TL; DR: Agile Manifesto’s History, Amazon’s Invention Machine—Food for Agile Thought #279
Welcome to the 279th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,267 peers. This week, we look back 20 years at the origins of the Agile Manifesto, why they came together; we detail the difference between Agile vs. Scrum and typical ‘big mistakes,’ and we check a list of five ‘no’ that might come in handy in challenging discussions.
We then listen to insider tales from Amazon—from the need to slow down to innovate to focus on customers’ needs to build by working backward, and we discuss the first principles of continuous discovery. Moreover, we explain why tension and conflict are necessary, helpful parts of product management.
Lastly, we appreciate the release of the third annual State of User Research report.
Did you miss previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #278?
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🏆 The Tip of the Week: Agile Manifesto’s History
(via Scrum Inc): How The Agile Manifesto Came To Be
Jeff Sutherland looks back 20 years at the origins of the Agile Manifesto, why they came together, and how they managed to create a timeless artifact.
➿ Agile & Scrum
: Agile vs Scrum - How to Win with Both
Michael Sahota details the difference between Agile vs. Scrum, typical ‘big mistakes’ and points at three steps to get Agile working in your organization.
: 📖 Change
Simon Powers shares another chapter from his upcoming book, touching agility, complexity, and mindset.
(via Medium): An Engineer’s Guide to Saying No. Does this sound like you?
Darja Gutnick shares a list of five ‘no’ that might come in handy in challenging discussions.
🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — March 10-11, 2021
This Advanced Scrum Master Training (PSM II) 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 from 9:00 am to 5:45 pm CET and will be offered in English.
Learn more: 📅 🖥 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — March 10-11, 2021.
What our customer say about this Advanced Scrum Master Training (PSM II):
“Outstanding PSM II experience: Having looked forward to attending this class, literally for years, it was everything I expected, hoped for and then some. I am so grateful that this was an online virtual class, as it added an additional dimension to the learning, and was incredibly insightful. The trainer did an outstanding job of taking us through the learning plan, facilitating discussions, guiding the outcome and believing in the structures. Whether the learning was tangible curriculum, or intangible observation, it was excellent – made even more solid by the open sharing from my classmates and willingness from everyone to participate.” (Link.)
🎯 Product
and (via First Round Capital): How to Build an Invention Machine — 6 Lessons That Powered Amazon’s Success
Colin Bryar and Bill Carr share insider tales from Amazon—from the need to slow down to innovate to focus on customers’ needs to build by working backward.
and : 📺 Why There’s No Single ‘Right’ Way to Do Discovery
In this video talk, Teresa Torres and Hope Gurion discuss the first principles of continuous discovery: from decision-making to externalizing your thinking to focusing on outcomes.
(via This Is Product Management): 🎙 Managing Tension is Product Management
In this podcast, Marc Abraham explains why tension and conflict are necessary, helpful parts of product management.
🛠 Tools & Measuring
(via User Interviews): 🔬 The State of User Research 2021 Report
User Interviews surveyed 525 user researchers in 44 countries to bring you the third annual State of User Research report.
(via mixpanel): Choosing, refining, and tracking product metrics
Shreyas Doshi, the PM Lead at Stripe, delves into avoiding building products with mediocre or no impact.
📯 Making Your Scrum Work: A Forensic Product Backlog Analysis (Part 1)
Garbage in, garbage out: No matter whether your team chose Scrum for the right purpose—solving complex, adaptive problems. No matter whether your Scrum Team’s product quality is top-notch or whether your teammates embrace self-management to the fullest.
If your Product Backlog is not up to the job, all of these accomplishments will account for little, as your team will provide less value to its customers than possible. Here is where the forensic Product Backlog analysis steps in, a light-weight, simple practice to help Product Owners and Scrum Masters unearth anti-patterns that led to your low-value Product Backlog.
👉 Learn more: Making Your Scrum Work: A Forensic Product Backlog Analysis (Part 1).
📅 Scrum Training & Event Schedule
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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.
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