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.
Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #287?
🗞 Shall I notify you about articles like this one? Awesome! You can sign up here for the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and join 30,000-plus other subscribers.
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
: 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
: 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.
: Improving Code Reviews
Michael Küsters suggests a few improvements for a critical step in creating useful software.
: 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.
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.)
👉 From time to time, we can offer last-minute seats for training classes at cost to individuals who do not have access to a corporate training budget. If you like to be notified about these opportunities, please register here.
🎯 Product
: 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.
(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’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.
Learn more: Three Wide-Spread Scrum Master Failures in 5:31 Minutes—Making Your Scrum Work.
🛠 Tools & Measuring
: 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.
(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:
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 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:
- 🆕 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.
✋ 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
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.