TL; DR: Agility: Timeless, Team Dynamics — Food for Agile Thought #357
Welcome to the 357th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 35,789 peers. This week, we celebrate the Agile 2022 keynote of Joshua Kerievsky, where he reflects on why “Agility isn’t a formula, a framework, nor a set of roles and rituals to follow” but a timeless way of thinking. Also, Linda Rising, Diana Larsen, and James Shore delve into the dynamics that make and break Agile teams, from the importance of trust to the Tuckman model. Moreover, we suggest six ways of encouraging feedback from team members, from creating psychological safety to leading by example, and we close with a rant about mission statements.
Then, we listen to Mary Cagan, sharing his learnings after more than 20 years at the forefront of product management, from Steve Jobs to building product teams to which trends to ignore. Additionally, we analyze the four most significant threats to building great products and how to deal with them, from difficult developers to executive bullies, and we tackle product roadmaps from a pragmatic angle.
Finally, we share a new game to “find a golden path to delivering maximum business value by benefiting from collaboration vs. getting stuck in dependencies” and a “primer on what you need to know to leverage VSM to chart your lean journey.” Lastly, inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s lecture on “the simple shapes of stories,” Ash Maurya shows that JTBD’s customer stories also have archetypical shapes.
Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue 356?
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🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — September 6-9, 2022.
🎓 Advance your understanding of facilitation and decision-making practices by attending the Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills on September 29, 2022 — there are three community tickets available at a 50 % premiere discount! (Please reach out to me if you are interested in attending.)
🏆 The Tip of the Week: Agility
(via Agile Alliance): 📺 Joy of Agility
In this Agile 2022 keynote, Joshua Kerievsky reflects on why “Agility isn’t a formula, a framework, nor a set of roles and rituals to follow” but a timeless way of thinking.
➿ Agile & Scrum
, and : 📺 Team Dynamics
Linda Rising, Diana Larsen, and James Shore delve into the dynamics that make and break Agile teams, from the importance of trust to the Tuckman model.
(via Get Lighthouse): 6 Great Ways You Can Get More Feedback from Your Team
Jason Evanish suggests six ways of encouraging feedback from team members, from creating psychological safety to leading by example.
: Mission statements are worse than worthless
David Heinemeier Hansson rants about mission statements.
🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 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
and : 🎙 The nature of product
In this podcast, Marty Cagan shares with Lenny Rachitsky his learnings after more than 20 years at the forefront of product management, from Steve Jobs lessons to building product teams to which trends to ignore.
(via Product Coalition): Dealing with Extremely Difficult Product People
J.A. Becker analyzes the four most significant threats to building great products and how to deal with them, from difficult developers to executive bullies.
and : 📺 Don’t over-tool your roadmap approach
Phil Hornby and Tim Herbig talk product roadmaps from a pragmatic angle.
: The Simple Shapes of Customer Stories
Inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s lecture on “the simple shapes of stories,” Ash Maurya shows that JTBD’s customer stories also have archetypical shapes.
📯 Definition of Done Theses: 10 Simple Principles of a Critical Scrum Success Factor
Given the importance of a viable Definition of Done for a Scrum team’s success, it has always puzzled me how complacent or ignorant many Scrum teams are regarding their Definition of Done. So, let me share with you the ten first principles of this critical Scrum success factor to improve your team’s effectiveness, team spirit, and reputation.
Learn more: Definition of Done Theses: 10 Simple Principles of a Critical Scrum Success Factor.
🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring
(via TastyCupcakes.org): 🎲 Drowning in Dependencies? Try a New Dependency Game!
Dana Pylayeva shares a new game to “find a golden path to delivering maximum business value by benefiting from collaboration vs. getting stuck in dependencies.”
(via Lean Enterprise Institute): Understanding the Fundamentals of Value-Stream Mapping
The Lean Enterprise Institute shares a “primer on what you need to know to leverage VSM to chart your lean journey.”
🎶 Encore
and : Teresa Torres on the Continuous Discovery Habits Community of Practice
Petra Wille and Teresa Torres share thoughts on lessons learned from Teresa’s community of practice.
📅 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 4,000-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel to improve learning, for example, about Agility:
- 🆕 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 Agility as a Timeless Way of Thinking — Join the 12,000-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.