TL; DR: Kiss Dual Track Agile Good-Bye? — Food for Agile Thought #260
Welcome to the 260th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 27,261 peers. This week, we ask: Is it time to kiss Dual Track Agile good-bye? We also learn about the experience of a large insurance company with a cross-functional product-team and brush up our understanding of a nasty cognitive bias that makes collaboration less effective.
We then listen to Shazam’s founder on lessons learned on the path to product/market fit; we pick up a few good suggestions regarding Product Backlog management, and we understand why Basecamp does not use product roadmaps.
Lastly, we enjoy an interview with Reed Hastings on the roots of Netflix’s culture.
Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #259?
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🏆 The Tip of the Week
and (via Freakonomics): What if Your Company Had No Rules?
A Jazz band, not an orchestra: Maria Konnikova interviews Reed Hastings on his new book ‘No Rules Rules’—Netflix’s origin story.
Scrum & Kiss Dual Track Agile Good-Bye?
(via Medium): Time to say goodbye to Dual Track Agile?
Alex Ballarín advocates for integrating both components of dual-track Agile into the same Sprint.
(via McKinsey & Company): Scaling agility: A new operating model for insurers
McKinsey reports on what happens when a large European insurance company asked a cross-functional agile team to launch a new digital insurance product suite.
(via TechTello): Fundamental Attribution Error: Don’t Be Quick To Judge Your Team Members
Vinita Bansal elaborates on a fundamental cognitive bias with far-reaching consequences for our everyday lives.
📅 🖥 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training — Online: September 29 to October 2, 2020
This Professional Scrum Product Owner training is an official Scrum.org class that leads to and includes the industry-recognized PSPO I certification. The PSPO training class is designed as a live virtual class of 4 h per day from 9 to 13 o’clock CEST and will be offered in English.
Learn more: 📅 🖥 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training — Online: September 29 to October 2, 2020.
Product & Lean
(via Mind The Product): 📺 [Nailing Product/Market Fit
Shazam founder Chris Barton recounts the music recognition app’s successful quest for the Holy Grail: Product/Market Fit.
: Options, Not Roadmaps
Ryan Singer explains why Basecamp does not use product roadmaps.
(via Parabol Focus): 7 Product Backlog Tips to Make Work Flow
Despite labeling them as ‘best practices,’ the list itself is useful.
📖 Free Ebook: 47 Scrum Master Interview Questions to Avoid Imposters
Scrum has proven time and again to be the most popular framework for software development. Given that software is eating the world, a seasoned Scrum Master is nowadays in high demand. And that demand causes the market-entry of new professionals from other project management branches, probably believing that reading one or two Scrum books will be sufficient. Which makes any Scrum Master interview a challenging task.
If you are looking to fill a position for a Scrum Master (or agile coach) in your organization, you may find the following 47 interview questions useful to identify the right candidate. They are derived from my fourteen years of practical experience with XP as well as Scrum, serving both as Product Owner and Scrum Master as well as interviewing dozens of Scrum Master candidates on behalf of my clients.
So far, this Scrum Master interview guide has been downloaded more than 17,000 times.
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📅 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:
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 2,450-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 Dual Track Agile: Join the 8,250-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.