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.
Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #341?
🗞 Shall I notify you about articles like this one? Awesome! You can sign up here for the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter and join 35,000-plus subscribers.
🎓 Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes!
📅 Join 260-plus peers on May 30, 2022: HoA #42: The Skinny on Lean Roadmapping and OKRs w/ Janna Bastow.
🏆 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
Discover Scrum’s four success principles in this guaranteed official Scrum.org Advanced Scrum Master training class including the industry-recognized PSM II certification. The PSM II training class is designed as a live virtual class and will be offered in English.
Enjoy the benefits of an compact class of two sessions with like-minded agile peers from 09:00 – 17:30 o’clock CEST.
Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — May 31 – June 1, 2022.
Customer review: “It was a second time I attended a training led by Stefan and I strongly recommend. Stefan puts a strong emphasis on liberating structures and students interactions. He’s an excellent trainer and his classes are highly engaging. Overall – one of my best learning experiences. I felt very confident taking my PSM II assessment two days after the class and passed on my first attempt” (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
: 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
You can secure your seat for Scrum training classes, workshops, and meetups directly by following the corresponding link in the table below:
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 3,800-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.
✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn more about Agile Laggards — Join the 11,000-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.