TL; DR: Spotify Model Fallacy, Remote Discovery—Food for Agile Thought #239
Welcome to the 239th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 26,242 peers. This week, we point again at the Spotify Model fallacy; we understand the importance of empowered engineers to break out of the feature factory paradigm, and we put the org chart into the spotlight, the gateway to realizing change.
We also learn how to continue our product discovery efforts in today’s world of virtual communication; we look at the roots of innovation, and we are relieved that design sprints are open again for business—with a remote working guide from the maestro himself.
Lastly, we embrace an epic list of remote working resources, courtesy of InfoQ.
Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #238?
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🏆 The Tip of the Week: Spotify Model Fallacy
: Failed #SquadGoals: Spotify doesn’t use “the Spotify model” and neither should you.
Jeremiah Lee looks back at his time at Spotify and analyzes why the Spotify squad model ultimately failed Spotify.
Agile & Scrum
(via InfoQ): Working Remotely: Good Practices and Useful Resources
Shane Hastie and Charles Humble aggregated a treasure trove of remote working good practices and resources.
: The Most Important Thing
Marty Cagan picks the one thing to change a team’s way of working — the one which the most significant lever.
and (via epicpeople): The Org Chart as Political Map-Making
Jasmine Chia and Sam Hagen analyze the nature of org charts, a critical structural element for any change agent.
📅 🖥 Online Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I: May 25-28, 2020
This guaranteed online Professional Scrum Master training is an official Scrum.org class that leads to and includes the industry-recognized PSM I certification. The training is designed as a live virtual class of 4 hours per day and will be offered in German.
Additional services for this online Professional Scrum Master training:
- Part of this virtual PSM training is also the free participation in the Distributed Agile Masterclass for Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and agile coaches by appointment.
- On request and for an additional charge of € 299 incl. 19% VAT, it is also possible to take part in a classic PSM training class.
Learn more: 📅 🖥 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Online: May 25-28, 2020.
Product & Lean
(via Mind The Product): 🎙 Remote Discovery
In this podcast, Teresa Torres shares how to make sure that you continue incorporating discovery into your practice.
(via Farnam Street): Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: The Key to Innovation
Shane Parrish delves into innovation, from the not-invented-here syndrome to stealing ideas to Shakespeare.
: The Remote Design Sprint Guide
Jake Knapp provides a step-by-step manual to organize design sprints with distributed teams in a virtual setting.
📯 Remote Agile (Part 6): Sprint Planning with Distributed Teams
We started this series on remote agile with looking into practices and tools, followed by exploring virtual Liberating Structures, and how to master Zoom. We had a look at common remote agile anti-patterns, and we analyzed remote Retrospectives based on Liberating Structures. This sixth article now dives into organizing a remote Sprint Planning with a distributed team: practices, virtual Liberating Structures, and lessons learned.
Read more: Remote Agile (Part 6): Sprint Planning with Distributed 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 29 to February 19, 2026 | Guaranteed: AI for Agile BootCamp #5 (English; Live Virtual Cohort)A | Live Virtual Cohort | €499 incl. 19% VAT |
| 🖥 🇩🇪 February 10-11, 2026 | Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) | Live Virtual Class | €1,299 incl. 19% VAT |
| 🖥 🇬🇧 March 10-11, 2026 | Professional Scrum Master—Advanced Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) | Live Virtual Class | €1,299 incl. 19% VAT |
| 🖥 🇩🇪 March 24-25, 2026 | Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; 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 2,150-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel:
- 🆕 Remote Agile (1) Replay: Practices and Tools for Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, and Product Owners.
- Scrum Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns.
- Scrum Master Anti-Patterns.
✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about the Spotify Model Fallacy: Join the 7,475-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.
