Food for Agile Thought #350: Product Discovery Tool, Team Longevity, Vanity Metrics, Shared Understanding in Sketches

Welcome to the 350th edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 35,507 peers. My name is Stefan Wolpers.

This week, we introduce the ‘Confidence Meter,’ a product discovery tool. Plus, we ask a seemingly simple question: how do we define team longevity, and is it indeed a helpful approach? Moreover, we enjoy an introductory guide to understanding and using Product Goals to your team’s advantage and point at waste at all levels in our software shops.

Then, we share ‘empirical evidence for the [usefulness of the] Double-Diamond model’ and applaud Jason Yip, who sketched use cases of user stories, from 😞 to 🤔 to 😀 practices. And in case you plan your next career step: Roman Pichler sheds light on the responsibilities of a head of product. Moreover, Janna Bastow talks about being lean while creating and maintaining your roadmap and how objectives and key results (OKR) may help meet that challenge.

Finally, we share John Cutler’s ultimate guide to fighting vanity metrics, from understanding their appeal to identifying and overcoming them. And while we are at it: Agile Uprising provides a guide to helpful metrics in various environments, from flow efficiency to work item age to time to market.

PS: 🗞 Did you miss past issues? No worries, here we go: 349, 348.

📈 🔬 Join 380-plus peers and contribute to the anonymous poll for the upcoming free ‘Product Owner and Product Manager Salary Report 2022!’

🏆 Tip of the Week

Itamar Gilad addresses a common problem in product discovery, getting lost in yet another discovery activity, by introducing the ‘Confidence Meter’ tool: "How Much Product Discovery Is Enough?"

➿ Agile & Scrum

• Jeff Gothelf asks a seemingly simple question: how do we define team longevity, and is it indeed a helpful approach: "How long should we keep the team together?"

• Parabol Focus shares an introductory guide to understanding and using Product Goals to your team’s advantage: "Product Goals: How to Write and Use Them (With Examples)."

• Industrial Logic: Tim Ottinger points to various forms of waste at all levels in our software shops and what we can do about it: "Waste Snake."
  
  

🎓 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Hands-on Agile #43: Outcome-Based Product Planning with Jeff Gothelf — July 14, 2022

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 any more. We build continuous systems. Nevertheless, we have to be able to create and provide some plans for our teams, leaders and customers to set expectations about the ongoing improvements and future of the services we build. How do we communicate that effectively in a continuous world? How do we ensure the voice of the customer is included in these plans?

In this talk, Jeff Gothelf will discuss the concept of outcome-based product planning. Using specific examples and detailed tools, Jeff will show how taking a customer-centric look at product strategy and creating continuously improving plans ensures the teams maintain their agility, customer-focus and ultimately, the success of their product.

Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Hands-on Agile #43: Outcome-Based Product Planning with Jeff Gothelf — July 14, 2022.

👉 From time to time, we can offer last-minute seats for Professional Scrum training classes at cost to individuals who do not have access to a corporate training budget. If you like to be notified about these opportunities, please apply here.

🎯 Product

• Medium: Sharon Ferguson shares ‘empirical evidence for the [usefulness of the] Double-Diamond model:’ "How do product design teams converge on an idea?"

• Medium: Jason Yip sketches use cases of user stories, from 😞 to 🤔 to 😀 practices: "Some sketches about using User Stories to facilitate shared understanding: bad, better, best."
  
  

• Roman Pichler sheds light on the responsibilities of a head of product, a career aspiration for many product managers and Product Owners: "What Should a Head of Product Do?"

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• Amplitude: John Cutler shares his ultimate guide to fighting vanity metrics, from understanding their appeal to identifying and overcoming them: "What Are Vanity Metrics and How to Stop Using Them."

• Agile Uprising provides a guide to helpful metrics in various environments, from flow efficiency to work item age to time to market: "Actionable Agile Metrics For Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, or ANYTHING! How to get started!"

✂️ Cutting Room Floor

• Cal Newport explains why three hours of work per day may not be painfully slow but massively productive — when you zoom out and take a long-term perspective: "The 3-Hour Fields Medal: A Slow Productivity Case Study."

📺 Lean Roadmapping and OKRs — Janna Bastow at HoA #42

In this energizing 42nd Hands-on Agile meetup on Lean Roadmapping, Janna Bastow, the go-to-authority on product roadmaps, talked about being lean while creating and maintaining your roadmap and how objectives and key results (OKR) may help meet that challenge.

Watch the video now: Janna Bastow: Lean Roadmapping and OKRs — Hands-on Agile #42.

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 July 14 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile #43: Outcome-Based Product Planning w/ Jeff Gothelf (English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Aug 29-30 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Sep 5 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile #44: Honey, I Shrunk the Backlog w/ Allan Kelly (English)
• 🖥 🇬🇧 Sep 6-9 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Sep 26-27 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Agile Leadership Essentials Training (PAL-E; German)
• 🖥 🇬🇧 Oct 4-5 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Oct 18-21 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO-A; German)
• 🖥 🇬🇧 Oct 31-Nov 3 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; English)

See all upcoming classes here.

📺 Youtube Channel

• Janna Bastow: Hands-on Agile #42: Lean Roadmapping and OKRs.

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Best,