TL; DR: Rethinking Bad Decisions, Metrics Maturity—Food for Agile Thought #286
Welcome to the 286th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,802 peers. This week, we figure out how rethinking bad decisions may work; we learn why postponing the decision on who will work on something is beneficial for Scrum teams, and we suggest starting Scrumban with either Kanban or Scrum and then add some flavor from the other practice.
We then learn more about common anti-patterns with product discovery, from ‘there is no demand’ to ‘we don’t have time,’ and we delve into the learnings from the book ‘Working Backwards’ on Amazon’s way of creating products. Also, we suggest a way to figure out whether our team is genuinely evidence-driven.
Lastly, we cherish a board design that elicits questions, for example, to guide qualitative research.
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🏆 The Tip of the Week: Rethinking Bad Decisions
: How to Rethink a Bad Decision
In this podcast, Adam Grant delves into a psychological trap called ‘escalation of commitment,’ a sort of stubbornness we all know well, and how rethinking bad decisions may work.
➿ Agile & Scrum
: Should a Team Assign Work During Sprint Planning?
Mike Cohn explains why he believes that postponing the decision on who will work on something is beneficial.
(via Agile Alliance): Scrumban Should NOT Just Be a Hybrid of Scrum and Kanban
Donald Haynes suggests starting with either Kanban or Scrum, stick to their principles, and then add some flavor from the other practice.
: Asking Better Questions (Part 2)
John Cutler shares a board design he uses to elicit questions, for example, to guide qualitative research.
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🎯 Product
: Discovery - Excuses
Marty Cagan continues his series on common anti-patterns with product discovery, from ‘there is no demand’ to ‘we don’t have time.’
(via Commonplace - The Commoncog Blog): Product Development as Iterated Taste
Cedric Chin shares his learning from reading Bryar’s and Carr’s book ‘Working Backwards’ on Amazon’s creation of products.
: Stop being the hero
Linda Zhang suggests quitting the idea of becoming the lone hero of your product team.
📯 Product Backlog Defense – Common Patterns of Stakeholder Interference
Make no mistake: Your Product Backlog is the last line of defense preventing your Scrum Team from becoming a feature factory; hence Product Backlog defense is vital: Figure out a process that creates value for your customers. Moreover, have the courage — and the discipline — to defend it at all costs.
👉 Learn more: Product Backlog Defense – Common Patterns of Stakeholder Interference.
🛠 Tools & Measuring
(via Kanbanize Blog): The Tortoise or the Hare: Focus on Predictability in Agile
Phil Ledgerwood wants you to skip optimizing for speed. Instead, go for predictability if you're going to support an agile transformation.
(via Mind The Product): The importance of metrics maturity for evidence-driven teams
Emily Tate suggests a way to figure out whether your team is genuinely evidence-driven.
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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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