From Transparency to the Perils of Oversharing

TL; DR: Why Too Much Transparency Can Have a Detrimental Effect

While transparency is often touted as essential in Agile, too much can have negative consequences. Oversharing can lead to micromanagement, misinterpretation, and loss of trust within the team. Examples include excessive scrutiny during Daily Scrums, misreading progress metrics, and creating a blame culture that erodes psychological safety.

Strategic opacity may sometimes be necessary to protect the team’s autonomy and maintain a healthy dynamic. Be transparent, but not at the expense of the team’s independence and well-being.

From Transparency to the Perils of Oversharing: Why Too Much Transparency Can Have a Detrimental Effect — Age-of-Product.com.
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Agile Teams as Investors: A Deeper Dive into Maximizing Organizational Value

TL; DR: Agile Teams as Investors

Stakeholders often regard Scrum and other agile teams as cost centers, primarily focused on executing projects within budgetary confines. This conventional view, however, undervalues their strategic potential. If we reconsider agile teams as investors—carefully allocating their resources to optimize returns—they can significantly impact an organization’s strategic objectives and long-term profitability.

This perspective not only redefines their role but also enhances the effectiveness of their contributions to the business by solving the customers’ problems.

Agile Teams as Investors: A Deeper Dive into Maximizing Organizational Value — Age-of-Product.com
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📺 The Power and Pains of Autonomy — Jimmy Janlén at the Agile Camp Berlin 2021

TL; DR: The Power and Pains of Autonomy at the ACB21

In this highly engaging talk at the Agile Camp Berlin 2021, Jimmy Janlén addresses the core element of “Agile,” it’s key to speed, innovation, and success: team autonomy. Learn more about its benefits, challenges, fears, and pains and what organizations can do to unleash it.

📺 The Power and Pains of Autonomy — Jimmy Janlén at the Agile Camp Berlin 2021 — Berlin Product People GmbH
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Maximizing Utilization, Ignoring Slack Time — Making Your Scrum Work #22

TL; DR: Maximizing Utilization as a Relic from the Industrial Management Past

There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Since Scrum is an intentionally incomplete framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. For example, what if the focus of the organization is on the maximizing utilization of the “workers” of the Scrum teams? What if the organization is still stuck deeply in industrial paradigm thinking, ignoring the benefits of slack time for the creation of value in the field of knowledge work?

Join me and delve into the effects of this outdated management principle in 60 seconds.

Maximizing Utilization, Ignoring Slack Time — Making Your Scrum Work #22 — Age-of-Product.com
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How to Win with Agile Resistant Teams — Scott Weiner at the Agile Camp Berlin 2021

TL; DR: How to Win with Agile Resistant Teams w/ Scott Weiner — ACB21

In this highly engaging speaker session from the Agile Camp Berlin 2021, Scott Weiner shares a case study on how to master an agile transition by creating agile resistant teams based on common sense, team autonomy, and the psychology of metrics.

How to Win with Agile Resistant Teams w/ Scott Weiner — Agile Camp Berlin 2021
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