Food for Agile Thought #213: Liberating Structures Rescue Scrum, Pair Coaching, Stakeholder Buy-in, Magic Prioritization Bullet

Food for Agile Thought’s issue #213—shared with 23,845 peers—delves into how Liberating Structures rescue Scrum; we borrow Swedish ideas on agile leadership beyond the so-called ‘Spotify model,’ and we learn to create an environment that is attractive to introverts.

We also consider pair coaching; we learn how to include stakeholders in product decisions while managing their expectations, and we dare to look at some math, namely Cost of Delay.

Lastly, we shed light on Mr. Amazon’s grand plan for the universe.

Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #212?

Food for Agile Thought #213: Liberating Structures Rescue Scrum, Pair Coaching, Stakeholder Buy-in, Magic Prioritization Bullet

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Scrum Guide 2020 — Download the new edition of the Scrum Guide Reordered — Age-of-Product.com

🏆 The Essential Read: Liberating Structures Rescue Scrum

Barry Overeem, Christiaan Verwijs and Johannes Schartau (via InfoQ): Liberating Structures — an Antidote to Zombie Scrum

Barry Overeem, Christiaan Verwijs, and Johannes Schartau describe cargo cult versions of Scrum, and how to prevent them from manifesting themselves using Liberating Structures.

Agile & Scrum

Peter Koning (via Scrum.org): The 7 Best Agile Leadership Tips After Visiting Stockholm

On tour to Sweden with 15 peers, Peter Koning visited several companies in and around Stockholm. Here is what he learned on how to create thriving environments for agile teams.

Yassal Sundman and Michael Göthe (via Crisp): Pair Coaching

Yassal Sundman and Michael Göthe claim that there are—just like with pair programming—many benefits to pair coaching.

Tobias Anderberg (via InfoQ): 📺 Agile for the Introvert

Tobias Anderberg reflects on how to foster an inclusive team environment for introverts and stresses the importance of psychological safety.

📅 Just One Seat Left: Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Frankfurt, October 21-22, 2019

Join your peers for this hands-on Scrum Master training, including up to two attempts at the Professional Scrum Master® I certification by Scrum.org. Learn everything about empiricism, self-organization & the ‘Definition of Done’ in two energizing days in Frankfurt, Oct 21-22, 2019.

📅 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Frankfurt/Main, October 21-22, 2019

Learn more: 📅 Professional Scrum Master Training PSM I — Frankfurt/Main, October 21-22, 2019.

Product & Lean

Franklin Foer (via The Atlantic): Jeff Bezos’s Master Plan

Franklin Foer analyzes what the Amazon founder wants for his empire and himself, and what that means for the rest of us.

Teresa Torres (via Mind The Product): 📺 Justify Your Product Decisions and Get Stakeholder Buy-in

In this closing keynote from #mtpcon San Francisco, Teresa Torres shares her learnings on how to create a collaborative relationship with stakeholders,

Charles Lambdin (via Medium): Is CD3 the Golden Key?

Charles Lambdin delves deep into the importance of Don Reinertsen’s concept of Cost of Delay for putting a price-tag on product decisions.

📯 Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books

Imagine you’re a Scrum Master and the line manager of your team believes that the best sign for a successful agile transformation is a steady increase in the Scrum Team’s velocity. Moreover, if the team fails to deliver on that metric something is wrong with the Scrum Team. Alternatively, something is wrong with you as you are the Scrum Master and hence responsible for the team’s performance. (Apparently, not faking agile metrics, or being transparent in this case, does not seem to be valued here.)

Learn more about how to coach these kinds of line managers and help them overcome their preference for the industrial past with a simple exercise on how to cook the agile books.

Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books — Age-of-Product.com

Read more: Faking Agile Metrics or Cooking the Agile Books.


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📅 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:

Date Class and Language City Price
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 October 9, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #65: The Lean Tech Manifesto with Fabrice Bernhard (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 October 15-16, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Master Advanced Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 November 6-7, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 November 18-19, 2024 Professional Scrum Master Advanced Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 November 21, 2024 Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class (PSFS; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 December 4-5, 2024 Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 December 10-11, 2024 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 December 18-19, 2024 Professional Scrum Master Advanced Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
Professional Scrum Training by PST Stefan Wolpers, Berlin  Product People

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.


Scrum Guide Reordered Free Download Age-of-Product.com

📺 Join 1,700-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel:

✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn about how Liberating Structures Rescue Scrum: Join the 6,125-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.

Large scale agile: Join the Hands-on Agile Slack Group

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.

Scrum Master Interview Question: free download of the most popular ebook on Scrum Master job interviews — by Age-of-Product

🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #212: Temporal Dynamics, Coach Assessment, Impact Mapping, Mind Your Competition..

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