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Food for Agile Thought #278: Ethical Agile Coaching, The Cult of Best Practice, ‘Dirty’ Secrets of Effective Product Teams, Measuring Product Success

TL; DR: Ethical Agile Coaching, Best Practice Cult—Food for Agile Thought #278

Welcome to the 278th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,189 peers. This week, we delve into ethical agile coaching; we investigate whether being agile is necessary but not sufficient for being lean, and we learn why best practices can be harmful and why we, nevertheless, like following them.

We then reveal a shocking truth: most great product teams follow a system that resembles Waterfall to launch new innovative features. We also look at how agile practices have influenced and changed product management since the publication of the Agile Manifesto, and we point at the answer to the question of what makes for a healthy product culture.

Lastly, we appreciate Dave Snowden’s reflection on the nature and challenges of organizational change, employing a mapping metaphor.

Did you miss previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #277?

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🏆 The Tip of the Week: Ethical Agile Coaching

Shane Hastie, Craig Smith and Ben Linders (via InfoQ): Draft Published of the Code of Ethical Conduct for Agile Coaching

The Agile Coaching Ethics Initiative has published a draft code of ethics that aims to raise agile coaching standards.

➿ Agile & Scrum Product Goal

Janna Bastow (via Mind The Product): You Can’t be Lean Unless You’re Agile

Janna Bastow claims that being agile is necessary but not sufficient for being lean.

Dominik Krejcik: The Cult of Best Practice

Dominik Krejcik dissects why best practices can be harmful and why we, nevertheless, like following them.

Dave Snowden (via Cognitive Edge): On organisational change

Dave Snowden reflects on the nature and challenges of organizational change, employing a mapping metaphor.

🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM I Certificate — March 2-5, 2021

This Professional Scrum Master training (PSM I) by Berlin Product People is an official Scrum.org PSM I class that leads to and includes the industry-recognized PSM I certification. The 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 Master Online Training w/ PSM I Certificate — March 2-5, 2021.

🎯 Product

Andy Johns and Matt Greenberg (via Reforge): Scaling Product Delivery: The ‘Dirty’ Secret of High Performing Product Teams

Andy Johns and Matt Greenberg reveal a shocking truth: most great product teams follow a system that resembles Waterfall to launch new innovative features or products repeatably.

Roman Pichler: How Agile Has Changed Product Management

Roman Pichler looks at how agile practices have influenced and changed product management since the publication of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development 20 years ago.

Ken Norton: What Makes A Strong Product Culture?

Ken Norton addresses the question of what makes for a healthy product culture.

🛠 Tools & Measuring

Antoine Boulanger (via Okay Software): Engineering productivity can be measured - just not how you'd expect

Antoine Boulanger predicts that engineering teams will adopt a data-driven management mode during the next years.

(via Product School): Measuring Product Success with Pinterest Head of Growth

In this Q&A session, Seth Weisfeld answers questions on properly measuring success and the secrets behind great growth product managers.

📯 23 Product Owner Anti-Patterns from Job Ads: The Snitch, the Whip, the Bookkeeper, the Six Sigma Black Belt™

Like a job ad for a Scrum Master position, the equivalent for the Product Owner position also reveals excellent insight into an organization’s progress on becoming agile. Yesterday, I analyzed 60-plus randomly selected job ads from the UK, the US, and Germany for that purpose. Learn more about what makes job ads such a treasure trove with the following 23 Product Owner anti-patterns.

👉 Learn more: 23 Product Owner Anti-Patterns from Job Ads: The Snitch, the Whip, the Bookkeeper, the Sigma Black Belt™.

📅 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
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 2-30, 2024 GUARANTEED: Product Backlog Management Cohort Class (English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €499 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 9, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #60: A Q&A on Dynamic Reteaming with Heidi Helfand (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 April 10-11, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 23-24, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Master (Advanced) Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 7, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Training (PSFS; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 7, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #61: Toyota Kata Coaching for Agile Teams & Transformations with Fortune Buchholtz (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 🇩🇪 May 14-15, 2024 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 May 28-29, 2024 Professional Scrum Master (Advanced) Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 June 6, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #62: From Backlog Manager to Product Manager: From Outputs to Outcomes w/ David Pereira (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 🇩🇪 June 25-26, 2024 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 2,600-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

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

✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about the Ethical Agile Coaching: 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.

🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #277: Scrum Product Goal, Psychological Safety, Stakeholder Management à la FBI, 76 Prioritization Frameworks.

Categories: News
Stefan Wolpers: Stefan—based in Berlin, Germany—has been working for 17-plus years as an agile coach, Scrum Master, and Product Owner. He is a Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) with Scrum.org and the author of Pearson’s upcoming “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 Agile Camp Berlin, a Barcamp for coaches and other agile practitioners.
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