TL; DR: Agile Laggards — Food for Agile Thought #398
Welcome to the 398th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 47,569 peers. This week, we challenge pessimism around agile laggards, arguing that they are potentially more advantaged than their precursors. Also, we explore the benefits of Continuous Delivery and advocate that high-performing teams do not stop at the ‘run‘ level. Instead, the real magic happens with full ownership. Speaking of owning your process: if you take Scrum seriously, employing agile coaches next to Scrum Masters is unnecessary.
Then, we uncover a profound challenge faced by Product Owners: fitting into their organizations and double down on the issue with Leah Tharin, Teresa Torres, and Hope Gurion analyzing how to move organizations and teams from output to outcome. Moreover, we ask regarding strategy and competitors: should we pay attention to them? Also, Anthony Murphy explores the critical components of trust in stakeholder management, offering actionable strategies to establish and foster it.
Finally, Ash Maurya discusses entrepreneurs’ challenges in juggling big-picture vision and immediate action, suggesting skipping product roadmaps in favor of traction roadmaps. John Cutler explores a theory about companies stuck in a ‘doing OK’ basin, neither thriving nor failing, slowly drifting towards obscurity. At the same time, Seth Godin reflects on projects which are promises involving coordination for future value delivery.
🏅 The most popular discussion on LinkedIn this week was: 📯 Introducing: The Minimum Viable Library — Leadership edition!
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🏆 The Tip of the Week: Agile Laggards
(via Medium): Agility for latecomers: Is it too late or a new opportunity?
Todd Lankford challenges pessimism around late adopters of agility, arguing that they are potentially more advantaged than their precursors, armed with the wisdom of early adopters and a fresh approach. Learn more about the surprising strengths of late agile adopters.
🍋 The Lemon of the Week
: To increase the effectiveness of a Scrum Master, we must shift the responsibilities of the Scrum Master as stated in the Scrum Guide […]
Another futile attempt to monetize Scrum by fixing its supposedly useless structure. Two thoughts: (1) If Scrum were as useless as described, why is it still around after 25-plus years? (2) Why would you brand your new system, framework, or way of working as “Amplio Scrum?” Isn’t Scrum what you intend to replace?
➿ Agile & Scrum
: How To Be An Engineer That PMs Don’t Hate
Author Stay SaaSy advises engineers aiming for amicability with PMs by valuing the power of shipping code responsibly and avoiding burdening PMs with QA or project management tasks. Moreover, be fair, don’t gang up, do not confuse technical knowledge for intelligence, and articulate tech debt in understandable terms.
and : 🎙 Build Better Products Faster by Embracing Continuous Delivery
Dive into Jason Knight’s engaging dialogue with Dave Farley, the renowned software development thought leader and advocate for ‘Continuous Delivery.’ Discover why it’s paramount, the hurdles in its implementation, and how product managers can facilitate it.
: You build it, you own it
Alex Ewerlöf advocates that high-performing teams do not stop at the ‘run‘ level. Instead, the real magic happens with full ownership.
🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — August 20-30, 2023
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 a compact immersive class 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 — August 20-30, 2023.
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🎯 Product
(via Scrum.org): Product Owners - The Messy Reality of Environment
Dave West uncovers a profound challenge faced by Product Owners—fitting into their organizations. Conversations with a diverse array of Product Owners reveal that the difficulty often isn’t in executing daily work but navigating their role within established organizational structures.
, and : 📺 Teresa Torres & Hope Gurion: Moving Organizations and Teams from Output to Outcome
In this talk, Leah Tharin, Teresa Torres, and Hope Gurion explore leadership, unified knowledge bases, and the harsh realities of crises like the 2008 recession. Delving into the pressure always to be right and impostor syndrome, they remind us that no framework can substitute for ‘putting in the work.’
(via Medium): Strategy & Competitors. Should We Pay Attention to Them?
Roger Martin ponders the potential strategic oversight of ignoring competitors in business strategy. Despite leading their respective fields, Martin’s clients scarcely mention competitors in their strategy discussions. Is this a strategic mistake or an intelligent non-distraction?
📯 Why Employing Agile Coaches next to Scrum Masters Is Unnecessary
Often, when organizations employ agile coaches and Scrum Masters, we can observe that agile coaches work at an organizational level. In contrast, Scrum Masters work in a tactical role at the team level in a “delivery manager capacity,” which defies the Scrum Guide’s concept of accountabilities.
However, if you take Scrum seriously, this approach has no upside. Here are eight reasons for empowering your Scrum Masters to work with the organization.
Disclaimer: I acknowledge, though, that “agile coach” is a helpful keyword for positioning yourself as an agile practitioner; potential employers and clients search for this term.
Learn more: Why Employing Agile Coaches next to Scrum Masters Is Unnecessary.
🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring
(via YouTube): 📺 Essential Strategies for building Trust and Influence
This video by Anthony Murphy explores the critical components of trust in stakeholder management, offering actionable strategies to establish and foster it.
: Nuke the bug list when you nuke the backlog
Allan Kelly invites us to challenge our perception of ‘bugs’ versus ‘enhancements.’ Questioning the impact of labels on the priority and perception of work, he suggests focusing on benefit as the overriding criterion. Is the ‘bug or change request’ debate a waste of time?
: Don't Create a Product Roadmap. Use a Traction Roadmap Instead.
Ash Maurya discusses entrepreneurs’ challenges in juggling big-picture vision and immediate action, arguing that traditional roadmaps fall short. His solution? The Traction Roadmap. It is an adaptive tool charting milestones towards a scalable business model under uncertainty.
🎶 Encore
: Stuck In The Valley of ‘Doing OK’
John Cutler explores a theory about companies stuck in a ‘doing OK’ basin, neither thriving nor failing, slowly drifting towards obscurity. Are companies in this zone stuck in a plateau? Moreover, what could work to overcome this status and initiate change for the better?
: Project management
To Seth Godin, projects are promises involving coordination for future value delivery. Every undertaking dances with uncertainty, whether it is a routine meeting or constructing a skyscraper. And management? It’s indispensable, for projects don’t complete themselves.
📅 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.
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📺 Join 5,000-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel to improve learning, for example, about agile laggards:
- Hands-on Agile EXTRA: How Elon Musk Would Run YOUR Business with Joe Justice.
- Hands-on Agile 50: The Product Community of Practice with Petra Wille.
- Hands-on Agile 46: The Agile Fluency Model ® with Diana Larsen.
- 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 Agile Laggards — Join the 12,000-plus Strong ‘Hands-on Agile’ Slack Community
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Help your team to explore agile laggards by pointing them to the free Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide: