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Food for Agile Thought #271: Remote Is Here to Stay, Pre-Mortems & Obstacles, Leaving the Feature Factory, OKR in Product Management

TL; DR: Pre-Mortems, Leaving the Feature Factory — Food for Agile Thought #271

Welcome to the 271st edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 28,708 peers. This week, we understand the advantages of pre-mortems to kick-off agile transformations; we discover learning obstacles rooted in entrenched ways of operating, and we appreciate the learnings from a long yet successful lean transformation.

We then learn about how quarterly process changes can unshackle a product team to realize its full potential; we check a system to apply objectives and key results (OKR) to product management, and we acknowledge common traps of validating product ideas, such as false positives.

Lastly, we dissect the consequences of remote work, ranging from the remote hype cycle, the risk of return, new physical and digital solutions, and the implications of remote and hybrid work.

Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #270?

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🏆 The Tip of the Week

Packy McCormick: We're Never Going Back

Packy McCormick dissects the—still underappreciated—consequences of remote work, from the remote hype cycle, the risk of return, new physical and digital solutions, and the implications of remote and hybrid work.

Agile & Scrum

Ayman Idris (via InfoQ): Kick-off Your Transformation by Imagining It Had Failed

Ayman Idris describes the advantages of pre-mortems, thus creating safety for everyone to point at potential risks in advance.

(via Planet Lean): 10 obstacles to a lean transformation

Terry O’Donoghue summarizes lessons learned during a years-long—and ultimately successful—transformation of the Halfway Group.

Barry O'Reilly: The Obstacles to Unlearning

Barry O'Reilly introduces his Cycle of Unlearning to help large corporations with entrenched ways of operating change.

📅 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 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.

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

Product

Andrew Jordan Miller (via UX Collective): Going from feature factory to continuous discovery in 1 year

Andrew Jordan Miller shares a success story of quarterly process changes to unshackle a product team and realize its potential.

Roman Pichler: OKRs in Product Management

Roman Pichler details a system of how to apply objectives and key results to product management.

Linda Z: Don’t ask customers about your idea

Linda Zhang shares common traps of validating product ideas, such as false positives.

Sarah Gibbons (via Nielsen Norman Group): The 6 Steps to Roadmapping

In this article, Sarah Gibbons covers six critical steps to creating roadmaps that you can apply to any scope or industry.

📯 Hiring: 71 Scrum Product Owner Interview Questions to Avoid Agile Imposters

If you are looking to fill a position for a Product Owner in your organization, you may find the following 71 interview questions useful to identify the right candidate.

Learn more: 71 Scrum Product Owner Interview Questions to Avoid Agile Imposters.

📅 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 28-31, 2025 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; 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
🖥 🇬🇧 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 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class (PSFS; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 March 6-April3, 2025 GUARANTEED: 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
🖥 🇩🇪 April 10, 2025 Professional Product Discovery and Validation Class (PPDV; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 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 2,500-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

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

✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Pre-Mortems: Join the 8,800-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.

🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #270: Productive Uncertainty, Conway’s Law and Org Design for Success, Agile’s Intangibles, WSJF Prioritization.

Categories: News
Stefan Wolpers: Stefan, based near Hamburg, Germany, has worked for 18-plus years as a Product Manager, Product Owner, Agile Coach, and Scrum Master. He is a Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) with Scrum.org and the author of Pearson’s “Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide.” He has developed B2C as well as B2B software, for startups as well as corporations, including a former Google subsidiary. Stefan curates the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and organizes the Hands-on Agile Conference, a Barcamp for agile practitioners.
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