Food for Agile Thought #371: User Story Guide, Not all Planning Is Helpful, ROI of Product Management

Welcome to the 371st edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 36,352 peers. My name is Stefan Wolpers.

This week, we share an extensive user story guide to create successful products, covering a lot of ground from 3Cs to INVEST to 3Ws. Also, we delve into the benefits of applying principles and patterns from the team topologies concept to remote and hybrid work environments. Moreover, John Cutler busts the myth that all planning is in some way helpful when he points to nine situations where planning might not be beneficial, from planning before the last responsible moment to planning to maximize output.

Also, we appreciate a Forrester Consulting study on the benefits of taking product management seriously, including “key recommendations on making product bets with greater impact.” (Download the study for free.) Then, we analyze different scenarios you may encounter when elevating a team from feature factory workers to problem solvers and dive into the advantages of a product design philosophy popularized by Amazon: Working backward. And Petra Wille shares how to best support your team as a product coach.

Finally, we share lessons learned on how ThoughtWorks helped Etsy create a new product culture, scaling discovery and delivery. The Institute of Cultural Affairs curated an extensive repository of free learning resources for facilitators, from group facilitation methods to virtual facilitation. Lastly, Russ Roberts interviews Annie Duke on the benefits of letting go and how to avoid confusing grit with character.

PS: 🗞 Did you miss past issues? No worries, here we go: 369, 370.

👉 📈 Join 950-plus peers—less than 50 to go: The Anonymous Scrum Master and Agile Coach Salary Report 2023.

🏆 Tip of the Week

Paulo Caroli shares an extensive guide on how to best use user stories to create successful products, from 3Cs to INVEST to 3Ws: "Writing User Stories and building successful products."

➿ Agile & Scrum

• InfoQ: Eduardo da Silva and Rich Allen delve into the benefits of applying principles and patterns from the team topologies concept to remote and hybrid work environments: "Enabling Effective Remote Working - Principles and Patterns from Team Topologies."

• Timothy Cochran shares lessons learned on how ThoughtWorks helped Etsy create a new product culture, scaling discovery and delivery: "Introducing a product delivery culture at Etsy."
  
  

• John Cutler busts the myth that all planning is in some way helpful. Instead, he points to nine situations where planning might not be beneficial, from planning before the last responsible moment to planning to maximize output: "Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. We've all heard this. Common sense. But NO...not all planning is helpful."

🎓 🖥 🇺🇸 Professional Scrum Product Owner — January 23-26, 2023

Discover Scrum’s four success principles in this official Scrum.org Professional Scrum Product Owner training class, leading to and including the industry-recognized PSPO I certification. (This live-virtual class will be offered in English.)

Enjoy the benefits of a live immersive class with like-minded agile peers in the morning hours from 9 am – 1 pm EST.

Learn more: 🖥 🇺🇸 Professional Scrum Product Owner — January 23-26, 2023.

“Great Depth of Knowledge & Experience: The depth is experience that Stefan Wolpers possesses was evident in his ability to answer questions of all levels during the 4 training sessions. I particularly appreciated his willingness to tease apart Scrum answers into application in real life with examples.” (Source.)

👉 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

• 📖 productboard: Forrester Consulting conducted a study on the benefits of taking product management seriously, including “key recommendations on making product bets with greater impact.” Download the study for free: "Study: How Investing in Product Management Pays."
  
  

• Medium: Joca Torres analyzes different scenarios you may encounter when elevating a team from feature factory workers to problem solvers: "How to Turn a Feature Team into a Product Team?"

• 🎙 Lenny Rachitsky interviews Petra Wille on how to best support your team as a product coach: "How to be the best coach to product people."

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• 📖 ICA:UK: The Institute of Cultural Affairs curated an extensive repository of free learning resources for facilitators, from group facilitation methods to virtual facilitation: "Free Resources [on Facilitation and Participation]."

• Nick Babich dives into the advantages of a product design philosophy popularized by Amazon: "Working backward: Why it is a must-have approach for product designers."

🎶 Encore

• 🎙 Econlib: Russ Roberts interviews Annie Duke on the benefits of letting go and how to avoid confusing grit with character: "Annie Duke on the Power of Quitting."
  
  

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Dec 8 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile 48: How Elon Musk Would Run YOUR Business w/ Joe Justice (English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Dec 12-13 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)
• 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 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)
• 🖥 🇺🇸 Jan 23-27 👉 US Timezone — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; English)
• 🖥 🇬🇧 Jan 24-28 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Jan 31-Feb 3 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)
• 🖥 🇬🇧 Feb 3-10 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; English)
• 🖥 🇺🇸 Feb 13-16 👉 US Timezone — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Feb 3-Mar 3 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)

See all upcoming classes here.

📺 Youtube Channel

• Diana Larsen: The Agile Fluency Model®.

Your Opinion Matters

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Best,