Food for Agile Thought #443: Scrum Theory, Beating the Feature Factory, We’re All Product Managers Now

Welcome to the 443rd edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 42,551 peers.

This week, Francis Laleman reconsiders Scrum’s simplicity, appreciating its robust foundation in empiricism and lean thinking, and Jeff Putz advocates for Agile’s practical value over procedural adherence. Also, Todd Lankford outlines steps to enhance team autonomy and leadership. Verena Schwarzer discusses Agile’s challenges in large organizations, while Chris Matts critiques superficial Agile implementations, particularly the ineffective “Go/No Go” meetings that typify “Agile Kabuki.”

Then, Melissa Perri and Stephen Bungay apply military tactics to product management strategy, discussing daily challenges and solutions, and David Pereira and Maarten Dalmijn advocate for impactful, humble planning over quantity to escape the feature factory trap. Moreover, Michael H. Goitein highlights strategy as crucial for business agility, citing Nokia’s focus on Agile without a strategic foundation as a cautionary tale. Jeff Gothelf argues for unifying roles in product development, suggesting everyone should be a product manager to enhance collaboration.

Lastly, John Cutler interviews Gene Kim about his latest work, ‘Wiring the Winning Organization,’ focusing on simplification and impactful change themes. Lena Reinhard offers strategies for leaders to manage overwhelming workloads, and Simone Cicero presents a manifesto for adaptable, innovative platform organizations suited for the 21st century. Finally, Andrew Chen critiques the tech industry’s “Dopamine Culture,” highlighting the challenge of balancing instant engagement with lasting retention.

🎓 Launch on July 1, 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 also choose to join the Advanced Product Backlog Management Cohort of June 13 - July 11, 2024, at € 399.
• The course will only be available until July 8, 2024, for sign-up!

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🏆 Tip of the Week

Medium: Initially, Francis Laleman dismisses Scrum as flimsy due to its simplicity but later realizes its foundation on empiricism and lean thinking provides a robust framework for adaptive, value-driven teamwork: "About the Theory of Scrum. (according to The Scrum Guide)."

🍋 Lemon of the Week

CIO.com: The authors claim a Scrum Master certification proves your ability to lead Agile teams. They list the top 13 certifications but fail to mention that true agility isn’t about certificates: "Scrum master certification: Top 13 certs for agile pros."

➿ Agile & Scrum

• Jeff Putz reflects on Agile software development, criticizing its formalized processes and advocating for practical, value-driven approaches that prioritize delivery over ceremony and emphasize adaptability, estimation accuracy, and context: "I was wrong about ‘agile’ software development."

• Medium: Todd Lankford shares five steps to build a problem-solving culture by promoting team autonomy: celebrate problems, visit team spaces, model problem-solving, practice collaboratively, and implement intent-driven leadership: "How I Overcame a Toxic Management Belief to Unleash Team Autonomy."

• ThoughtWorks: Verena Schwarzer highlights the challenges of agile delivery in large organizations, recommending avoiding technical-focused requirements, aligning team structures with value creation, empowering product owners, and tracking outcomes through lightweight governance: "Ineffective scaled agile: How to ensure agile delivers in complex systems."

• Boundaryless: Simone Cicero outlines a manifesto for platform organizations, emphasizing four beliefs and eleven design principles to foster adaptability, innovation, and an entrepreneurial spirit, which are essential for thriving in 21st-century markets: "A Manifesto for the Platform Organization."

🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 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.

Quote: “If you are looking to move beyond merely delivering features and want to start consistently delivering outcomes and valuable deliverables to your customers, this course is essential. Stefan provides the focus and tools necessary to embark on a journey toward excellent product management. With a curriculum that includes vision, strategy, roadmap, product discovery, continuous delivery, idea management, hypothesis management, and backlog management, this course promises less than it delivers—a truly transformative experience.” (Hector Feliciano.)

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

• 🎙 Produx Labs: Melissa Perri and Stephen Bungay discuss applying military tactics to strategy execution, addressing everyday struggles and solutions for product management teams: "Applying Military Tactics to Strategy Execution with Author Stephen Bungay."

• 📺 David Pereira and Maarten Dalmijn discuss how humble planning and focusing on impact over quantity can help product teams overcome the feature factory mindset. They emphasize proactive relationships, focused Sprint Goals, and fast iteration: "How Humble Plans Can Beat the Feature Factory."

• Medium: Michael Goitein argues that strategy, not Agile, is key to business agility. Nokia’s downfall illustrates how focusing solely on Agile can lead to failure without a solid strategic foundation: "Here’s why Strategy, not Agile, is the missing key to Business Agility."

• Jeff Gothelf argues that dividing roles between product managers, Product Owners, and business analysts reduces collaboration and shared understanding. Today, everyone involved in product development should be considered a product manager: "We are all product managers now."

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• 🎙 John Cutler interviews Gene Kim. They discuss his latest book ‘Wiring the Winning Organization,’ co-written with Steven Spear, and its impactful themes of slowification, simplification, and amplification: "Sociotechnical Maestros."

• The New Stack: Lena Reinhard provides tips for leaders feeling overwhelmed by urgent tasks, constant meetings, and high ambiguity. She suggests identifying core needs, managing energy, and seeking support to handle chaos effectively: "Dealing With Chaos: A Guide for Leaders Feeling Overwhelmed at Work."

• Chris Matts highlights “Agile Kabuki,” where agile techniques reveal issues but are ignored, exemplified by “Go/No Go” meetings that delay progress without real impact, showcasing ineffective risk management theater: "Failureship and Risk Management Theatre."

🎶 Encore

• Andrew Chen explores how the tech industry’s “Dopamine Culture” and novelty effects drive short-term engagement but often result in poor retention, urging tech products to balance instant gratification with long-term usefulness: "How novelty effects and Dopamine Culture rule the tech industry."

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 28-29 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 June 6 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile 61: Backlog Manager to Product Manager with David Pereira (English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Jun 13-Jul 11 — Live Virtual Cohort: Advanced Product Backlog Management Cohort (PBM; English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 June 25 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Training (PSFS; English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 July 3 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile 63: The Anti-Patterns Canvas — A Tool Session (1) (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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