Food for Agile Thought #297: North Star Metric, Tech Debt Is any Opportunity, MBA Pathology in Product, Team Dynamics Explained

TL; DR: North Star Metric, Team Dynamics Explained—Food for Agile Thought #297

Welcome to the 297th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 31,817 peers. This week, we point at data and case studies, providing insights into how to narrow in on your organization’s North Star Metric. Also, we advocate that technical debt is rather a strategic lever for your organization’s success than a liability, and we analyze the invisible undercurrents that determine your team’s culture.

We then continue reading Marty Cagan’s pathology series with a deep dive into the well-known problems with MBA programs. Moreover, we share six common product discovery anti-patterns and what you can do about them, and we introduce fundamental principles behind designing and maintaining a product roadmap tailored to the needs of agile teams.

Lastly, we enjoy listening to Richard Kasperowski and Seb Rose talking about how to help create a good team with less seasoned professionals.

Food for Agile Thought #297: North Star Metric, Tech Debt Is any Opportunity, MBA Pathology in Product, Team Dynamics Explained — Age-of-Product.com

Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #296?

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🎓 Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes!

Hands-on Agile #32: How to Win with Agile Resistant Teams—Scott Weiner

Join more us on July 6, 2021, for the Hands-on Agile #32: How to Win with Agile Resistant Teams—Scott Weiner.

🏆 The Tip of the Week: Rebels Spark Ideas

Lenny Rachitsky (via Andreessen Horowitz): Choosing Your North Star Metric

Lenny Rachitsky points at data and case studies, providing insights into how to narrow in on your organization’s North Star Metric.

➿ Agile & Scrum

Matt Greenberg and Keya Patel (via Reforge): Tech debt is not a burden, it's a strategic lever for success

Matt Greenberg and Keya Patel advocate that technical debt is rather a strategic lever for your organization's success than a liability.

James Shore and Diana Larsen: Team Dynamics

In this excerpt of the upcoming new edition from James Shore’s book, Diana Larsen analyzes the invisible undercurrents that determine your team’s culture.

Richard Kasperowski and Seb Rose: 🎙 The Secret of a Good Team is a Shared Goal and What Else?

In this pod, Richard Kasperowski and Seb Rose talk about how to help create a good team with less seasoned professionals.

🎓 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training w/ PSPO Certificate — Online: July 6-9, 2021

Discover Scrum’s four success principles in this official Scrum.org guaranteed 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: July 6-9, 2021 — Berlin Product People GmbH

Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training w/ PSPO Certificate — Online: July 6-9, 2021.

Kundenstimmen: “Stefan’s class was outstanding. Not only is Stefan an extremely knowledgable and experienced Scrum expert but also a very calm and nice instructor with very competent use of tools for remote learning. Additionally, we had a very focused and determined group of people attending this online course. If I ever consider doing another Scrum-related course, it will surely be with Stefan.”” (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

Marty Cagan: The MBA Pathology

Marty Cagan continues his pathology series with a deep dive into the well-known problems with MBA programs.

Imogen Johnson (via Mind The Product): Common product discovery pitfalls and how to avoid them

Imogen Johnson shares six common product discovery anti-patterns and what you can do about them.

(via productboard): 📖 The role of product ops in successful distributed teams

Hubert Palan and Sameer Karim provide the results of a recent survey on how teams have embraced the ProductOps concept during the last year.

📯 Three Common Developer Blunders in 5:05 Minutes—Making Your Scrum Work #14

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. While it is common to first look outside our team for impediments, such as dysfunctional processes or other systemic issues, I would advise starting with the Scrum team’s way of collaboration: Are we aligned on the why, what, and how? Otherwise, the three following Developer blunders may diminish the team effectiveness.

📺 Join me and explore the consequences of these Scrum Developer blunders and what you can do about them in a little more than five minutes.

Three Common Developer Blunders in 5:05 Minutes—Making Your Scrum Work #14 — Age-of-Product.com

Update: I am running a poll on LinkedIn—join the voting: “What common ways have you observed how Developers diminish the value creation of their own work?”

Learn more: Three Common Developer Blunders in 5:05 Minutes—Making Your Scrum Work #14.

🛠 Tools & Measuring

Jerome Kehrli: A proposed framework for Agile Roadmap Design and Maintenance

Jerome Kehrli introduces fundamental principles behind designing and maintaining a product roadmap tailored to the needs of agile teams.

📅 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
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 2-30, 2024 GUARANTEED: Product Backlog Management Cohort Class (English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €499 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 9, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #60: A Q&A on Dynamic Reteaming with Heidi Helfand (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 April 10-11, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 23-24, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Master (Advanced) Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 7, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Training (PSFS; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 7, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #61: Toyota Kata Coaching for Agile Teams & Transformations with Fortune Buchholtz (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 🇩🇪 May 14-15, 2024 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 May 28-29, 2024 Professional Scrum Master (Advanced) Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 June 6, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #62: From Backlog Manager to Product Manager: From Outputs to Outcomes w/ David Pereira (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 🇩🇪 June 25-26, 2024 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT

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.

📺 Join 2,900-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

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✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn more about the North Star Metric — Join the 10,000-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

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.

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 #296: Rebels Spark Ideas, Agile Rituals for Hyper-Growth, CSPO Pathology, Collaborative Product Decisions.

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