TL; DR: Ancient Scrum — Food for Agile Thought #439
Welcome to the 439th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,436 peers. This week, Tobias Mayer traces Scrum back to ancient human processes, suggesting its natural integration in creative endeavors. Scott Seivwright critiques the narrow focus of Agile coaches on methodology, advocating for adaptive practices in response to economic challenges, and David Burkus highlights the crucial role of managers in fostering autonomy and leadership amid rising trends towards managerless models. Chris Matts uses Eric Berne’s transaction analysis to contrast effective adult-adult interactions against the limiting parent-child dynamics in risk-averse environments. Also, Rami James champions asking for help as an essential developer skill, promoting collaboration and continuous learning over individualism.
Then, Marty Cagan and Marily Nika address the challenges of AI Product Management, and Evgenia Suvorova shares insights from her tenure at Revolut on achieving product-market fit. Chad McAllister and John Rossman emphasize the importance of “Big Bets” in business transformation, with John drawing on his Amazon experience to advocate for clarity, speed, and risk management. Leah Tharin offers a critical view on the implementation of SAFe, noting its complexity and the constraints it imposes on team autonomy, often resulting in inefficiency and dissatisfaction.
Lastly, Richard Kasperowski focuses on the role of pair programming and continuous delivery in agile practices. Moreover, Roman Pichler discusses the integration of OKRs with product roadmaps, while Andy Cleff and Colleen Johnson explore flow metrics like WIP and cycle time to enhance organizational agility through actionable metrics. Additionally, the 2024 AI Index report presents a comprehensive analysis of new AI trends, public perceptions, geopolitical dynamics, and the impact of AI on science and medicine.
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🏆 The Tip of the Week: Ancient Scrum
: Ancient Scrum
Tobias Mayer explores the ancient roots of Scrum, suggesting it as an innate human process evident in early civilizations, not a modern invention, and emphasizes its enduring relevance in creative and software development.
🍋 Lemon of the Week
(via Medium): OKR and Scrum: How to Align
The author’s take on integrating OKRs with Scrum misinterprets both, mixing practices with bewildering confidence and a pinch of ideological flair. It is an amusing but ultimately baffling read.
➿ Agile & Scrum
: What's Wrong with the Agile Community? My View!
Scott Seivwright critiques Agile coaches for narrowly focusing on methodology perfection, urging a shift to address broader economic challenges and adapting practices for survival and impact.
: Do We Really Need Managers?
David Burkus discusses the evolving role of managers, emphasizing their importance in fostering autonomy and leadership despite the rise of managerless company models and changing workplace dynamics during the pandemic.
: The Failureship Dynamic
Chris Matts explores the “failureship dynamic” using Eric Berne’s transaction analysis, particularly contrasting adult-adult interactions in successful organizations with the parent-child dynamics in risk-averse settings.
: Asking for help is a core developer skill
Rami James emphasizes the importance of asking for help as a core skill for developers, challenging the individualistic mindset and highlighting collaborative problem-solving to enhance learning and project success.
🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM II Certificate — April 23-24, 2024
Discover Scrum’s four success principles in this official Scrum.org class for Advanced Scrum Masters, including the industry-acknowledged PSM II certification. This PSFS training class is in English.
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Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM II Certificate — April 23-24, 2024.
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🎯 Product
and (via Silicon Valley Product Group): AI Product Management
Marty Cagan and Marily Nika discuss AI Product Management, focusing on the unique challenges and necessities of creating AI-powered applications and the critical collaboration between roles to manage product risks effectively.
: The SAFe misery and what to learn from it
Leah Tharin critiques the implementation of SAFe in organizations, highlighting its tendency to complicate processes and stifle autonomy, ultimately leading to dissatisfaction and inefficiency among product teams.
and : 🎙 How product managers can navigate 'Big-Bet' transformations – with John Rossman
Chad McAllister and John Rossman discuss the significance of “Big Bets” in business transformations. John shares strategies from his experience at Amazon and advising roles, highlighting the need for clarity, velocity, and risk management in leadership practices.
(via Mind The Product): A case study: My learnings from finding product-market fit at Revolut
Evgenia Suvorova details her journey at Revolut, highlighting the challenges and strategies in achieving product-market fit, emphasizing the importance of tailored approaches and continuous validation to adapt and thrive globally.
📯 Scrum Master Interview Questions on Creating Value with Scrum
If you are looking to fill a position for a Scrum Master (or agile coach) in your organization, you may find the following 12th set of the Scrum Master interview questions useful to identify the right candidate. They are derived from my eighteen years of practical experience with XP as well as Scrum, serving both as Product Owner and Scrum Master as well as interviewing dozens of Scrum Master candidates on behalf of my clients.
So far, this Scrum Master interview guide has been downloaded more than 27,000 times.
Read now: Scrum Master Interview Questions on Creating Value with Scrum.
🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring
: The Heart of Agile: How Pair Programming and Continuous Delivery Nurture the Human Spirit
Richard Kasperowski explores the profound impact of pair programming and continuous delivery in agile practices, emphasizing their role in improving technical efficiency and nurturing human connections, creativity, and emotional well-being.
: OKRs and Product Roadmaps
Roman Pichler discusses integrating OKRs with product roadmaps, outlining benefits and strategic alignments that enhance goal-oriented planning, which helps move away from feature-based to outcome-based roadmaps.
: 📺 Flow Metrics for Enhancing Organizational Agility
Andy Cleff and Colleen Johnson discuss using flow metrics to enhance organizational agility, focusing on actionable metrics like WIP, throughput, work item age, and cycle time to drive improvement and predictability in business systems.
🎶 Encore
(via AI Index): AI Index Report 2024 – Artificial Intelligence Index
The 2024 AI Index report, the most comprehensive yet, expands its analysis to include new AI trends, public perceptions, geopolitical dynamics, and AI’s impact on science and medicine.
📅 Scrum Training & Event Schedule
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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 Ancient Scrum:
- Hands-on Agile 59: Tackling Fake Agility with Johanna Rothman.
- Hands-on Agile 57: Humble Planning with Maarten Dalmijn.
- Hands-on Agile 54: Overcoming Common Product Backlog Management Traps with David Pereira.
- Hands-on Agile 53: An Agile Coaches Guide to Storytelling with Bob Galen.
- Hands-on Agile EXTRA: How Elon Musk Would Run YOUR Business with Joe Justice.
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Help your team to learn about Ancient Scrum by pointing them to the free Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide: