Food for Agile Thought #284: Agile Camp Berlin 2021, Estimating Complexity, Dangers of Groupthink, Healthy Goals

TL; DR: Estimating Complexity, Healthy Goals—Food for Agile Thought #284

Welcome to the 284th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,648 peers. This week, we learn how to excel in the dark art of ‘estimating’ in general and estimating complexity in particular. We enjoy a conversation on imposter syndrome, deciding under uncertainty, psychological safety, and the Dunning-Kruger effect, and we point at the disadvantages of group work, how to spot if those are taking hold of your group, and how to counter resulting anti-patterns.

We then suggest steps to improve stakeholder engagement with Sprint Reviews and overcome typical anti-patterns, and we dive into AirBnB’s product culture, ranging from storytelling and the Disney influence to experimentation guardrails to what makes a product manager thrive there. Moreover, we explore a product design process leading from ‘I have no clue what to do’ to ‘we should do this,’ using the Circles method to make final recommendations.

Lastly, we embrace the idea that no amount of RACI, SMART, INVEST, OKRs, OGSM, or any other framework designed to create meaningful goals could outweigh proper team support by the leadership. Speaking of OKRs, we also ask: Can OKRs and JTBD co-exist?

Food for Agile Thought #284: Agile Camp Berlin 2021, Estimating Complexity, Dangers of Groupthink, Healthy Goals — Age-of-Product.com

Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #283?

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📅 🖥 Virtual Agile Camp Berlin 2021 — May 27-29, 2021 — vACB21 — Hosted by Berlin Product People GmbH

Join more than 80 peers from May 27-29, 2021, for the Virtual Agile Camp Berlin 2021, a live virtual Barcamp using open space technology principles and practices.

🏆 The Tip of the Week

Jordan Harbinger and Adam Grant: 🎙 The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

In this podcast, Jordan Harbinger and Adam Grant touch on many issues relevant to the agile practitioner: from imposter syndrome to deciding under uncertainty to psychological safety to the Dunning-Kruger effect.

➿ Agile & Scrum

Liz Keogh (via Mind The Product): 🎙 Estimating Complexity

In this podcast, Liz Keogh shares her insight into how to excel in the dark art of ‘estimating,’ who to estimate for, and how to deal with complexity.

Kyle Evans (via Product by Design): Groupthink — Recognizing It In Teams and Organizations

Kyle Evans points at the disadvantages of group work, how to spot if those are taking hold of your group, and how to counter resulting anti-patterns.

(via InfoQ): Put the Feedback back into ‘Demo & Feedback’

Jenni Jepsen and Ole Jepsen suggest steps to improve stakeholder engagement with Sprint Reviews and overcome typical anti-patterns such as low attendance rates not to take customers’ thoughts seriously.

🎓 🖥 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training w/ PSPO Certificate — Online: April 13-16, 2021

Discover Scrum’s four success principles in this guaranteed official Scrum.org Professional Scrum Product Owner training class, leading to and including the industry-recognized PSPO I certification. The training is designed as a live virtual class of 4 hours per day from 9 am to 1 pm CEST. The class will be offered in German.

Professional Scrum Product Owner Training w/ PSPO Certificate — Online: April 13-16, 2021 — Berlin Product People GmbH

Learn more: 📅 🖥 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training w/ PSPO Certificate — Online: April 13-16, 2021.

🎯 Product

Ken Norton: Building Products at Airbnb: Snow White, storytelling, and a relentless focus on experiences

Ken Norton interviewed four current Airbnb employees to learn more about AirBnB’s product culture, ranging from storytelling and the Disney influence to experimentation guardrails to what makes a product manager thrive there.

(via Spotify News): Introducing the New Miniseries ‘Spotify: A Product Story’

Spotify introduced a new podcast miniseries, where Chief R&D Officer, Gustav Söderström, will share insider stories of product strategy and development at Spotify, pulling “back the curtain on some never-before-heard stories of Spotify’s product journey.”

Brad Dunn (via Product Coalition): How Our Cross-Functional Teams Decide What to Build at Whispir

Brad Dunn shares his product design process from ‘I have no clue what to do’ to ‘we should do this,’ using the Circles method to get to final recommendations.

🛠 Tools & Measuring

John Cutler: Healthy Goals

John Cutler believes that no amount of “RACI, SMART, INVEST, OKRs, ‘sprint commitments,’ OGSM,” or any other framework designed to create meaningful goals could outweigh proper team support by the leadership.

Jeff Gothelf: Do OKRs work with Jobs to Be Done?

Jeff Gothelf delves into an integration challenge when your organization utilizes objectives and key results: how do OKRs work with JTBD, a framework centered on developing a ‘deep empathy for their customers through observation, research, interviews, and data?’

📅 🖥 Virtual Agile Camp Berlin 2021 — May 27-29, 2021

The Agile Camp Berlin 2021 will be a virtual event from May 27-29, 2021.

We will spend three energizing days from 1 pm to 7 pm CEST at a live virtual Barcamp using open space technology principles and practices. The general conference language is English; sessions in other languages are welcome!

Read on and learn about the organization of the virtual Agile Camp Berlin 2021, its preliminary schedule, from your session proposals to session planning to the essential technology to enjoy the best possible experience.

📅 🖥 Virtual Agile Camp Berlin 2021 — May 27-29, 2021 — vACB21 — Hosted by Berlin Product People GmbH

👉 Learn more: 📅 🖥 Virtual Agile Camp Berlin 2021 — May 27-29, 2021.

📅 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
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 November 6-7, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 November 21, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class (PSFS; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 December 4-5, 2024 Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 December 10-11, 2024 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 December 12, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Product Discovery and Validation Class (PPDV; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 December 18-19, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Master Advanced Training (PSM II; English; 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

See all upcoming classes here.

Professional Scrum Training by PST Stefan Wolpers, Berlin  Product People

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.

Hands-on Agile #31: Drive Product Innovation with the Zones of Value Framework — April 20, 2021

Join us on April 20, 2021, for a live virtual workshop on driving product innovation with the Zones of Value framework. (Participation is free.)

📺 Join 2,700-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

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

Download the Remote Agile Guide for Free — Age-of-Product.com

✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn more about Estimating Complexity — 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.

Large scale agile: Join the Hands-on Agile Slack Group

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Download the ’Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide’ for Free — Age-of-Product.com

🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #283: Is Agile a Trojan Horse, Culture & Methods Trends 2021, Product Strategy Stack, Metrics of Transformations.

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