TL; DR: Awesome Remote Teams, Agile Iron Triangle — Food for Agile Thought #272
Welcome to the 272nd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 28,937 peers. This week, we embrace a set of lessons learned, tools, and practices for awesome remote teams. We also address the necessary buy-in to an agile transformation’s underlying philosophy, and we revisit the once-popular project management tool that still might be beneficial in the age of agility.
We then analyze the difference between product management and Product Ownership; we identify product-driven companies’ cultural principles, and we reflect on why so many product teams end up in the feature factory.
Lastly, we delve into the ‘one-[framework]-fits-all’ myth of agile transformation approaches.
Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #271?
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🏆 The Tip of the Week: Awesome Remote Teams
: Your Remote Team Actually Can Be Awesome
Richard Kasperowski shares an excellent set of lessons learned, tools, and practices for distributed teams—ignore at your peril.
Agile & Scrum
: Invest in Agility
James Shore shares another chapter of his upcoming book ‘The Art of Agile Development, Second Edition.’ This chapter addresses the necessary buy-in to an agile transformation’s underlying philosophy.
(via UX Collective): The iron triangle and Agile
Raj Nagappan revisits the once-popular project management tool that still might be beneficial in the age of agility.
(via Business Agility Institute): Fit-for-Purpose Agility: There Is No ‘One True Agile’
Eric Willeke tackles the ‘one-[framework]-fits-all’ myth of agile transformation approaches.
📅 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 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
(via InfoQ): The Complexity of Product Management and Product Ownership
Douglas Talbot analyzes the difference between product management and Product Ownership.
(via UX Collective): Culture in high-performing product organizations
Afonso Franco identifies the cultural principles of product-driven companies.
: The Curse of "Success" Metrics
John Cutler reflects on why so many product teams end up in the feature factory.
📯 58 Product Owner Theses
The following 58 Product Owner theses describe the PO role from a holistic product creation perspective.
They cover the concept of the Product Owner role, product discovery, how to deal with external and internal stakeholders, product portfolio and product roadmap planning, and the Product Backlog refinement. The Product Owner theses also address the Product Owner’s part in Scrum events from Sprint Planning to Sprint Review to Sprint Retrospective, and the Daily Scrum.
Learn more: 58 Product Owner Theses.
📅 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 February 3, 2026 | Guaranteed: Hands-on Agile #71: A3 Framework — Assist, Automate, Avoid — Let’s Build a Playbook! (English; Live Virtual Meetup) | Meetup | FREE |
| 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 February 10-11, 2026 | Guaranteed: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) | Live Virtual Class | €1,299 incl. 19% VAT |
| 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 February 19, 2026 | Guaranteed: Hands-on Agile #72: Become Your Organization's AI Champion: A Crowdsourced Playbook (English; Live Virtual Meetup) | Meetup | FREE |
| 🖥 🇬🇧 March 10-11, 2026 | Professional Scrum Master—Advanced Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) | Live Virtual Class | €1,299 incl. 19% VAT |
| 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 March 19 to April 16, 2026 | Guaranteed: AI4Agile BootCamp #6 (English; Live Virtual Cohort) | Live Virtual Cohort | €499 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 2,500-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel:
- 🆕 Scrum Guide 2020: Eight Remarkable Changes — Hands-on Agile #28.
- Remote Agile (1) Replay: Practices and Tools for Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, and Product Owners.
- Scrum Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns.
✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about Awesome Remote Teams: 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.
