Food for Agile Thought #372: State of Agile Report 2022, Annual Planning in Uncertainty, Pricing, ChatGPT on Agile and Scrum

Welcome to the 372nd edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 36,387 peers. My name is Stefan Wolpers.

This week, we share the State of Agile 2022 Report and probe ChatGPT on Agile and Scrum. Moreover, we dissect a common corporate anti-pattern while transforming into an agile organization: They continue incentivizing individuals. Also, we discuss the concept of technical debt—a ‘metaphor for communicating the long-term implications of architectural decisions and trade-offs to stakeholders’—and its limitations.

Then, we offer advice on how to lead stakeholders and developers, guide individuals, and create value together without having the authority to tell them what to do. Next, Lenny Rachitsky interviews Madhavan Ramanujam, author of ‘Monetizing Innovation,’ about all the elements that go into your pricing strategy. Of course, getting pricing right requires experiments. Fortunately, we also share a hypothesis for supporting an organizational culture of experimentation by applying a pattern language to cover that part.

Finally, First Round Capital compiled six ‘unique approaches to end-of-year planning,’ covering fresh tactics, different perspectives, and tested frameworks. Moreover, the Concepts & Tools section would not be complete this week without this comprehensive guide to decision-making, from the benefits of including others to games, exercises, tools, and how to avoid premature convergence. Lastly, Andy Cleff analyzes the context and options of saying ‘no’ gracefully, and Ben Thompson also explores ChatGPT by asking, ‘Did Thomas Hobbes believe in the separation of powers?’

PS: 🗞 Did you miss past issues? No worries, here we go: 371, 370.

👉 📈 Join 975-plus peers—less than 25 to go: The Anonymous Scrum Master and Agile Coach Salary Report 2023.

🏆 Tip of the Week

📖 📈 Digital.ai: In 2022, the 16th Annual State of Agile Report is based on the experiences of over 3,000 IT and business professionals worldwide. The report is free: "The 16th Annual State of Agile Report is here!"

➿ Agile & Scrum

• Mark Levison dissects a common corporate anti-pattern while transforming into an agile organization: They continue incentivizing individuals: "Agile Bonuses – The Damage They Do."

• InfoQ: Kurt Bittner, Pierre Pureur, and Thomas Betts discuss the concept of technical debt—a ‘metaphor for communicating the long-term implications of architectural decisions and trade-offs to stakeholders’—and its limitations: "What Does Technical Debt Tell You?"
  
  

• Medium: Anders Jönsson details the way his team came up with to handle their work, including a sophisticated Trello design: "Our Way of Working and our Agile Board."

🎓 🖥 🇺🇸 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

• Medium: Roman Pichler offers advice on how to lead stakeholders and developers, guide individuals, and create value together without having the authority to tell them what to do: "Leading without Being the Boss: Tips for Product People."

• 🎙 Lenny Rachitsky interviews Madhavan Ramanujam, author of ‘Monetizing Innovation,’ about all the elements that go into your pricing strategy: "The art and science of pricing."

• Nathan Baschez, creator of and contributor to several successful products, from Product Hunt to Substack, details nine components of his approach to creating products, from coming up with ideas to shaping the idea into a simple v1 to launching: "My Philosophy of Product Building."

• Medium: Carl J Rogers shares his hypothesis for supporting an organizational culture of experimentation by applying a pattern language to experiments, resulting in a greater appreciation of the effort: "Pattern Language for Experiment Writing."
  
  

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• First Round Capital compiled six ‘unique approaches to end-of-year planning,’ covering fresh tactics, different perspectives, and tested frameworks: "Annual Planning in Uncertain Times: 6 Tactics for Rethinking Your Company’s End-of-Year Exercise."

• SessionLab: Deborah Rim Moiso shares a comprehensive guide to decision-making, from the benefits of including others to games, exercises, tools, and how to avoid premature convergence: "27 Decision-making Techniques and Activities to Improve How You Take Decisions Together."

• Andy Cleff analyzes the context and options of saying ‘no’ gracefully: "Doing ‘No’ Better."

🎶 Encore

• The Stratechery: Ben Thompson analyzes ChatGPT by asking, ‘Did Thomas Hobbes believe in the separation of powers?’ "AI Homework."
  
  
  
  Quote: ”This is a confident answer, complete with supporting evidence and a citation to Hobbes work, and it is completely wrong. Hobbes was a proponent of absolutism, the belief that the only workable alternative to anarchy — the natural state of human affairs — was to vest absolute power in a monarch; checks and balances was the argument put forth by Hobbes’ younger contemporary John Locke, who believed that power should be split between an executive and legislative branch.”

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 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®.

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Best,