Food for Agile Thought #240: Accurate Estimates, Remote Productivity, The Dark Side on Remote Agile, Handling Customer Requests

TL; DR: Accurate Estimates, Remote Productivity—Food for Agile Thought #240

Welcome to the 240th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 26,317 peers. This week, we revisit the fallacy of accurate estimates; we delve into a study revealing massive increases in the cycle and release time metrics of development teams since going remote, and we enjoy a view at a different world of agile testing and quality.

We also learn about product management by nagging; we tackle feature request handling, and we analyze the essence of a decent Sprint Goal.

Lastly, we check the latest recommendations of the Dark Side of Agile; this time, they can ensure the productivity of your now remote workers. (Won’t we all want to be that confident?)

Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #239?

Food for Agile Thought #240: Accurate Estimates, Remote Productivity, The Dark Side on Remote Agile, Handling Customer Requests — Age-of-Product.com

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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: Accurate Estimates

Rob Wortham: If Estimates Were Accurate, We'd Call Them Actuals

Rob Wortham goes back to an old-time favorite of the agile community—estimating and estimates.

Agile & Scrum

Ori Keren (via DZone): Productivity Data From 50 Dev Teams

Ori Keren presents survey data on the change in performance of 50 now remote development teams.

Michael Küsters: The defect funnel – systematically working towards high quality

Michael Küsters takes a look at the ideal world of agile testing and quality.

(via McKinsey & Company): Revisiting agile teams after an abrupt shift to remote

Low and Behold, the Dark Side is also competent about how to ‘ensure’ that your knowledge workers are ‘effective now that COVID-19 has forced them to work remotely.’

📅 🖥 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.
 🖥 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Online: May 25-28, 2020 — Berlin Product People GmbH

Learn more: 📅 🖥 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Online: May 25-28, 2020.

Product & Lean

Julie Zhuo: The Nag Metric: You got what you wanted… but at what cost?

As a product mensch, Julie Zhuo reflects on feeling pestered to do something, versus feeling free to make that choice.

Sean Sullivan: Tackling Enterprise Customer Requests

Sean Sullivan shares his approach on how to deal with “feature suggestions” from enterprise clients.

Christiaan Verwijs (via The Liberators): Examples Of Real Sprint Goals

Christiaan Verwijs analyzes how to create useful Sprint Goals.

📯 Remote Agile (Part 7): Sprint Review with Distributed Teams

We started this series on remote agile with looking into practices and tools; we explored virtual Liberating Structures, and how to master Zoom. We had a look at common remote agile anti-patterns, and we analyzed remote Retrospectives and Sprint Plannings based on Liberating Structures. This seventh article now looks into organizing a remote Sprint Review with a distributed team: How to practice the review with virtual Liberating Structures, including and giving a voice to team members, stakeholders, and customers.

Remote Sprint Review with Distributed Teams — Remote Agile (Part 7) — Age-of-Product.com

Read more: Remote Agile (Part 7): Sprint Review 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
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 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. 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

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✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Accurate Estimates: Join the 7,525-plus Strong ‘Hands-on Agile’ Slack Community

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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 #239: Spotify Model Fallacy, Empowered Engineers, Remote Discovery, Remote Design Sprint.

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