Food for Agile Thought #439: Ancient Scrum, AI Product Management, OKRs and Product Roadmaps

Welcome to the 439th edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 42,436 peers.

This week, we delve into the fundamental and transformative aspects of Agile and leadership. Tobias Mayer traces Scrum back to ancient human processes, suggesting its natural integration in creative endeavors. Scott Seivwright critiques the narrow focus of Agile coaches on methodology, advocating for adaptive practices in response to economic challenges. David Burkus highlights the crucial role of managers in fostering autonomy and leadership amid rising trends towards managerless models. Chris Matts uses Eric Berne’s transaction analysis to contrast effective adult-adult interactions against the limiting parent-child dynamics in risk-averse environments. Also, Rami James champions asking for help as an essential developer skill, promoting collaboration and continuous learning over individualism.

Then, Marty Cagan and Marily Nika address the challenges of AI Product Management, and Evgenia Suvorova shares insights from her tenure at Revolut on achieving product-market fit. Chad McAllister and John Rossman emphasize the importance of “Big Bets” in business transformation, with John drawing on his Amazon experience to advocate for clarity, speed, and risk management. Leah Tharin offers a critical view on the implementation of SAFe, noting its complexity and the constraints it imposes on team autonomy, often resulting in inefficiency and dissatisfaction.

Lastly, Richard Kasperowski focuses on the role of pair programming and continuous delivery in agile practices. Moreover, Roman Pichler discusses the integration of OKRs with product roadmaps, while Andy Cleff and Colleen Johnson explore flow metrics like WIP and cycle time to enhance organizational agility through actionable metrics. Additionally, the 2024 AI Index report presents a comprehensive analysis of new AI trends, public perceptions, geopolitical dynamics, and the impact of AI on science and medicine.

🎙 Brian Milner of the Agile Mentors Podcast interview me: Navigating Scrum Anti-Patterns with Stefan Wolpers.

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🎓 Launch on May 30, 2024: Learn How to Master the Most Important Artifact in the Advanced Product Backlog Management Course!

👉 Please note:

• The course includes membership in a new community of agile professionals.
• Become fully reimbursed if you choose to join the Advanced Product Backlog Management Cohort of June 13 - July 11, 2024, at € 399.
• The course will only be available until June 6, 2024, for sign-up!

🏆 Tip of the Week

Tobias Mayer explores the ancient roots of Scrum, suggesting it as an innate human process evident in early civilizations, not a modern invention, and emphasizes its enduring relevance in creative and software development: "Ancient Scrum."

🍋 Lemon of the Week

Medium: The author’s take on integrating OKRs with Scrum misinterprets both, mixing practices with bewildering confidence and a pinch of ideological flair. It is an amusing but ultimately baffling read: "OKR and Scrum: How to Align."

➿ Agile & Scrum

• Scott Seivwright critiques Agile coaches for narrowly focusing on methodology perfection, urging a shift to address broader economic challenges and adapting practices for survival and impact: "What's Wrong with the Agile Community? My View!"

• David Burkus discusses the evolving role of managers, emphasizing their importance in fostering autonomy and leadership despite the rise of managerless company models and changing workplace dynamics during the pandemic: "Do We Really Need Managers?"

• Chris Matts explores the “failureship dynamic” using Eric Berne’s transaction analysis, particularly contrasting adult-adult interactions in successful organizations with the parent-child dynamics in risk-averse settings: "The Failureship Dynamic."

• Rami James emphasizes the importance of asking for help as a core skill for developers, challenging the individualistic mindset and highlighting collaborative problem-solving to enhance learning and project success: "Asking for help is a core developer skill."

🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Product Backlog Management Cohort Class of June 13-July 11, 2024

Discover the Product Owner success principles in this guaranteed engaging Product Backlog Management cohort class and accelerate your professional growth and career perspective with tried & tested, hands-on practices:

• Excel at delivering value regularly — your #1 career success factor.
• Learn to distinguish between valuable and useless ideas.
• Abandon the feature factory. Instead, learn to contribute to customer and organizational success.
• Gain actionable insights, learn supportive tools, and practice everything in a safe community of like-minded peers.
• Learn to say no and build trust and rapport with stakeholders while focusing on creating value.
• Create engaging feedback loops.

Additional bonuses:

1. You will become a member of an exclusive community of product professionals comprising participants from all my classes since 2019.
2. You will have free access to the corresponding online course; revisit all topics of the cohort at your convenience.

Enjoy the benefits of an immersive cohort class and its community with like-minded agile peers on Juni 13, June 27, and July 11, 2024, from 3-6 pm CEST. The class will be offered in English.

👉 Join now: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Product Backlog Management Class of Juni 13-July 11, 2024.

🎯 Product

• Silicon Valley Product Group: Marty Cagan and Marily Nika discuss AI Product Management, focusing on the unique challenges and necessities of creating AI-powered applications and the critical collaboration between roles to manage product risks effectively: "AI Product Management."

• Leah Tharin critiques the implementation of SAFe in organizations, highlighting its tendency to complicate processes and stifle autonomy, ultimately leading to dissatisfaction and inefficiency among product teams: "The SAFe misery and what to learn from it."

• 🎙 Chad McAllister and John Rossman discuss the significance of “Big Bets” in business transformations. John shares strategies from his experience at Amazon and advising roles, highlighting the need for clarity, velocity, and risk management in leadership practices: "How product managers can navigate 'Big-Bet' transformations – with John Rossman."

• Mind The Product: Evgenia Suvorova details her journey at Revolut, highlighting the challenges and strategies in achieving product-market fit, emphasizing the importance of tailored approaches and continuous validation to adapt and thrive globally: "A case study: My learnings from finding product-market fit at Revolut."

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• Richard Kasperowski explores the profound impact of pair programming and continuous delivery in agile practices, emphasizing their role in improving technical efficiency and nurturing human connections, creativity, and emotional well-being: "The Heart of Agile: How Pair Programming and Continuous Delivery Nurture the Human Spirit."

• Roman Pichler discusses integrating OKRs with product roadmaps, outlining benefits and strategic alignments that enhance goal-oriented planning, which helps move away from feature-based to outcome-based roadmaps: "OKRs and Product Roadmaps."

• 📺 Andy Cleff and Colleen Johnson discuss using flow metrics to enhance organizational agility, focusing on actionable metrics like WIP, throughput, work item age, and cycle time to drive improvement and predictability in business systems: "Flow Metrics for Enhancing Organizational Agility."

🎶 Encore

• AI Index: The 2024 AI Index report, the most comprehensive yet, expands its analysis to include new AI trends, public perceptions, geopolitical dynamics, and AI’s impact on science and medicine; "AI Index Report 2024 – Artificial Intelligence Index."

📯 Scrum Master Interview Questions on Creating Value with Scrum

If you are looking to fill a position for a Scrum Master (or agile coach) in your organization, you may find the following 12th set of the Scrum Master interview questions useful to identify the right candidate. They are derived from my eighteen years of practical experience with XP as well as Scrum, serving both as Product Owner and Scrum Master as well as interviewing dozens of Scrum Master candidates on behalf of my clients.

So far, this Scrum Master interview guide has been downloaded more than 27,000 times.

Read now: Scrum Master Interview Questions on Creating Value with Scrum.

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 7 — Live Virtual Meetup: Toyota Kata Coaching for Agile Teams & Transformations with Fortune Buchholtz (English)
• 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 May 14-15 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
• 🖥 🇬🇧 May 28-29 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Jun 13-Jul 11 — Live Virtual Cohort: Advanced Product Backlog Management Cohort (PBM; English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Jul 9-10 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Aug 27-28 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)

See all upcoming classes here.

📺 Youtube Channel

• Johanna Rothman: Tackling Fake Agility.

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