TL; DR: Tech Revolutions, Benefits of Negative Feedback — Food for Agile Thought #314
Welcome to the 314th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 33,281 peers. This week, we offer a summary of Carlota Perez’s 2002 book ‘Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital;’ a must-read to understand innovation and disruption. We also share free cards and games to help Scrum teams get better at using Scrum to its full potential, and we explain the critical importance of pre-mortems for unearthing unknown unknowns regularly.
We then refer to Elon Musk and the importance of welcoming negative feedback, whether some egos are bruised in the process or not, and listen to an interview with Ash Maurya — Mr. Lean Canvas — on enabling continuous improvement innovation. Moreover, we introduce the subtleties of learning when practicing user interviews, from the basics to common mistakes, providing a guide to improve your interviewing skills.
Lastly, we share a list of free innovation tools, from the ‘Innovation Maturity Assessment’ to the ‘Eight I’s of Infinite Innovation,’ and we delve into the most common mistakes made when gathering data from agile teams by employing surveys and how to avoid them.
Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #313?
🗞 Shall I notify you about articles like this one? Awesome! You can sign up here for the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and join 33,000-plus subscribers.
🎓 Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes!
🏆 The Tip of the Week
(via The Stratechery): The Death and Birth of Technological Revolutions
Ben Thompson condenses Carlota Perez’s 2002 book ‘Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital;’ a must-read to understand innovation and disruption.
➿ Agile & Scrum
(via InfoQ): Better Scrum Through Essence
Ian Spence shares free cards and games to help Scrum teams get better at using Scrum to its full potential.
(via Cobalt Robotics): Premortems and Postmortems
Erik Schluntz explains the critical importance of these two tools in a high-stake environment, praising pre-mortems for unearthing unknown unknowns regularly.
(via Scientific American): Remote Work Can Be Better for Innovation Than In-Person Meetings
Gleb Tsipursky introduces findings from interviewing 61 leaders on returning to the office, analyzing why being stuck in the past hurts innovation.
🎓 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training w/ PSPO Certificate — Online: November 2-5, 2021
Discover Scrum’s four success principles in this guaranteed official Scrum.org Professional Scrum Product Owner training class, leading to and including the industry-recognized PSPO I certification. The class will be offered in German.
Enjoy the benefits of an immersive class of four sessions with like-minded agile peers in the morning hours from 09:00 – 13:00 o’clock CEST.
Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training w/ PSPO Certificate — Online: November 2-5, 2021.
Customer review: “Excellent class, revealing more hands-on practices and strategies to find solutions in the role of PSPO than I expected.” (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
: Discovery – Feedback
Marty Cagan refers to Elon Musk and the importance of listening to negative feedback, whether some egos are bruised in the process or not.
and : 🎙 Special: Create Continuous Innovation in Your Organization
Chad McAllister interviews Ash Maurya — Mr. Lean Canvas — on how to enable continuous innovation.
(via Medium): The Art of Interviewing in Product Discovery
Pierre Fournier introduces the subtleties of learning when practicing user interviews, from the basics to common mistakes, providing a guide to improve your interviewing skills.
📯 Scrum Questions: Seven Simple Issues and Complex Answers from LinkedIn Polls
How hard can Scrum be; the manual has 13 pages? You may have heard something along this line from skeptics in the past, dismissing the complex nature of an intentionally incomplete framework. The point is that exciting discussions happen when you start digging a bit deeper. Supposedly simple Scrum questions often return a broad spectrum of answers, ideas, and opinions.
Therefore, for some months now, I have run polls on LinkedIn. The polls address topics like the implications of self-management, how the management or corporate hierarchy fits into the picture, and the relationship between Scrum and agile coaching.
Let me share some of the controversial findings and discussions with you. As always, there are no simple answers in complex environments.
Learn more: The Obsession with Commitment Matching Velocity.
🛠 Tools & Measuring
(via Zen Ex Machina): Agile metrics and why team surveys fail
Zen Ex Machina delves into the most common mistakes made when gathering data from agile teams by employing surveys and how to avoid them.
: Free Human-Centered Innovation Tools
Braden Kelley shares a list of free innovation tools, from the ‘Innovation Maturity Assessment’ to the ‘Eight I’s of Infinite Innovation.’
📅 Scrum Training Classes, Workshops, and Events
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 3,000-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel:
- 🆕 Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Adapt How You Lead for Agile Success with Johanna Rothman.
- 🆕 Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Linking Strategy to Everyday Work with John Cutler.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Sustainable Agility at the Enterprise Level with Jorgen Hesselberg.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: How to Win with Agile Resistant Teams – A Case Study with Scott Weiner.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Increasing the Velocity of Value with Dave West.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Evidence-based Interventions with Viktor Cessan.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Real Cross-functional Teams for Creating real and better Products with Jutta Eckstein and Maryse Meinen.
✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn more about Tech Revolutions — 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.
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.
