Food for Agile Thought #233: Staying Calm in Charged Situations, Organizational Silos, WFH Quality Time, Escaping The Build Trap

TL; DR: Organizational Silos, Staying Calm—Food for Agile Thought #233

Welcome to the 233rd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 25,738 peers. This week, we delve into mental models that support decision making in heated situations; we examine how organizational silos emerge and how to take a shot at them, and we embrace a comprehensive analysis of the ‘right’ size of a Scrum team.

We then applaud an epic book-club facilitation guide covering Melissa Perri’s ‘Escaping The Build Trap’ book; we get a better understanding of how we can turn WFH time into quality time from a product management perspective, and we tackle six common product leadership challenges.

Lastly, we take another step towards organizational agility by understanding the importance of multi-functional learning for your team members.

Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #232?

Food for Agile Thought #233: Staying Calm in Charged Situations, Organizational Silos, WFH Quality Time, Escaping The Build Trap

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

🏆 The Tip of the Week

Shane Parrish (via Farnam Street): Using Models to Stay Calm in Charged Situations

Shane Parrish shares various mental models to support us in making the right decisions in controversial situations.

Agile, Organizational Silos & Scrum

Len Lagestee: How Organizational Silos Form

Len Lagestee gets to the bottom of what organizational silos are, how they form, and how to remove them.

Ilia Pavlichenko (via Scrum.org): Multi-Functional Learning is the Heart of Agility

Ilia Pavlichenko points at why the development of multi-functional specialists within your teams is the route to organizational agility.

Mark Levison: What is the Recommended Scrum Team Size?

Mark Levison explores the research and shares his personal experiences about a practical Scrum team size.

📅 Remote Agile: Live Virtual Class on March 26, 2020: Tips, Tricks & Tools for Scrum Masters & Agile Coaches

Agile has always been about colocation, about direct communication, physical boards, and all the other haptic and analog moments to create value in the digital realm. For the first time, though, with the SARS-CoV-2 causing havoc in our communities resulting in the work-from-home trend, this mental model is challenged, and remote Agile becomes a contender. To ease the entry into this new world, the webinar “Remote Agile” addresses tips, tricks, and tools for Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, and Product Owners on how to facilitate agile events effectively.

This live virtual class will be in English, and you can book your seat right here:

Terms and conditions apply.

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

Learn more: 📅 Remote Agile: Tips, Tricks & Tools for Scrum Masters & Agile Coaches — Webinar, March 19, 2020, 4-6 pm CET.

Product & Lean

Marty Cagan: Working From Home

Marty Cagan shares ten suggestions on how to use #WFH to find quality time for the most essential yet most time-consuming aspects of a product manager’s job.

Viktor Cessan: Escaping The Build Trap – Book Club Facilitation Guide

This is another epic contribution from Viktor Cessan—a complete guide to Melissa Perri’s ‘Escaping The Build Trap’ book.

Roman Pichler: How to Overcome 6 Key Product Leadership Challenges

Roman Pichler advises on how product managers and Product Owners can address and overcome six leadership challenges from lacking transactional power to guiding self-organizing teams.

📯 Development Team Anti-Patterns

After covering the Scrum Master and the Product Owner, this article addresses Development Team anti-patterns, covering all Scrum Events as well as the Product Backlog artifact. Learn more about what to look out for if you want to support your fellow teammates.

Development Team Anti-Patterns — Age-of-Product.com

Read more: Development Team Anti-Patterns.

📅 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
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 2-30, 2024 GUARANTEED: Product Backlog Management Cohort Class (English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €499 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 9, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #60: A Q&A on Dynamic Reteaming with Heidi Helfand (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 April 10-11, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 23-24, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Master (Advanced) Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 7, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Training (PSFS; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 7, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #61: Toyota Kata Coaching for Agile Teams & Transformations with Fortune Buchholtz (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 🇩🇪 May 14-15, 2024 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 May 28-29, 2024 Professional Scrum Master (Advanced) Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 June 6, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #62: From Backlog Manager to Product Manager: From Outputs to Outcomes w/ David Pereira (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 🇩🇪 June 25-26, 2024 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT

See all upcoming classes here. 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.


Download the ’Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide’ for Free — Age-of-Product.com

📺 Join 1,975-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

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

✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Organizational Silos: Join the 7,000-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 #232: Agile’s Demise, Big Scale Digital Transformations, Data-Drivenness Perils, Ultimate Testing Framework.

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