Food for Agile Thought #267: Psychopaths and Narcissists, Get Your Brain Back, Paradoxes of Product Management, Experiment Pitfalls

TL; DR: Psychopaths and Narcissists, Get Your Brain Back — Food for Agile Thought #267

Welcome to the 267th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 27,937 peers. This week, we learn how to deal with psychopaths and narcissists as a change agent; we move away from command & control to bring back creativity, and we figure out how agile contracting with customers works at an agency.

We then address eighteen product management paradoxes; we learn about eight avoidable mistakes when running experiments, and we get an overview of the results of a recent survey on OKRs and how organizations apply them in practice.

Lastly, we enjoy listening to Mary and Tom Poppendieck, sharing their thoughts on Lean as “a way of thinking that values people.”

Food for Agile Thought #267: Psychopaths and Narcissists, Get Your Brain Back, Paradoxes of Product Management, Experiment Pitfalls — Age-of-Product.com

Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #266?

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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

Erich Bühler (via InfoQ): Dealing with Psychopaths and Narcissists during Agile Change

Erich Bühler reflects on 20 years of working as a change consultant with difficult people.

Agile & Scrum

Chuck Blakeman (via Corporate Rebels): Giving Everybody Their Brain Back

Chuck Blakeman suggests moving from command & control to ‘Two-Step Decision-making,‘ thus bringing back creativity.

Ben Linders (via InfoQ): Value vs Time: an Agile Contract Model

Ben Linders interviews Andrea Zomer on how agile contracting with customers works at his agency Zupit.

Mark Graban and Mary Poppendieck: 🎙 Mary and Tom Poppendieck on #Lean Software & More

In this podcast, Mary and Tom Poppendieck share their thoughts on Lean as “a way of thinking that values people.”

📅 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Online: December 15-18, 2020

This guaranteed 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.

📅 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Online: December 15-18, 2020 — Berlin Product People GmbH

Learn more: 📅 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Online: December 15-18, 2020.

Product & Lean

Ant Murphy (via Product Coalition): Paradoxes of Product Management

Ant Murphy points at eighteen PM paradoxes, from good enough to SME vs. Jack-of-all-trades to failure.

(via Strategyzer): The Most Common Experiment Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Learned the hard way, Lucy Luo lists eight avoidable mistakes when running experiments.

Imogen Johnson (via Mind The Product): How Real Product Teams Make OKRs work: Survey Results

Imogen Johnson provides an overview of the results of a recent survey on OKRs and how organizations apply them in practice.

📯 20 Questions from New Scrum Master to the Development Team

From Scrum Master to Development Team members, this set of questions addresses the foundations of a Scrum Team capability to build valuable products: technical excellence and what it takes to achieve this proficiency level. The questions have been modeled after some basic principles that high performing teams have in common—from keeping technical debt at bay to collaboratively creating a Product Backlog.

Download a printable template for your convenience.

20 Questions from New Scrum Master to the Development Team — Age-of-Product.com

Learn more: 20 Questions from New Scrum Master to the Development Team.

📅 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
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 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
🖥 🇬🇧 February 27, 2025 Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class (PSFS; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 March 6-April3, 2025 Align, Discover, Deliver: The Product Backlog Management Cohort Class (English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Cohort €499 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 March 11-12, 2025 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 March 26-27, 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 Remote Agile Guide for Free — Age-of-Product.com

📺 Join 2,500-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

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

✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Psychopaths and how to Get Your Brain Back: Join the 8,500-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.

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

🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #266: Popular Component Teams, Team Morale in WFH Times, Roadmaps Are Dead, Experimentation at Spotify.

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