Food for Agile Thought #394: Amazon Product Management, Ethics of Agile Coaching, Product-led Transformations

Welcome to the 394th edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 46,957 peers. My name is Stefan Wolpers.

This week, we start with exploring the Amazon product management framework, a 10-step process. Moreover, we assess the state of ethics in agile coaching and apply Goldratt’s idea that a business aims to make money now and in the future to Scrum. Moreover, Murray Robinson and Shane Gibson interviewed Jim Highsmith, one of the authors of the Agile Manifesto, and we explore a magic technique to turn a boring Retrospective into an outstanding one.

Then, we reflect on the trend in product development of dropping the dogma and seeking what works, sharing an excellent primer on a problematic strategic decision to get you going. Speaking of what works for you: Lenny Rachitsky interviewed Gustav Söderström, Co-President, CPO, and CTO at Spotify, on what has worked for them.

Finally, we attempt to debunk the original findings of Dunning and Kruger, claiming that the actual effect is that “everyone thinks they are better than average.” We also dip into the meaning of IKIGAI and share a comprehensive essay mapping the similarities and differences between Sociocracy and Holacracy. Lastly, we point to research by the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard, shedding “light on what it takes for people to get comfortable with machine learning.”

🤖 Check out my new AI-based chatbot: ScrumBot is based on my blog posts and OpenAI’s GPT 3.5. What do you think? 🧐

🏅 The most popular discussion on LinkedIn this week was: Scrum is challenging. Where do you find it toughest? 🚧

PS: 🗞 Did you miss past issues? No worries, here we go: 392, 393.

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

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

📅 Join your peers on June 14: Hands-on Agile 51: Fast, NoWaste Agile Estimating w/ Ron Lichty (English).

🏆 Tip of the Week

Medium: Ryan Lysne aggregates Amazon’s product management process into a 10-step framework: "10-Step Product Management Cycle."

🍋 The Lemon of the Week—From the Archives

TechBeacon: Steven A. Lowe hopes that we can learn from and prevent future disasters like Scrum: "Why Scrum sucks."

➿ Agile & Scrum

• Robert Galen revisits his 2022 assessment of the ethical focus of the primary agile certification and influencing bodies and asks: have they improved? "Ethics -- Front and Center...Again!"

• Medium: Alexander Hilton applies Goldratt’s idea that a business aims to make money now and in the future to Scrum: "Applying Goldratt’s ‘The Goal’ to Your Scrum Team: Maximizing Efficiency and Profitability."

• 🎙 Murray Robinson and Shane Gibson interview Jim Highsmith, one of the authors of the Agile Manifesto, on various topics: "No Nonsense Agile Podcast: Jim Highsmith — From the Wild West to Agile and Beyond."

🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — May 30-31, 2023

Discover Scrum’s four success principles in this guaranteed official Scrum.org Advanced Scrum Master training class including the industry-recognized PSM II certification. The PSM II training class is designed as a live virtual class and will be offered 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: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — May 30-31, 2023.

Customer voices: “Outstanding PSM II experience: Having looked forward to attending this class, literally for years, it was everything I expected, hoped for and then some. I am so grateful that this was an online virtual class, as it added an additional dimension to the learning, and was incredibly insightful. The trainer did an outstanding job of taking us through the learning plan, facilitating discussions, guiding the outcome and believing in the structures. Whether the learning was tangible curriculum, or intangible observation, it was excellent – made even more solid by the open sharing from my classmates and willingness from everyone to participate.” (Link.)

👉 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: Paweł Huryn shares an excellent primer on a problematic strategic decision with an often underestimated importance for your business, from considering product strategy to running experiments: "Product Pricing Strategies 101."

• Medium: Ant Murphy reflects on the trend of dropping the dogma and seeking what works: "The Rise of Product-led Transformations."
  
  

• 🎙 Lenny Rachitsky interviews Gustav Söderström, Co-President, CPO, and CTO at Spotify: "Lessons from scaling Spotify: The science of product, taking risky bets, and how AI is already impacting the future of music."

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• Scientific American: Eric C. Gaze attempts to debunk the original findings of Dunning and Kruger, claiming that the actual effect is that “everyone thinks they are better than average:” "The Dunning-Kruger Effect Isn’t What You Think It Is."
  
  

• Management 3.0: Kumiko Sugiyama surveyed 100-plus people on their IKIGAI—purpose of life—from resilience to personal benefits: "What IKIGAI means for the Japanese: a personal reflection."

• Sociocracy For All: Ted Rau shares a comprehensive essay mapping the similarities and differences between the two self-governance systems: "Sociocracy and Holacracy: Sameness and differences."

🎶 Encore

• HBS Working Knowledge: Rachel Layne shares research by the Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard, shedding “light on what it takes for people to get comfortable with machine learning:” "What Makes Employees Trust (vs. Second-Guess) AI?"

📯 Retrospective Facilitation: A Simple Hack to Go from Good to 🦄 Great

The magic technique to turn a boring Retrospective into an outstanding Retrospective is the rotation of the facilitator role equally among all team members.

Check out the following ten benefits of this Retrospective facilitation practice, from boosting learning and skill development to ensuring continuity to encouraging ownership.

👉 Learn more: Retrospective Facilitation: A Simple Hack to Go from Good to Great.

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 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)

See all upcoming classes here.

📺 Youtube Channel

• Petra Wille: The Product Community of Practice — Hands-on Agile 50.

Your Opinion Matters

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Best,