TL; DR: How ChatGPT Works — Food for Agile Thought #380
Welcome to the 380th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,747 peers. This week, we learn how ChatGPT works; Stephen Wolfram wrote an epic article essential for everyone working in the knowledge space. Moreover, we introduce a new category — 🍋 The Lemon of the Week — for pieces that get everything wrong. It would be best if you were strong for the first example; someone built a stack-ranking system for Developers based on velocity. Back to the real world: We share a simple revelation, explaining all: ‘We cannot know the value of our work until it’s done and in use.’ (Of course, everyone wants us to predict what value will be created in advance precisely; you notice the contradiction.) Also, we push back against the consensus and delve into the possibilities to overcome the ‘various hurdles keeping us from doing our best work.’
Then, we compile a comprehensive list of behavioral anti-patterns for newbies and seasoned product practitioners alike, from building your work on assumptions to falling in love with your solution. Roman Pichler addresses how to best utilize Scrum’s potential to deliver valuable Increments as a product mensch, from including product discovery to aligning stakeholders, and we put ‘forward an alternative mental model for product development: think about building a garden, not a factory.’
Finally, the Scrum Master Salary Report 2023 is out; see below. Additionally, Teresa Torres shares the result of the first Continuous Discovery Habits survey. On the tool side, we found a simple yet helpful tool identifying the key features of your product and an introductory guide on supporting your CoP to mature, from guiding principles to meeting formats.
Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue 379?
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Join your peers on April 5, 2023: Hands-on Agile #50: The Product Community of Practice w/ Petra Wille.
🏆 The Tip of the Week: How ChatGPT Works
: What Is ChatGPT Doing … and Why Does It Work?
Stephen Wolfram shares an epic introduction to how and why large language models work—a must-read for everyone in the knowledge workspace.
🍋 The Lemon of the Week
: What is Velocity Debt?
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” That is Goodhart’s law. Nevertheless, Kevin Borders and his co-founder built a tool that allows for stack-ranking developers based on their velocity—the easiest team metric to manipulate—per Sprint.
➿ Agile & Scrum
(via Industrial Logic): Here's why ‘Agile’ isn’t working for you
Jon Fazzaro shares a simple revelation, explaining all: ‘We cannot know the value of our work until it’s done and in use.’
(via Harvard Business Review): 🎙 The Subtle Art of Disagreeing with Your Boss
In this podcast, Todd Kashdan, a psychology professor at George Mason University, pushes back against the consensus.
and (via Farnam Street): 🎙 Change The Way You Work #158
In this podcast, Shane Parrish and Aaron Dignan delve into the possibilities to overcome the ‘various hurdles keeping us from doing our best work.’
🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class — March 23, 2023
The Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills (PSFS) training by Berlin Product People is a one-day official Scrum.org class for advanced Scrum practitioners and agile coaches, including the industry-acknowledged PSFS certification. This PSFS training class is in English.
Enjoy the benefits of an live-virtual immersive class with like-minded agile peers from 09:00 – 17:30 o’clock CET.
Learn more: 🖥 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class — March 23, 2023.
👉 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
(via Medium): The Ten Mistakes New Product Managers Make
John McDonald compiled a comprehensive list of behavioral anti-patterns for newbies and seasoned practitioners alike, from building your work on assumptions to falling in love with your solution.
: Succeeding with Product Delivery and Scrum: 10 Tips for Product People
Roman Pichler addresses how to best utilize Scrum’s potential to deliver valuable Increments as a product mensch, from including product discovery to aligning stakeholders.
(via Mind The Product): Product development: or how to turn factories into gardens
Assaph Mehr ‘puts forward an alternative mental model for product development: think about building a garden, not a factory.’
📯 The Scrum Master Salary Report 2023
The Scrum Master Salary Report 2023 is the fourth edition of the industry survey after 2017, 2019, and 2022. This free report is based on the answers of 1,143 participants globally. If you are considering a career decision this year, maybe, whether you should join the industry as a junior Scrum Master or move to a new organization or go independent, you will find the report's information beneficial.
By the way, the average salary of the participants in the survey is US-$80,995, with a standard deviation of about US-$53,700. In the complete report, you will find more detailed information; download your copy below.
👉 Learn more: The Scrum Master Salary Report 2023
🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring
: 📈 Insights from the CDH Benchmark Survey: Measuring Product and Team Performance
Teresa Torres shares the result of the first Continuous Discovery Habits survey.
: Rituals for Product Communities of Practice: A Round-up of Ideas & Inspiration
Petra Wille created a introductory guide on supporting your CoP to mature, from guiding principles to meeting formats.
: Features Audit Template
Nick Babich created a simple yet helpful tool identifying the key features of your product.
🎶 Encore
There are no articles this week in this category. However, please check out the new 🍋 category.
📅 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 product team performance:
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile 47: How much Product Discovery Is enough? The Confidence Meter Explained with Itamar Gilad.
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile 46: The Agile Fluency Model ® with Diana Larsen.
- Hands-on Agile 44: Honey, I Shrunk the Backlog with Allan Kelly.
- 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 38: The Product Owner with Roman Pichler.
✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn more about How ChatGPT Works — 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.
Help your team to deal with the product vision by pointing them to the free Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide: