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Food for Agile Thought #314: Tech Revolutions, Benefits of Negative Feedback, Better Scrum w/ Cards & Games, The Art of Interviewing

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?

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🏆 The Tip of the Week

Ben Thompson (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.

Gleb Tsipursky (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.)

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🎯 Product

Marty Cagan: 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.

Chad McAllister and Ash Maurya: 🎙 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.

Braden Kelley: 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

Date Class and Language City Price
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 April 20-21, 2022 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 April 25-26, 2022 GUARANTEED: Professional Agile Leadership Essentials Training (PAL I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 9-10, 2022 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 May 17-20, 2022 Advanced Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO-A; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.399 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 30, 2022 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile 42: The Skinny on Lean Roadmapping and OKRs with Janna Bastow (English; Live Virtual Meetup) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 🇬🇧 May 31-June 1, 2022 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 June 7-10, 2022 Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 June 20-23, 2022 Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 June 28-July 1, 2022 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT

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.

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✋ 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.

🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #313: The Problem-Solving Trap, Suitably Detailed Roadmap Items, Beloved Definition of Done, Miro’s Product Alignment Framework.

Categories: News
Stefan Wolpers: Stefan, based near Hamburg, Germany, has worked for 18-plus years as a Product Manager, Product Owner, Agile Coach, and Scrum Master. He is a Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) with Scrum.org and the author of Pearson’s “Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide.” He has developed B2C as well as B2B software, for startups as well as corporations, including a former Google subsidiary. Stefan curates the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and organizes the Hands-on Agile Conference, a Barcamp for agile practitioners.
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