TL; DR: Agile Laggards, Fireside Chat with Marty Cagan — Food for Agile Thought #342
Welcome to the 342nd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 35,264 peers. This week, we point to Geoffrey Moore’s ‘Technology Adoption Life Cycle,’ and that ‘Agile’ has entered the laggards segment. We also delve into an essential team success factor — stakeholder trust — and reflect on ‘balancing long-lived teams with short term coordination and alignment.’
Then, we learn how to determine best whether an idea is worth pursuing and define six ‘first principles’ for product leaders to deal with team topology, from ownership to alignment to autonomy. Moreover, we follow Behzod Sirjani, who believes that NPS has been turned into a useless vanity metric while it has actual value for measuring ‘word-of-mouth loops.’
Also, we advocate not focusing on productivity but, for example, on value, quality, speed, and flexibility, as they may lead to higher productivity later on. Lastly, we enjoy a fireside chat with Marty Cagan, where he addresses empowerment, adopting a product-led mindset, and why project-oriented companies should consider becoming product-oriented.
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🏆 The Tip of the Week
(via Mind The Product): 📺 Fireside chat with Marty Cagan
In this video, Marty Cagan addresses empowerment, adopting a product-led mindset, and why project-oriented companies should consider becoming product-oriented.
➿ Agile & Scrum: Agile Laggards
: Agile Adoption – Left to Right is the Way to Go
Mike Griffiths points to Geoffrey Moore’s ‘Technology Adoption Life Cycle,’ and that ‘Agile’ has entered the agile laggards segment, leading to shortcuts and the wrong mindset.
: Stakeholder Trust
In this excerpt from ‘The Art of Agile Development,’ James Shore delves into an essential team success factor.
(via Better Programming): Stable Teams and Dynamic Structures
Chris Combe reflects on ‘balancing long-lived teams with short term coordination and alignment.’
🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — May 31 – June 1, 2022
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🎯 Product
: Learning from Other Product People: Patrick Sauerwein on the Product Community of Practice at Deutsche Telekom
Petra Wille interviews Patrick Sauerwein on CoP lessons learned, from formats to inviting external guests to impact.
and : How to Validate Your Startup Idea
Todd Jackson shares his experience as a seed-stage investor at First Round Capital on how to best figure out whether an idea is worth pursuing.
: Productivity Focus
Yi Lv advocates not focusing on productivity but, for example, on value, quality, speed, and flexibility, as they may lead to higher productivity later on.
📯 How to Pass the Product Owner Certification — PSPO I, PSPO II, and PSPO III
The first article of this mini-series established that you do not need a certificate to become good at what you do, for example, working as a Scrum Master or Product Owner. However, getting certified may be a piece of sound investment advice. If you want to take advantage of the signaling power that Scrum certificates seem to have, the question is how to pass the Product Owner certification?
👉 Learn more: How to Pass the Product Owner Certification — PSPO I, PSPO II, and PSPO III.
🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring
(via UX Collective): Team Topology: 6 ‘First Principles’ for Product Leaders
Afonso Franco defines six ‘first principles’ for product leaders to deal with team topology, from ownership to alignment to autonomy.
(via Reforge): How to (Really) Measure NPS
Behzod Sirjani believes that NPS has been turned into a useless vanity metric while it has actual value for measuring ‘word-of-mouth loops.’
✂️ Cutting Room Floor
: Old Guard, New Guard
John Cutler reflects on change, contrasting different viewpoints of incumbents and change agents.
📅 Scrum Training & Event Schedule
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📺 Join 3,800-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel to improve learning:
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile #40: The Best Team Ever with David Burkus.
- 🆕 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.
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