Age of Product’s Food for Thought of December 18th, 2016—shared with 5,330 peers—looks back at this year’s product people and at the state of technology.
We also dive deep into how to create organizations based on agile teams, and what this has to do with creativity and keeping your competitive edge. We also ask: has today’s Scrum Master role become meaningless?
Marty Cagan no longer believes that the Product Owner is at the same time also the product manager, and Clay Christensen explains today’s recipe for innovation—conveniently delivered at the length of commute or a milkshake. Or both at the same time.
Enjoy a great holiday season—Food for Thought will be back on January 8th, 2017!
🏆 The Essential Read
The Stratechery): The State of Technology at the End of 2016
(viaBen Thompson summarizes the state of technology at the end of 2016.
Agile & Scrum
Crisp): Transforming the pyramid to an agile organization
(viaJimmy Janlén explores in this animation how an agile team based organization could look like, and how to get there.
Mind The Product): Crafting a Creative Culture by Jeff Veen
(viaIn this thought-provoking closing keynote from #mtpcon Jeff Veen, design partner at True Ventures, shared how important a creative culture is, how it allows you to build better products, and what organizations need to do to craft that creative culture.
Scrum.org): Evolution of the Development Team - A 'successful team' pattern
(viaRon Eringa shares the development pattern of successful engineering teams he has been observing.
The Liberated ScrumMaster
:Tobias Mayer states that the originally controversial nature of the ScrumMaster has now all but disappeared, watered down to the point of meaninglessness.
Use Tuckman’s team stages to inform your retrospectives
:Corinna Baldauf refers to Judith Andresen, who points out that the Tuckman stage of your team should inform and influence the retrospectives you design for them.
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Product People & Lean
(via Alpha): Product Management 2016 in Review
Product Management in Review lists 40 thought leaders that helped to move the industry forward in 2016.
svpg): Product Manager vs. Product Owner Revisited
(viaMarty Cagan changes his belief from 2011 that the product manager is also the product owner, because using Scrum as development practice is not teaching the product owner how to lead the product.
Invision): The product roadmap that boosts innovation
(viaIt is roadmap building time again, and Janna Bastow points out to a simple, yet innovative approach to product strategy: theme-based roadmaps.
Harvard Business Review): The “Jobs to be Done” Theory of Innovation
(viaClayton Christensen, professor at Harvard Business School, builds upon the theory of disruptive innovation and speaks about his new book examining how successful companies know how to grow.
Factors for Making Value-Based Product Decisions
:Ellen Gottesdiener lists twelve common decision factors that a product owner must balance when considering product options.