Food for Agile Thought #415: Product Nightmares, Assumption Testing Guide, Freemium Fiasco, Agile Inflection Point?

Welcome to the 415th edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 49,394 peers. My name is Stefan Wolpers.

This week, Dean Peters shares an eerie depiction of product nightmares as Halloween monsters, urging an outcome-driven strategy. Mike Griffith contemplates the mainstream adoption of Agile amid declining conference attendance, hinting at a possible inflection point. Jason Evanish warns against toxic positivity’s corrosive effects on workplace morale and productivity. Also, Viktor Cessan shares how a tailored feedback format enriched communication in a re-missioned team. And, seriously, this Week’s Lemon suggests a hybrid approach of Agile and Waterfall.

Then, Teresa Torres highlights the value of regular assumption testing for quick product idea evaluations, and Marty Cagan commends Spotify’s innovation amidst market challenges. Moreover, Itamar Gilad addresses idea prioritization, advocating for a strategic framework with a clear mission and measurable growth model, while Leah Tharin explores the transition to a freemium model, emphasizing aligning sales and marketing incentives, revamping onboarding experiences, and assessing a product’s freemium suitability to prevent revenue loss.

Lastly, Nicola Ballotta delves into Engineering Metrics, showcasing them as instrumental tools in quantifying and enhancing various software development aspects and aligning engineering operations with broader business goals. Additionally, we unveil a novel Stability Metric (ψ) based on queueing theory to bolster predictability in agile systems. The authors suggest the application of ψ as a tool for teams to improve project timeline foresight and enhance predictability. Finally, we point to the recording of Bob Galen’s session on ‘An Agile Coaches Guide to Storytelling” at the 53. Hands-on Agile.

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PPS: Did you miss past issues? No worries, here we go: 414, 413.

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🏆 Tip of the Week

280 Group: In time for Halloween, Dean Peters employs horror imagery to highlight mismanaged Scrum practices, depicting common pitfalls as monsters like “Scrumzilla” and “Frankensoft” that destroy structured roadmaps. He advocates for an outcome-driven strategy to navigate product development mayhem: "6 Product Management Nightmares."

🍋 Lemon of the Week

Harvard Business Review: This Week’s Lemon suggests that rigid adherence to either Waterfall or Agile can be limiting and advocates for a hybrid methodology tailored to a project’s unique demands. Unfortunately, the advertised hybrid approach of Agile and Waterfall is not a solution but a worst-of-breed combination of the two practices: "It’s Time to End the Battle Between Waterfall and Agile."

➿ Agile & Scrum

• Mike Griffiths reflects on the possible mainstream absorption of Agile, citing shrinking Agile conference attendances but growing business agility needs. He mentions hybrid approaches and contemplates whether the observed trend indicates an inflection point or confirmation bias: "Is the Agile Movement at an Inflection Point?"

• Get Lighthouse: Jason Evanish emphasizes the detrimental effects of toxic positivity in the workplace, where an overemphasis on maintaining a cheerful facade leads to suppressed issues, loss of psychological safety, and increased stress, eventually resulting in lowered productivity and team member burnout: "Toxic Positivity in the Workplace: Why & How to Deal with it."

• Viktor Cessan discusses addressing shallow communication in a re-missioned team by integrating a tailored feedback format, which led to better interaction and aligned the team with new responsibilities: "Case Study – Enhancing Team Collaboration Through a Peer Feedback Process."

🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class — November 28, 2023

The Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills (PSFS) training by Berlin Product People is a guaranteed 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 — November 28, 2023.

🎯 Product

• Teresa Torres emphasizes the pivotal role of assumption testing in swiftly evaluating product ideas, advocating for a regular cadence in this practice to enhance decision-making and, ultimately, product success: "Assumption Testing: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started."

• Silicon Valley Product Group: Marty Cagan highlights Spotify's exceptional adaptation to market challenges by innovating in user music discovery, showcasing the importance of understanding user segments, value-driven experimentation, and fostering an environment where empowered product teams thrive: "The Product Model at Spotify."

• Itamar Gilad highlights the challenge of idea prioritization, advocating for a structured strategic context encompassing a clear mission, evolving strategy, and measurable growth model. He emphasizes concise, quantifiable goals at company and team levels to prioritize ideas effectively: "Why You're Struggling to Prioritize."

• Leah Tharin discusses the pitfalls of transitioning to a freemium model, especially without proper market readiness. She elaborates on aligning sales and marketing incentives, reworking onboarding experiences, and ensuring the product’s suitability for a freemium model to prevent revenue collapse: "Freebie Fiasco: Why Freemium Might Wreck Your Revenue."

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• InfoQ: The Authors introduce the Stability Metric (ψ) rooted in queueing theory to enhance predictability in agile systems, revealing that 73% of analyzed projects lacked stability. They propose utilizing ψ to help teams better foresee project timelines and improve predictability: "How Agile Teams Can Improve Predictability by Measuring Stability."

• Nicola Ballotta illuminates the essence of Engineering Metrics, portraying them as quantitative tools for gauging various facets of software development. He accentuates their pivotal role in optimizing work, enhancing performance, supporting informed decision-making, and aligning engineering endeavors with overarching business objectives: "Diving into Engineering Metrics"

🎶 Encore

• 😂 XKCD Comic: When you finally managed to squeeze all requirements into a comprehensive roadmap: "Inspiraling Roundabout."

📯 An Agile Coaches Guide to Storytelling — Bob Galen at the 53. Hands-on Agile

On September 5, 2023, we had the opportunity to listen to Bob Galen on “An Agile Coaches Guide to Storytelling.” In this session, Bob shared his experience coaching an agile coach struggling to connect with a development manager. He underscored the transformative impact of incorporating personal narratives, lessons learned, teaching stories, and purpose or vision stories into coaching conversations.

Moreover, Bob demonstrated the compelling power of storytelling in agile coaching by using stories to share knowledge and wisdom while fostering dialogue.

📺 Watch the video now: An Agile Coaches Guide to Storytelling — Bob Galen at the 53. Hands-on Agile.

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 November 1-2 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 November 8 — Meetup Hands-on Agile 55: Designing Agile Ecosystems with Org Topologies™ w/ Alexey Krivitsky and Roland Flemm (Free; English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 November 21-24 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 November 21 — Meetup Hands-on Agile 56: The Big Product Picture — Creating Value through Alignment (Free; English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 November 28 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Training (PSFS; English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 December 6 — Meetup Hands-on Agile #57: Humble Planning: How To Make Your Plans Suck Less w/ Maarten Dalmijn (Free; English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 December 11-12 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)
• 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 December 13-14 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 December 18-19 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)

See all upcoming classes here.

📺 Youtube Channel

• Bob Galen: An Agile Coaches Guide to Storytelling.

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