Food for Agile Thought #353: Sales vs. Product, Minimum Viable Transformation, Pivot or Persevere?

Welcome to the 353rd edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 35,651 peers. My name is Stefan Wolpers.

This week, we delve into Sales vs. Product, analyzing their conflicting worldviews. Additionally, we learn about the pre-requisites of cultural change, for example, ensuring that at least a quarter of your community supports the endeavor. Also, we detail why long-term software development plans do not work and critique an acclaimed book on DevOps, metrics, and effectiveness in software development.

Then, we reflect on Lean Startup’s “pivot or persevere” decision: scale, kill, pivot, or persevere, and we show practical ways to reduce our product’s risk of failure, from testing assumptions to data-informed decision-making. Moreover, we share eleven lessons on enabling product management with distributed teams, from the need to write more to embrace tools beyond Zoom and Google Docs.

Finally, we enjoy Avion’s bookmark-worthy guide on user story mapping and detail how product analytics can reduce churn if you learn to identify customers that share ‘specific characteristics and usage patterns.’ Lastly, Russ Roberts interviews the economist — and former chief economist of Uber and Lyft — John List on what determines scalability and ‘good ideas.’

PS: 🗞 Did you miss past issues? No worries, here we go: 351, 352.

📈 🔬 Join 450-plus peers and contribute to the anonymous poll for the upcoming free ‘Product Owner and Product Manager Salary Report 2022!’

🏆 Tip of the Week

Rich Mironov analyses the context of different worldviews of sales on the one side and product/development on the other side, pointing to the inherent conflict between these views: "‘A Working Request Process Should End in YES’ (aka Incompatible Worldviews)."

➿ Agile & Scrum

• Medium: Daniel Stillman dives deep into the pre-requisites to cultural change, for example, ensuring that at least a quarter of your community supports the endeavor: "Minimum Viable Transformation."
  
  

• Lucas F Costa details why long-term software development plans are his favorite ‘genre of fiction:’ "Why long-term plans don't work and how to fix them."

• Keunwoo Lee critically dissects an acclaimed book on DevOps, metrics, and effectiveness in software development: "A review of _Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps_."
  👉 Pair with: Response to Keunwoo Lee’s review of Accelerate.

🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Hands-on Agile #44: Honey, I Shrunk the Backlog with Allan Kelly — September 5, 2022

The backlog was a great idea until it wasn't. Many successful teams deliver backlog items daily, but their backlogs aren't getting any smaller. The never-ending backlog overshadows delivery success. Product discovery, dual-track agile, OKRs, etc., make it worse by accelerating backlog growth without taking any of the rotting items away.

Worst of all, doing the backlog distracts from delivering benefits to the customers and responding to change. So what are we to do?

In this presentation, Allan "Nuke the backlog" Kelly suggests you rethink the very idea of the backlog and rebuild your agile process around outcomes. You have nothing to lose by your burn-down charts.

RSVP now: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Hands-on Agile #44: Honey, I Shrunk the Backlog with Allan Kelly — September 5, 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

• Kromatic: Tristan Kromer reflects on Lean Startup’s “pivot or persevere” decision, claiming that there are four possible outcomes: scale, kill, pivot, or persevere: "How to Make “Pivot or Persevere” Decisions in Your Innovation Accounting."
  
  

• Department of Product: Richard Holmes shows practical ways to reduce your product’s risk of failure, from testing assumptions to data-informed decision-making: "How to de-risk your Product Strategy."

• Medium: Jens-Fabian Goetzmann shares eleven lessons on enabling product management with distributed teams, from the need to write more to embracing tools beyond Zoom and Google Docs: "Remote and Asynchronous Product Management."

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• Avion created a comprehensive guide on user story mapping worth bookmarking: "What Is User Story Mapping? Examples & Step-By-Step Guide."

• Amplitude: Darshil Gandhi details how product analytics can reduce churn if you learn to identify customers that share ‘specific characteristics and usage patterns:’ "Cohort Analysis: Reduce Churn & Improve Retention."

✂️ Cutting Room Floor

• 🎙 Econlib: Russ Roberts interviews the economist — and former chief economist of Uber and Lyft — John List on what determines scalability and ‘good ideas:’ "John List on Scale, Uber, and the Voltage Effect."
  
  

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 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.

Your Opinion Matters

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Best,