TL; DR: Prioritization Politics, Experiments w/ POPCORN — Food for Agile Thought #336
Welcome to the 336th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 34,938 peers. This week, we share a deep dive into the challenges of prioritization politics — as we product folks consider ourselves analytical and algorithmic — and the friction this causes with other stakeholders, namely “the business.” Hesitantly, we also point to a eulogy on #Taylorism, and we learn from Catherine Louis how her experience as a K9 handler and a search-and-rescue technician helped her coach teams live up to their potential.
We then introduce John Cutler’s POPCORN Flow, a ”framework for thinking about improvement experiments.” Moreover, Marty Cagan explains the essence of being in “product” by pointing at a long-thought lost Steve Jobs interview, and Janna Bastow interviews Melissa Perri on the secrets that create successful Product Ops teams.
Lastly, we analyze “21 lessons on the uses, abuses, and half-truths of the measuring innovation” and point to the pitfalls of a typical “transformation” that often starts with killing psychological safety in the opening phase. Finally, we close this week’s edition with a collection of PM memes starring Spiderman, Dilbert, Samuel L. Jackson, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #335?
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🏆 The Tip of the Week: The Prioritization Politics Problem
: Prioritization is a Political Problem as Much as an Analytical Problem
Rich Mironov shares a deep dive into the challenges of being analytical and algorithmic—as we product folks consider ourselves to be—and the friction this causes with other stakeholders, namely “the business.”
➿ Agile & Scrum
(via Medium): In 1911, a genius revealed a forgotten science of how to be 50x more productive without working more hours
Michael Simmons writes a eulogy on #Taylorism. Admittedly, I was hesitant to consider this article as it glorifies something so damaging in knowledge work. However, let’s break out of our confirmation bubble.
and : 🎙 How to Make Your Current Team Your Best Team
Richard Kasperowski interviews Catherine Louis on how her experience as a K9 handler and a search-and-rescue technician helped her coach teams to live up to their potential.
: Cultural Transformation in a Nutshell
Michael Sahota points to the pitfalls of a typical “transformation” that often starts with killing psychological safety in the opening phase.
🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM I Certificate — Live Virtual Class: April 11-12, 2022
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🎯 Product
: Making Things Better (With Enabling Constraints and POPCORN)
John Cutler introduces “POPCORN Flow, a framework for thinking about improvement experiments.”
: The Nature of Product
Marty Cagan explains the essence of being in “product” by pointing at a long-thought lost Steve Jobs interview, which is very much worth watching.
Steve Jobs: Designing a product is keeping 5000 things in your brain and fitting them all together in new and different ways to get what you want. And every day you discover something new that is a new problem or a new opportunity to fit these things together a little differently.
and (via ProdPad): 📺 Product Ops Bootcamp with Melissa Perri
Janna Bastow interviews Melissa Perri on the secrets that create successful Product Ops teams. Don’t miss Janna when she joins Hands-on Agile #42 on May 30th.
(via Medium): 7 Different Product Roadmap Formats
Ant Murphy lists different types of product roadmaps, from Now-Next-Later to Theme to Customer Journey Roadmaps.
📯 28+2 Sprint Anti-Patterns Holding Back Scrum Teams
Welcome to the Sprint anti-patterns article from my series on Scrum anti-patterns, covering the three Scrum roles—pardon me: accountabilities—and addressing the contributions of stakeholders and the IT/line management. Moreover, I add some food for thought. For example, could a month-long Sprint be too short for accomplishing something meaningful? And if so, what are the consequences?
Learn more: 28+2 Sprint Anti-Patterns Holding Back Scrum Teams
🛠 Tools & Measuring
(via Forbes): 21 Lessons In Measuring Innovation: Truth Is Often The First Casualty
Steve Denning shares “21 lessons on the uses, abuses, and half-truths of the measuring innovation” when managers try to understand progress.
✂️ Cutting Room Floor
(via Medium): My Favorite Product Management Memes
Pranav Khanna lightens your mood with a collection of PM memes starring Spiderman, Dilbert, Samuel L. Jackson, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
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📺 Join 3,500-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel to improve learning:
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile #38: The Product Owner with Roman Pichler.
- 🆕 Agile Camp Berlin 2021: The Power and Pains of Autonomy with Jimmy Janlén.
- Hands-on Agile #31: The Zones of Value Framework with Valerio Zanini & Zeina Zeitouni.
- Hands-on Agile #35: Designing Powerful Questions to help you Coach & Create with Daniel Stillman.
- Hands-on Agile #34: Core Protocols for Psychological Safety with Richard Kasperowski.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Adapt How You Lead for Agile Success with Johanna Rothman.
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