Food for Agile Thought #288: Product-Led Is Also Bad, Improving Code Reviews, 4 Questions From CTO to CPO, Rapid Design Thinking

TL; DR: Product-Led Is Also Bad, From CTO to CPO—Food for Agile Thought #288

Welcome to the 288th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,952 peers. This week, we counter the popular complaint from product folks that their organization’s sales-drivenness impedes the creation of better products. We also explore the secret ingredients of building high-performance teams, and we suggest a few improvements for a critical step in creating useful software.

We then answer four questions regarding modern product management, from skills to metrics to how engineering can be supportive. Moreover, we share a guide on how to figure out the level of customer satisfaction that allows for sustained growth, and we select product metrics that matter—beyond the usual suspects like NPS.

Lastly, we follow Bill Wake’s reflections on “half-waterfall,” a blend of practices based on upfront planning and agile.

Food for Agile Thought #288: Product-Led Is Also Bad, Improving Code Reviews, 4 Questions From CTO to CPO, Rapid Design Thinking — Age-of-Product.com

Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #287?

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

Join more than 120 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: The Systems Change Problem

Itamar Gilad: Product-Led is Just as Bad as Sales-Driven

Itamar Gilad counters the popular complaint from product folks that their organization’s sales-drivenness impedes the creation of better products.

➿ Agile & Scrum

Richard Kasperowski: What Does It Take to Have a Great Agile Team?

In this interview, Richard Kasperowski and Stephen Harrison explore the secret ingredients of building high-performance teams.

Michael Küsters: Improving Code Reviews

Michael Küsters suggests a few improvements for a critical step in creating useful software.

Bill Wake: Half-Waterfall: Extra Cost, Uncertain Benefits — Blending planned and agile

Bill Wake reflects on “half-waterfall,” a blend of practices based on upfront planning and agile.

🎓 🖥 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Master Schulung mit PSM I-Zertifikat: 11. und 12. Mai 2021

Entdecken Sie die vier Erfolgsprinzipien von Scrum mit dieser offiziellen Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master-Schulung, die zur branchenweit anerkannten PSM I-Zertifizierung führt und diese beinhaltet. Die Unterrichtssprache ist Deutsch und die Schulung ist als virtuelles Live-Training (8 Stunden/Tag) konzipiert.

🖥 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Master Schulung PSM I — Online: 11. und 12. Mai 2021 — Berlin Product People GmbH

Erfahren Sie mehr: 🖥 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Master Schulung mit PSM I-Zertifkat: 11. und 12. Mai 2021.

Kundenstimmen: “The class with Stefan was very well structured, delivering a helpful hands-on approach to all the Scrum basics. He managed to cover participants with different levels of expertise and from various fields easily and delivered knew knowledge and value to all of them from my point of view. The culture during these four days was excellent, so that everyone felt capable to speak up. Very much worth the invested time and money!” (Link.)

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🎯 Product

Giff Constable: 4 Questions from CTOs to a CPO

Giff Constable elaborates on four questions regarding modern product management, from skills to metrics to how engineering can be supportive.

John Cutler (via Amplitude): Why VoC Is Not Enough

John Cutler claims that organizations need to have a much more comprehensive view of their customers’ experiences, one that exceeds the original idea of the “Voice of Customer.”

Casey Winters: Casey’s Guide to Finding Product/Market Fit

Casey Winters shares his guide on how to figure out the level of customer satisfaction that allows for sustained growth.

📯 Three Wide-Spread Scrum Master Failures in 5:31 Minutes—Making Your Scrum Work

There are plenty of Scrum Masters failures. Given that Scrum is a framework with a precise and concise yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone.

Explore with me three widespread examples of how Scrum Masters fail their team in three short video clips, totaling 5 minutes and 31 seconds.

Three Wide-Spread Scrum Master Failures in 5:31 Minutes — Making Your Scrum Work — Age-of-Product.com

Learn more: Three Wide-Spread Scrum Master Failures in 5:31 Minutes—Making Your Scrum Work.

🛠 Tools & Measuring

Roman Pichler: How to Choose the Right KPIs for Your Product

Roman Pichler helps you to select product metrics that matter—beyond the usual suspects like NPS.

Takeshi Yoshida (via Medium): Rapid Design Thinking template: Ideate customer solutions in less than 30 minuten

Takeshi Yoshida shares a template (CC-BY-SA) to speed up the ideation process.

📅 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

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✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn more about why Product-Led Is also Bad — Join the 9,000-plus Strong ‘Hands-on Agile’ Slack Community

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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 #287: The Systems Change Problem, Agile Death Spirals, Talking to Customers as a Dev, OKRs in Agile Infographic.

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