Food for Agile Thought #361: Useful Agile Metrics, The Stakeholder Whisperer, Successful Transformations

Welcome to the 361st edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 35,942 peers. My name is Stefan Wolpers.

This week, we enjoy an Agile 2022 workshop, where Doc Norton deep-dives into the tricky issue of metrics, from the problematic ones, like velocity, to gaming metrics to selecting valuable metrics. Also, we dissect contributing factors to successful agile transformations while pointing at what to avoid, from cargo-cultism to HyperScrum-dementalism to agile scapegoatism, and delve into the rationale of higher purpose goals, from motivating people to driving autonomy. Finally, did you know that the fourth element of Scrum’s empiricism—beyond transparency, inspection, and adaptation—is hiding in plain sight in a sentence on Scrum Values?

Then, we learn from Lenny Rachitsky how to best proceed in becoming the stakeholder whisperer, while Jon Moore and Marty Cagan sketch necessary changes in how you build products when transforming to become a strong, product-led company. Moreover, John Cutler reflects on the “tension between your go-to-market (GTM) and product teams as you scale,” resulting in more complexity, for example, product debt. By the way, there is also an interview with John by Jason Knight.

Finally, we listen to John Drogosz pitching the advantages of value stream mapping for cross-functional teams to improve their way of working and suggest ten steps to gain any basic industry understanding, from diagrams to glossaries to thought leaders and conferences. Moreover, Rita McGrath elaborates on Kodak’s demise and what the halo effect has to do with it. Think printers from the company that invented digital photography.

PS: 🗞 Did you miss past issues? No worries, here we go: 359, 360.

📈 Let Us Create Transparency: Join the Anonymous Scrum Master Salary Report 2023.

🏆 Tip of the Week

📺 Agile Alliance: In this recording from an Agile 2022 workshop, Doc Norton deep-divs into the tricky issue of metrics, from the problematic ones, like velocity, to gaming metrics to selecting valuable metrics to help your team understand whether it is progressing toward the desired outcome. Membership required: "Useful Metrics for Agile Teams."

➿ Agile & Scrum

• 280 Group: Dean Peters dissects contributing factors to successful agile transformations while pointing at what to avoid, from cargo-cultism to HyperScrum-dementalism to agile scapegoatism. You gotta love the coinings: "How to Achieve a Successful Agile Transformation."

• Allan Kelly delves into the rationale of higher purpose goals, from motivating people to driving autonomy: "Level 1 Goals, Purpose and Meaning."

• Dropbox: Henrik Kniberg: “I tried a new format for today's Leading Complexity keynote. Did the remote talk on a live Miro board with participants posting questions and insights on the fly. Had a rough structure and pics prepared, but could hop around rather than being railroaded by predefined slides. Worked really well!:” "Leading Complexity: Some Thoughts about the Spotify Model."
  
  

🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Hands-on Agile #46: Engage the Agile Fluency® Model with Diana Larsen on October 12, 2022

Join Agile innovator Diana Larsen for a lively engagement with the Agile Fluency Model ®. After a short introduction to AFM, we’ll shift to an AMA-style discussion (Ask Me Anything) of the groundbreaking view of agile and teams. Then, learn about an inclusive, positive, improvement-oriented approach to guiding Agile choices.

RSVP now: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Hands-on Agile #46: Engage the Agile Fluency® Model with Diana Larsen on October 12, 2022.

👉 From time to time, we can offer last-minute seats for 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 register here.

🎯 Product

• Lenny Rachitsky suggests how to best proceed as a product manager in becoming the stakeholder whisperer: "How to get better at influence."
  
  

• Silicon Valley Product Group: In this first article of a series, Jon Moore and Marty Cagan sketch necessary changes in how you build products when transforming to become a strong, product-led company: "Changing How You Build."

• John Cutler reflects on the “tension between your go-to-market (GTM) and product teams as you scale,” resulting in more complexity, for example, product debt: "Product GTM Fitness."

• 🎙 In this podcast, Jason Knight interviews John Cutler, a “systems overthinker” and “on second thoughts” leader: "Survive the Feature Factory by Applying Product Thinking to Product Thinking (with John Cutler, Product Evangelist & Coach @ Amplitude)."

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• Lean Enterprise Institute: John Drogosz pitches the advantages of value stream mapping for cross-functional teams to improve their way of working: "Value Stream Mapping in Product Development."
  
  

• Steve Blank suggests ten steps to gain any basic industry understanding, from diagrams to glossaries to thought leaders and conferences: "Mapping the Unknown – The Ten Steps to Map Any Industry."

🎶 Encore

• Rita McGrath elaborates on Kodak’s demise and what the halo effect has to do with it. Think printers: "When Business Cases Teach the Wrong Lessons."

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Sep 27 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile 45: FAST: An Innovative Way to Scale w/ James Shore (English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Sep 29 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills (PSFS; English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Oct 4-5 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Oct 12 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile 46: Engage the Agile Fluency® Model with Diana Larsen (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)
• 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Nov 15-18 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
• 🖥 🇬🇧 Dec 12-13 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; German)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Dec 14-15 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Dec 19-20 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)

See all upcoming classes here.

📺 Youtube Channel

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

Your Opinion Matters

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Best,