Food for Agile Thought #307: The Heart of Continuous Improvement, Dealing w/ a HiPPO, Leadership Stances, Innovation Heroes?

TL; DR: Continuous Improvement, Innovation Heroes? — Food for Agile Thought #307

Welcome to the 307th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 32,883 peers. This week, we explore the heart of continuous improvement; we dissect the leadership anti-pattern of rewarding the continuation of a broken system, and we suggest eight attitudes to describe leadership styles in a VUCA world, ranging from the organizational refactorer to the flow manager.

We then delve into the anti-pattern of product requirements documents (PRD), substituting proper product discovery. Moreover, we show that successful businesses figure out how to align their goals with the customers they serve. Also, we provide insight into how to practice empathy and communicate effectively with the leadership.

Lastly, we enjoy a podcast with Mr. User Story Mapping Jeff Patton, explaining how you can transform ordinary teams into extraordinary ones by fixing the product backlog.

Food for Agile Thought #307: The Heart of Continuous Improvement, Dealing w/ a HiPPO, Leadership Stances, Innovation Heroes? — Age-of-Product.com

Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #306?

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Hands-on Agile #34: Core Protocols for Psychological Safety — Richard Kasperowski — Age-of-Product.com

📅 Join us on September 7, 2021: Hands-on Agile #34: Core Protocols for Psychological Safety with Richard Kasperowski.

🏆 The Tip of the Week: The Heart of Continuous Improvement

Esther Derby (via YouTube): 📺 Agile Retrospectives: The Heart of Team Improvement

In this video, Ester Derby delves into why Retrospectives play such a crucial role in a team’s continuous improvement efforts.

➿ Agile & Scrum

Steve Blank: Why Innovation Heroes are a Sign of a Dysfunctional Organization

Steve Blank dissects the leadership anti-pattern of rewarding the continuation of a broken system.

Matt Philip: The Eight Stances of a Transformational Leader

Matt Philip suggests eight attitudes to describe leadership styles in a VUCA world, ranging from the organizational refactorer to the flow manager.

(via InfoQ): Improving Speed and Stability of Software Delivery Simultaneously at Siemens Healthineers

Vladyslav Ukis shares the story of a significant, successful software delivery transformation, improving speed and stability simultaneously.

🎓 🖥 🇩🇪 Professional Scrum Product Owner Schulung mit PSPO-Zertifikat — Online: 21. bis 24. September 2021

Entdecken Sie die vier Erfolgsprinzipien von Scrum mit dieser offiziellen, garantierten Scrum.org Professional Scrum Product Owner-Schulung, die zur branchenweit anerkannten PSPO I-Zertifizierung führt und diese beinhaltet. Die Unterrichtssprache ist Deutsch und die Schulung ist als virtueller Live-Unterricht von 4 Stunden/Tag (9-13 Uhr MESZ) konzipiert.

🖥 Professional Scrum Product Owner Schulung mit PSPO-Zertifikat — Online: 21. bis 24. September 2021 — Berlin Product People GmbH

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Kundenstimmen: “Top Training, aus dem ich zahlreiche Impulse für meine Aufgabe als Product Owner mitnehmen konnte.” (Link.)

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🎯 Product

Marty Cagan: Discovery vs. Documentation

Marty Cagan delves into the anti-pattern of product requirements documents (PRD), substituting proper product discovery.

Seth Godin: Which problem are we solving?

Seth Godin shows that successful businesses figure out how to align their goals with the customers they serve.

Rich Mironov (via Heap): 🎙 Product Therapy: What Do You Do With a HIPPO?

In this podcast, Rich Mironov provides insight into how to practice empathy and communicate effectively with the leadership.

📯 Should Managers Attend Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #19

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Given that Scrum is a framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. A classic discussion is whether it is appropriate that (line) managers attend the Retrospectives of the Scrum team. Probably, making their attendance a regular habit—or even a requirement—is not a good idea. However, what about managers that occasionally attend a Retrospective? Moreover, what if the (line) manager is also a team member?

Join me and delve into the how and when of managers attending Retrospectives in less than two minutes.

Should Managers Attend Retrospectives? — Making Your Scrum Work #19 — Age-of-Product.com

Learn more: Should Managers Attend Retrospectives?

🛠 Tools & Measuring

Jeff Patton (via Mind The Product): 🎙 Getting started with User Story Mapping

In this podcast, Jeff Patton explains how you can transform ordinary teams into extraordinary ones by fixing the product backlog.

Jennifer Clinehens (via Medium): How to Solve Impossible Problems: Reframing

Jennifer Clinehens suggests a mental model to overcome the unsolvable.

📅 Scrum Training Classes, Workshops, and Events

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🖥 💯 🇩🇪 April 20-21, 2022 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
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🖥 🇬🇧 June 20-23, 2022 Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 June 28-July 1, 2022 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT

See all upcoming classes here.

Professional Scrum Training by PST Stefan Wolpers, Berlin  Product People

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🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #306: Selling Product’s Success, Method and Framework Prison, Better NPS Surveys, Five Hacks for Your Time.

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