Food for Agile Thought’s issue #167—shared with 20,039 peers—focuses on twelve agile transformation phases, why agility is nowadays more important than ever—ScrumAlliance just published a new report based on a survey among enterprise organizations—, and what managers need to embrace to become servant-leaders.
We also learn that growth is good from a product perspective but not at all costs, and what you can do to mitigate risk. We listen to the VP of Product of Medium confirming the importance of getting out of the office, and we reflect on the implications of the sales folks running the product strategy.
Lastly, we visit a Dutch company that proves the obsolescence of the industrial paradigm in the service sector: when the lack of managers is not just improving operations but also the pay-cheques.
Have a great week!
Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #166?
🏆 The Essential Read
(via Forbes): The Twelve Stages Of The Agile Transformation Journey
Steve Denning describes the twelve phases of change that every larger organization will face during its Agile transformation.
Agile Transformation Phases & Scrum
(via Scrum Alliance): Elusive Agile Enterprise Report
The ‘Elusive Agile Enterprise’ report illustrates the increasing importance of agility as an organizational approach and explores how organizations can achieve end-to-end agility.
: Servant Leadership 101: The 4 V's to Create a Strong Foundation
Stephanie Ockerman shares the four elements—vision, values, value, and validation—that form the foundation of servant-leadership.
(via Corporate Rebels): How To Work Without Managers? Here's How!
Corporate Rebels showcase a Dutch company where simplicity, respect for the individual, and self-organization replaced most of the managerial caste, resulting in higher wages, for example.
Hands-on Agile Webinar: Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns — November 27th, 2018
The tenth Hands-on Agile webinar on sprint retrospective anti-patterns covers twelve anti-patterns of the sprint retrospective—from #NoRetro to the dispensable buffer to UNSMART action items to a missing product owner.
Download your invitation now: Sprint Retrospective Anti-Patterns — November 27th, 2018.
Product & Lean
(via First Round Capital): "Get in the Van" and Other Tips for Getting Meaningful Customer Feedback
Michael Sippey has been building tech products for over 20 years. His most valuable ideas came from speaking with customers. Learn how.
: The Slippery Slope of Sales-Led Development
Rich Mironov explains the risks of sales-led product development, starving the core product of innovation, new features, quality improvements, and technical resilience.
(via Intercom): Why Customer Acquisition Cost Matters: How to Calculate [and Reduce]
Brian Kotlyar explains why growth is good and how you can keep growth under control by mitigating the risk of overspending on customer acquisition.
📺 Join 900-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel:
- 🛑 Scrum Sprint Anti-Patterns,
- Agile Maturity and Agility Assessment: Is Agile a Fad or Trend?
- Agile Failure Patterns 2.0
- Product Owner Anti-Patterns
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🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition
Read more: Food for Agile Thought #166: Agile Transformation Challenges, Empowered Teams, Is Holacracy a Cult?.