TL; DR: Bottom of Agile, Velocity Forecasting Spreadsheet—Food for Agile Thought #292
Welcome to the 292nd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 31,223 peers. This week, we get to the Bottom of Agile; we point at the benefits of journaling regarding modern leadership competencies, and we delve into the advantages and psychology of slack time. Additionally, we appreciate Troy Magennis’ updated ‘Throughput or Velocity Forecasting Spreadsheet’ for easy Monte Carlo forecasting of agile work.
We then address five PO anti-patterns what you can do about them; we introduce the three-step ‘Not Impossible, Just Too Expensive’ approach to problem-solving, and we point at the danger of merely copying what other companies do without understanding the why behind them.
Lastly, we note that Lean UX principles such as customer centricity or evidence-based decision making do not exist in SAFe. (See also: Survey Results: The Net Promoter Score® of SAFe® as a Scaling Framework is –52.)
Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #291?
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Join more than 210 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 Bottom of Agile
and (via Produx Labs): 🎙 Getting to the Bottom of Agile with Jeff Patton
Melissa Perri interviews Jeff Patton about all the things no one else will tell you about Agile.
➿ Agile & Scrum
(via InfoQ): How Journaling Puts Leadership in Action
Cosima Laube points at the benefits of journaling regarding modern leadership competencies such as awareness, prioritization, mindfulness, and clarity.
(via Farnam Street): Efficiency is the Enemy
Shane Parrish delves into the benefits and psychology of slack time.
: SAFe is Not Agile
Jeff Gothelf notes that Lean UX principles such as customer centricity or evidence-based decision making do not exist in SAFe.
🎓 🖥 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM I Certificate — Live Virtual Class: June 15-18, 2021
Discover Scrum’s four success principles in this official Scrum.org Professional Scrum Master training class, leading to and including the industry-recognized PSM I certification. The training is designed as a live virtual class of four sessions from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm CEST and will be offered in German.
Learn more: 🖥 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM I Certificate — Live Virtual Class: June 15-18, 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
: Five Product Owner Myths Busted
Roman Pichler addresses five PO anti-patterns what you can do about them, from the assumed tactical focus on the Product Backlog to their responsibility for writing user stories.
: Nijute: how to solve impossible problems
Gojko Adzic shares his three-step ‘Not Impossible, Just Too Expensive’ approach to problem-solving.
(via Strategyzer): The Principles of Experiment Flow
David J Bland points at the danger of merely copying what other companies do without understanding the why behind them.
📯 Four Scrum Master Success Principles
Contrary to popular belief, the Scrum Master success principles are tangible, when we guide the analysis with an outside perspective.
Read on and discover four Scrum Master success principles: From when not to use Scrum to product quality to supporting the Product Owner to putting self-management at the center.
Learn more: Four Scrum Master Success Principles.
🛠 Tools & Measuring
: The Throughput or Velocity Forecasting Spreadsheet
Troy Magennis updated his ‘Throughput or Velocity Forecasting Spreadsheet’ for easy Monte Carlo forecasting of agile work.
: The Art of the OKR, Redux
Christina Wodtke shares a draft of the rewrite of her well-known article from 2014.
📅 Scrum Training & Event Schedule
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See all upcoming classes here.
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📺 Join 2,800-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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