Escaping the Feature Factory

TL; DR: Escaping the Feature Factory — Refocussing From Output to Outcome

The feature factory fate is not inevitable; there is hope to avoid becoming a mere cog in the machinery. Learn how!

In many large organizations, Scrum teams fall into the ‘feature factory’ trap, focusing more on churning out features than creating real value. It’s too bad that this shift undermines Agile principles and hampers long-term success and innovation. Let’s discuss how and why this happens and what we can do to break the chains of the feature factory.

Escaping the Feature Factory — Refocussing From Output to Outcome — Age-of-Product.com
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Saying No as a Product Owner or Product Manager

TL, DR: Saying No Without Burning Bridges

Are you navigating the delicate art of saying No as a Product Owner or product manager? Actually, it’s more of a strategic ‘yes’ to higher priorities, turning down lower-level requests without shutting down communication.

This article will dive into various approaches, from reframing conversations and fostering stakeholder collaboration to being transparent to data-informed rationale and empathetic engagement. Discover how to maintain a harmonious balance between driving Product Goals and nurturing professional relationships with your stakeholders.

Saying No as a Product Owner or Product Manager — Age-of-Product.com
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Minimum Viable Library (1) — Scrum Master Edition

TL; DR: The Minimum Viable Library for Scrum Masters

The Minimum Viable Library is available! Explore a series of carefully curated collections of essential books, newsletters, podcasts, and tools to elevate your agile expertise.

Read on and learn how the recommendations for Scrum Masters cover a wide range of topics, including Scrum, servant leadership, customer value creation, coaching teams, improving team dynamics through Retrospectives, and navigating agile enterprise transformations.

Minimum Viable Library — Scrum Master Edition — Age-of-Product.com
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Product Discovery for Scrum Teams — Scrum Tools, Part 2

TL; DR: Product Discovery for Scrum Teams

While Scrum excels at building and releasing Increments, it does not guarantee that those are valuable—garbage in, garbage out. Scrum teams can equally make things no one is interested in using at all. The critical artifact to create value is the Product Backlog, “an emergent, ordered list of what is needed to improve the product.” (Source.) However, Scrum does not elaborate on how the Product Owner identifies Product Backlog-worthy work items. That would be the job of the process that feeds into the Product Backlog: product discovery.

Learn more about which frameworks have proven useful to augment Scrum with product discovery practices.

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How much Product Discovery Is Enough? Itamar Gilad’s Confidence Meter

TL; DR: Evidence-guided Product Discovery Using Itamar Gilad’s Confidence Meter

How much product discovery is enough? Figuring out what is worth building often feels valuable in and of itself. The problem is that becoming stuck in an endless discovery cycle neither solves your customers’ issues nor contributes to your organization’s sustainability. Don’t worry; help is on the way in the form of Itamar Gilad’s Confidence Meter!

How much Product Discovery Is Enough? Itamar Gilad’s Confidence Meter — Age-of-Product.com

📺 Watch the video now: How much Product Discovery Is enough? Itamar Gilad’s Confidence Meter Explained — Hands-on Agile #47.

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Jeff Gothelf: Outcome-Based Product Planning — Hands-on Agile 43

TL; DR: HoA #43: Outcome-Based Product Planning w/ Jeff Gothelf

In this energizing 43rd Hands-on Agile session on outcome-based product planning, Jeff Gothelf clarified one thing: “Roadmapping is a flawed concept in the age of Agile. Maps, by their definition, are linear, and we don’t build linear products and services anymore. We build continuous systems.” Learn more about what he considers product roadmap flaws and what you can do about them.

Jeff Gothelf: Outcome-Based Product Planning — Hands-on Agile 43 — Age-of-Product.com

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