Food for Agile Thought #373: ChatGPT and Disruption, Stakeholder Management, Value of Agile Coaching

Welcome to the 373rd edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 36,412 peers. My name is Stefan Wolpers.

This week, we suggest how AI, in general, and ChatGPT and its successors, in particular, may disrupt our current world. Additionally, we delve into how agile coaches can communicate the benefits of their work to organizations, suggesting the NABC value proposition scheme. Plus, we point to the many benefits of cognitive diversity to avoid blind spots and adapt to changing environments. Also, Adam Grant interviews John and Julie Gottman, renowned researchers of marital relationships, on how to play the infinite game. We can apply many of their findings to creating trust and rapport professionally.

Then, we share a comprehensive guide to a critical artifact, the product strategy document, covering the dos & don’ts, what it needs to cover, and its subsequent inspection and adaptation. Moreover, we share “how to use the product discovery loop to build high-growth products” while discussing all things stakeholder management, from its general benefits to the nitty-gritty details of creating alignment. By the way, an excellent tool to create alignment is the Product Goal Canvas; see below.

Finally, we detail how to apply a hugely valuable flow metric to your work and point to the all-so-human flaw of falling for vanity metrics to measure “success” when it is all about solving problems and building relationships. Lastly, we try to answer a compelling question: Is ChatGPT a game-changer? And if so, from whom?

I hope you have a fantastic season filled with joy and happiness. Whether you're celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or something else, I hope the season brings you good cheer and lots of time to spend with the people you love.

This edition will be the last for 2022; Food for Agile Thought’s issue #374 will be back on January 8, 2023.

PS: 🗞 Did you miss past issues? No worries, here we go: 372, 371.

👉 📈 Join 1,000-plus peers now—we close the poll next week: The Anonymous Scrum Master and Agile Coach Salary Report 2023.

🏆 Tip of the Week

Harvard Business Review: Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, and Avi Goldfarb suggest how AI, in general, and ChatGPT and its successors, in particular, may disrupt our current world: "ChatGPT and How AI Disrupts Industries."

Quote: “When technology enables more people to complete a task, with help from a machine, the result is typically entirely new systems with new business models and jobs and workflows. AI will be no different: To truly unlock the potential of ChatGPT, the world will need new and different kinds of organizations.”

➿ Agile & Scrum

• Agile Alliance: Jutta Eckstein, Hendrik Esser, and Eric Abelen delve into how agile coaches can communicate the benefits of their work to organizations, suggesting the NABC value proposition scheme: "What’s the value proposition of coaches?"
  
  
  Quote: “Somehow it seems hard to argue and prove the value coaches bring to the organization. Not every business intervention has a direct spreadsheet monetary growth result. We realize that in this article, we will not be able to convince core spreadsheet management thinking. Yet, we hope that we might provide some useful approach to people that have to deal with this attitude.”

• Farnam Street points to the many benefits of cognitive diversity to avoid blind spots and adapt to changing environments: "The Stormtrooper Problem: Why Thought Diversity Makes Us Better."

• 🎙 In this podcast, Adam Grant interviews John and Julie Gottman, renowned researchers of marital relationships, on how to play the infinite game. We can apply many of their findings to creating trust and rapport professionally: "The Science of Healthy Relationships."

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

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

• ProdPad: Janna Bastow shares a comprehensive guide to a critical artifact, the product strategy document, covering the dos & don’ts, what it needs to cover, and its subsequent inspection and adaptation: "Product Strategy Document: What it Should and Should Not Be."
  
  

• Medium: Holly Hester-Reilly shares “how to use the product discovery loop to build high-growth products.” She covers the ark from identifying the first product-market fit to iterating from that step-by-step for sustained product success: "How to Use the Product Discovery Loop to Find Product-Market Fit."

• 🎙 Bruce McCarthy and Chad McAllister discuss all things stakeholder management, from its general benefits to the nitty-gritty details of creating alignment: "Stakeholder Management for Product Leaders."

• 🎙 In this pod, Jason Knight and Saeed Khan discuss how many organizations seem to share a common set of dysfunctions and how to address them: "The Five Dysfunctions of Product Management Teams."

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• Medium: Stephen Waring details how to apply a hugely valuable flow metric to your work: "Using Kanban practices within Scrum — Work Item Ageing."
  
  

• Arvid Kahl points to the all-so-human flaw of falling for vanity metrics to measure “success” when it is all about solving problems and building relationships: "Avoid Vanity Metrics."

🎶 Encore

• 📺 Intercom: In this video, Des Traynor and Fergal Reid try to answer a compelling question: Is ChatGPT a game-changer? And if so, from whom? "How ChatGPT changed everything."

📯 Your Unfit Product Goal — Making Your Scrum Work (28)

We plan a lot in Scrum: There is a daily plan when the Developers think about progressing toward the Sprint Goal during the Daily Scrum. Of course, the Sprint Goal reflects an intermediate target the Scrum team considers valuable to solve their customers’ problems. Moreover, there is the Product Goal, a mid- or long-term objective of the Scrum team.

Let’s check three critical issues Scrum teams have with Product Goals and a practical tool that helps you avoid the mess.

👉 Learn more: Your Unfit Product Goal and the Product Goal Canvas — Making Your Scrum Work (28).

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 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 1 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile 49: ChatGPT (English)
• 🖥 🇬🇧 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 28-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,