Food for Agile Thought #389: Scrum’s Failure, Staying Scrappy for Innovation, Forecasting 2.0, ProductOps Handbook

Welcome to the 389th edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 46,163 peers. My name is Stefan Wolpers.

This week, we delve into Scrum’s failure: Jason Godesky reminds us that few have ever worked in a true Scrum team, but many have in a Scrum cargo cult environment. Moreover, we delve into “bias and noise” and how they influence forecasting, and we learn how you can use Fluid Scrum Teams to manage multiple data products over various Sprints. Also, in shameless self-promotion, I want to point to the No Nonsense Agile Podcast that Murray Robinson, Shane Gibson, and I recorded recently. (Speaking of anti-patterns: There is also a new article on Jira and its perils if misused, see below.)

Then, we analyze the fundamental misalignment between the ‘business’ — focusing on one customer at a time — and ‘product/engineering,’ focusing on the overall impact for the installed base. Additionally, we point to the importance of embracing a learning mindset as the driver of innovation while process, vetos, institutional memory, and the vilification of failure work against it, and we share a practical and actionable list of recommendations to create a ProductOps handbook.

Finally, we suggest five experiments to help foster a safe working environment, from equal speaking time during meetings to celebrating failure, plus a new tool to ease the often challenging task of communicating project issues: the Definition of Broken. More tools are from John Cutler, who points to the free template library of the complete North Star metrics framework. Lastly, Nicole Abi-Esber and Juliana Schroeder claim that people underestimate how much others want to receive feedback.

PS: 🗞 Did you miss past issues? No worries, here we go: 388, 387.

PPS: 🎓 📅 See all upcoming events and classes here.

PPPS: 📖 Get notified when the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide will become available.

Join 180-plus peers on May 4, 2023: HoA EXTRA: How Elon Musk Would Run YOUR Business with Joe Justice.

🏆 Tip of the Week

🎙 In shameless self-promotion, I want to point to the No Nonsense Agile Podcast that Murray Robinson, Shane Gibson, and I recorded recently: "Scrum Anti Patterns."

📖 Get notified when the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide will become available.

🍋 The Lemon of the Week

No lemon this week!

➿ Agile & Scrum

• Medium: Jason Godesky reminds us that few have ever worked in a true Scrum team, but many have in a Scrum cargo cult environment:"Why Scrum Fails."
  
  

• Medium: Philip Rogers delves into bias and noise, and how they influence forecasts: "A Fresh Perspective on Forecasting in Software Development."

• inovex GmbH: Tobias Maasland and Anna Weißhaar share how they use Fluid Scrum Teams to manage multiple data products over various Sprints: "Using Fluid Scrum Teams in Data Products Development."

🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class — May 16, 2023

The Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills (PSFS) training by Berlin Product People is a guaranteed one-day official Scrum.org class for advanced Scrum practitioners and agile coaches, including the industry-acknowledged PSFS certification. This PSFS training class is in English.

Enjoy the benefits of an immersive class of two compact sessions with like-minded agile peers from 09:00 – 17:30 o’clock CEST.

👉 New in 2023: Refresher Classes: Attend a free refresher class as a former student upon arrangement and availability.

Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class — May 16, 2023.

👉 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

• Rich Mironov analyzes the fundamental misalignment between the ‘business’ — focusing on one customer at a time — and ‘product/engineering,’ focusing on the overall impact for the installed base: "The Chocolate Cake Problem."
  
  

• Deb Liu points to the importance of embracing a learning mindset as the driver of innovation, while process, vetos, institutional memory, and the vilification of failure work against it: "Staying Scrappy."

• Antonia Landi and Lara Orrico share a practical and actionable list of recommendations: "D.I.Y. Product Ops Handbook."

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• Corporate Rebels: Joost Minnaar suggests five experiments to help foster a safe working environment, from equal speaking time during meetings to celebrating failure: "Here are 5 Proven Practices to Boost Psychological Safety."

• Mike Griffiths suggests a tool to ease the often challenging task of communicating project issues: "Definition of Broken (DoB): A Tool for Improving Communications and Outcomes."
  
  

• John Cutler points to the free template library of the complete North Star metrics framework: "Amplitude North Star Template Library."

🎶 Encore

• Behavioral Scientist: Nicole Abi-Esber and Juliana Schroeder claim that people underestimate how much others want to receive feedback: "Give More Feedback—Others Want It More Than You Think."

• Boundaryless: Simone Cicero and Emanuele Quintarelli explain what organizational unbundling is and why it is critical for the future of organizations: "The Trilemma of Organizational Unbundling."

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 4 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile EXTRA: Joe Justice on Elon Musk (English)
• 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 May 9-10 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 16 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class (PSFS; English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 May 23-24 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO II; German)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 30-31 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 June 13-16 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧June 14 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile 51: Fast, NoWaste Agile Estimating w/ Ron Lichty (English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 June 21-22 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 June 27-30 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; German)
• 🖥 🇬🇧 July 4-7 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; English)

See all upcoming classes here.

📺 Youtube Channel

• Itamar Gilad: How much Product Discovery Is enough? The Confidence Meter — HoA #47.

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Best,