TL; DR: Novelty Uncertainty — Food for Agile Thought #355
Welcome to the 355th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 35,721 peers. This week, we delve into dealing with novelty uncertainty by acquiring knowledge as we move forward in a process at the heart of all agile practices. Moreover, we analyze the mechanics of how innovation moves from the fringes to the core of an organization, and we explain Richard Feynman’s seven “tricks for evaluating information.” Also, we lay out the challenges and opportunities of distributed teams, from ‘management by talk around’ to tools and practices.
Then, we explore ways of “how to go from charts and numbers to a story that will move your stakeholders” and share the principles of how engineering and product collaborate at Intercom for the benefit of customers, for example, by involving the engineers from the start. Additionally, we explore the general relationship between engineering and product management and share lessons learned, for instance, earn respect first as a product manager before you become technical.
Finally, we thank IT Revolution Press for attempting to explain the practice of creating Wardley Maps. Noorisingh Saini leads us through calculating, interpreting, and improving the lifetime value of your SaaS customers, while Natalie Rothfels, Ely Lerner, and Behzod Sirjani bust customer churn myths, from its supposed unavoidability to wrong assumptions. Lastly, Greg Satell points to a typical disadvantage of large organizations regarding innovation: “it’s often just easier to fall in line than to engage in vigorous debate.”
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🏆 The Tip of the Week: Novelty Uncertainty
: Trial and Error, Part 1
Jerry Neumann delves into dealing with novelty uncertainty by acquiring knowledge as you move forward in a process at the heart of all agile practices.
➿ Agile & Scrum
and (via Stanford Social Innovation): The Adoption of Innovation
Benjamin Kumpf and Emma Proud analyze the mechanics of how innovation moves from the fringes to the core of an organization.
(via Farnam Street): Evaluating Information: Find the Signal in the Noise
Shane Parrish explains Richard Feynman’s seven “tricks for evaluating information.”
(via Management 3.0): Leading Distributed Agile Teams
Stefan Mintert and Jens Thiemann lay out the challenges and opportunities of distributed teams, from ‘management by talk around’ to tools and practices.
🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — September 6-9, 2022
Discover Scrum’s four success principles in this 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 immersive class of four sessions with like-minded agile peers in the morning hours from 09:00 – 13:00 o’clock CEST.
Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — September 6-9, 2022.
“Very hands-on class with lots of concrete takeaways to help in real world scenarios. Reinforced practices and highlighted things that helped in passing the PSM II exam but that was merely a bonus as the content of the class is so useful – certifications or not. Stefan Wolpers is an excellent trainer with broad practical and theoretical knowledge on the subject and his classes seem to have very good working atmosphere (this was a second class by him that I have taken).”(Link.)
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🎯 Product
(via IDEO U): Data and Storytelling for Strategic Alignment
Justin Massa explores ways of “how to go from charts and numbers to a story that will move your stakeholders.”
(via Intercom): Intercom’s product principles: Shaping the solution to maximize customer value
Levent Ali shares the principles of how engineering and product collaborate at Intercom for the benefit of customers, for example, by involving the engineers from the start.
(via Medium): Engineering and product management
Joca Torres explores the relationship between the two parties and shares lessons learned, for example, earn respect first as a product manager before you become technical.
📯 Agile Micromanagement — Seriously? Making Your Scrum Work #27
There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Indeed, given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. For example, the Scrum Guide clearly states the importance of self-management at the Scrum team level. Nevertheless, the prevailing cause of many messed-up attempts to use Scrum result from what I call agile micromanagement, a pseudo-commitment to agile principles only to be overridden whenever it seems beneficial from a stakeholder’s or manager’s perspective.
Join me and delve into the importance of self-managing Scrum teams in less than two minutes.
Learn more: Agile Micromanagement — Seriously? Making Your Scrum Work #27.
🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring
(via IT Revolution Press): How to Wardley Map
IT Revolution Press attempts to explain the practice of creating Wardley Maps.
(via Amplitude): How to Calculate & Interpret SaaS LTV
Noorisingh Saini leads you through calculating, interpreting, and improving the lifetime value of your SaaS customers.
, and (via Reforge): Trying To Reduce Churn Rate? Avoid These 3 Common Myths
Natalie Rothfels, Ely Lerner, and Behzod Sirjani bust customer churn myths, from its supposed unavoidability to wrong assumptions.
✂️ Cutting Room Floor
: How Consensus Kills Innovation
Greg Satell points to a typical disadvantage of large organizations: “it’s often just easier to fall in line than to engage in vigorous debate.”
📅 Scrum Training & Event Schedule
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📺 Join 4,000-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel to improve learning, for example, about novelty uncertainty:
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile 43: Outcome-Based Product Planning with Jeff Gothelf.
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile 42: Lean Roadmapping and OKRs with Janna Bastow.
- 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 Novelty Uncertainty — Join the 12,000-plus Strong ‘Hands-on Agile’ Slack Community
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