve into suitable metrics for experiments, and we learn from a bank how to become agile with 20-plus teams.

We also learn how Pinterest keeps ideas for experiments coming. Speaking of which, we gain insight into suitable experiments at Slack, and we reconsider the usefulness of Design Sprints.

Lastly, we finally have a reference to answer the obvious question: Does Google use Scrum?

Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #228?

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🏆 The Tip of the Week

Dorian Taylor: Agile as Trauma

Dorian Taylor wants to heal ‘Agile’ as he believes it is still a tactical, technical, and ultimately reactionary movement.

Traumatic Agile & Scrum

Andy Cleff (via Agile Velocity): Metrics in Agile: How to Effectively Measure Transformation

Andy Cleff explores healthy ways to use metrics to gain relevant insights into the outcomes of experiments.

Cesario Ramos (via AgiliX Agile Consulting): Large Dutch Bank: Our Journey Towards Agility at Scale

Cesario Ramos shares a detailed case study from a significant agile transformation, based on LeSS principles.

(via SmHarter): How large successful companies achieve agility at scale

SMHarter takes a look at how FANG companies become agile at scale.

📅 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM II — Berlin, March 24-25, 2020

This advanced Scrum Master training (PSM II) by Berlin Product People is a 2-day official Scrum.org class for advanced Scrum Masters, including the industry-acknowledged PSM II certification. This PSM training class will be offered in English. You can book your seat directly:

Terms and conditions apply.

Looking for a different date? Back to the training schedule for the Advanced Scrum Master Training (PSM II).

Learn more: 📅 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM II — Berlin, March 24-25, 2020.

Product & Lean

John Egan: How Pinterest Supercharged its Growth Team With Experiment Idea Review

In this article, Jeff Chang and John Egan detail how Pinterest expects everyone to contribute quality experiment ideas.

Fareed Mosavat (via Reforge): Good Experiment, Bad Experiment

Fareed Mosavat shares his lessons learned on experiments, Ben Horowitz style.

Jeff Davidson (via The Startup): Design Sprints are Absurd

Jeff Davidson has had enough and wants us to drop Google Ventures’ brainchild.

📯 Agile Movers & Shakers (4): Dave West, CEO of Scrum.org

Welcome to the Agile Movers & Shakers interview series. Today’s guest is Dave West, who is the Product Owner and CEO at Scrum.org.

Read more: Agile Movers & Shakers (4): Dave West, CEO of 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
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 November 21, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class (PSFS; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 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

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 1,900-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

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✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Traumatic Agile: Join the 6,775-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 #228: Asking Good Questions, Product Catastrophes, Agile’s Cognitive Science, Trade-offs & Debts.

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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