TL; DR: Scrum History, State of PM 2021 Report — Food for Agile Thought #274
Welcome to the 274th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 29,681 peers. This week, we delve into Scrum history, and we enjoy an interview with Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber on the changes of the Scrum Guide 2020 and what motivated them. Also, we dissect the dilemma surrounding the estimation process.
We then enjoy the results of two product management related surveys; we discuss user stories, tasks, and features in disguise to release more value sooner, and we learn from Martin Eriksson’s decision stack.
Lastly, we welcome John Cutler’s comprehensive checklist to support decision-making at a high-quality level, maintaining the decision flow. Speaking of decision-making, you may be interested in the ‘Six Thinking Hats’ tool as well. (That’s right, there is a tool section now.)
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🏆 The Tip of the Week
and (via InfoQ): Changes in the 2020 Scrum Guide: Q&A with Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland
In this interview, Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber delve into the changes of the Scrum Guide 2020 and what motivated them.
➰ Agile & Scrum History
: 📖 Scrum: A Brief History of a Long-Lived Hype
In this paper, Gunther Verheyen describes what changed to the definition and representation of Scrum over time.
: Accurate Estimations
Cam Hashemi dissects the dilemma surrounding the estimation process.
: 📖 Checklist for High Decision Quality / Decision Flow
John Cutler created a comprehensive checklist to support decision-making at a high-quality level, maintaining the decision flow.
: 2020 Scrum Guide Definition of “Increment” Inadequately Addresses Knowledge-Acquisition Work
Ken Rubin believes that the new name for the ‘potentially releasable Product Increment’ and its formal definition in the Scrum Guide 2020 does not fully address the breadth of work types.
🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — January 26-29, 2021
This guaranteed advanced Scrum Master training (PSM II) by Berlin Product People is an official Scrum.org class for advanced Scrum Masters, including the industry-acknowledged PSM II certification. The PSM II 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: 📅 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — January 26-29, 2021.
🎯 Product
(via ProductPlan): 📖 The State of Product Management Report in 2021
ProductPlan published the ‘2021 State of Product Management Report’ based on a survey of more than 2,200 product management professionals.
: A comprehensive survey of Product Management
What skills do companies look for in a PM? In this second product management survey, Lenny Rachitsky shares the findings from 1,000 responses from over 600 companies.
(via InfoQ): 📺 User Stories: Re-Explained – You Think You Know until You Realise You Don't
Antony Marcano discusses using User Stories, tasks, and features in disguise to release more value sooner, with more flexibility, and without dependencies.
(via Mind The Product): 📺 The Product Decision Stack
Martin Eriksson shares the decision stack from a vision to principles that served him well in the past.
🛠 Tools
(via TastyCupcakes.org): Piggy Bank Scrum Simulation in Remote
In this game, Paul Stonehouse uses the Coin game's foundations, adds a twist with coins of different values, and the Scrum framework for actions.
: Six Thinking Hats: Look at a decision from different perspectives
Edward de Bono created a decision-making tool that analyzes situations through different lenses, thus preventing you from overlooking essential aspects.
📯 Scrum 2021: Getting You Started as Scrum Master or Product Owner
As 2020 comes to an end, you are probably considering how to further your career as a Scrum Master or Product Owner in 2021.
Maybe, I can support you in that regard with a set of six articles that proved to be the most popular in 2020. They range from Product Owner and Scrum Master interview questions to a variety of Scrum anti-patterns and how to deal with them to the Scrum Guide Reordered 2020, the easiest way to understand patterns and concepts of the new Scrum Guide 2020. All articles feature free ebooks that delve into the problems and provide hands-on advice on how to solve them. Good luck with Scrum in 2021!
👉 Learn more: Scrum 2021: Getting You Started as Scrum Master or Product Owner.
📅 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 2,600-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 XYZ: Join the 9,000-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.