Food for Agile Thought #446: Scrum’s Decline, Product Transformation Failure, Product Trios, CapEx and OpEx and Agile

Welcome to the 446th edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 42,578 peers.

This week, Todd Lankford addresses Scrum’s decline due to lack of trust, customer disconnection, team silos, and limited learning, while Sivan Hermon discusses Google’s success with Itamar Gilad’s GIST framework during COVID-19. Moreover, David Luke explains how aligning CapEx and OpEx with Agile models enhances efficiency, and the ‘McKinsey Talks Operations’ podcast explores leveraging failure for innovation, emphasizing psychological safety and continuous learning. Also, our Lemon critiques Agile projects’ high failure rates, promoting the self-serving alternative methodology.

Next, John Cutler warns that treating product transformations as projects leads to failure by ignoring the present, team-led change, and continuous improvement. Teresa Torres advocates for product trios, emphasizing their collaborative benefits, and Itamar Medeiros discusses using the Jobs-to-be-Done framework for effective roadmap planning and Product Backlog refinement. Then, Andy Hughes outlines conditions for product managers’ success, stressing supportive environments, effective processes, and a conducive organizational culture.

Lastly, Dave Hora discusses the shift from research-led projects to continuous product-team-led discovery, integrating user research into product practices for better decision-making. Additionally, Ant Murphy clarifies that OKRs should not be mistaken for strategy, stressing the importance of vision and strategic alignment, and Nir Zicherman examines balancing productivity and alignment to foster innovation. Barry Overeem introduces a 90-minute Agile Team Effectiveness workshop. Finally, Jeff Foust highlights Starlink’s disruptive impact on the space industry.

📺 Chris Sheng interviewed me: Agile Strategies for Marketing Executives: Driving Growth and Adaptability in Today's Market.

🛠 A helpful tool for you: The Meta (Stakeholder) Retrospective from the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide book is now available as a FREE Miroverse template!

Energize your Stakeholder relationships now: Stefan’s Meta-Retrospective Facilitation Template by Miro.

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🏆 Tip of the Week

Medium: Todd Lankford highlights the erosion of Scrum’s potential, attributing it to four main issues: lack of trust between management and teams, disconnection from customers, internal team silos, and insufficient space for learning. He advocates rebuilding trust, involving customers in defining “done,” fostering teamwork, and prioritizing iterative learning to restore Scrum’s effectiveness: "Scrum Isn’t Dead but Its Mutation in the Wild Today Needs a Cure."

🍋 Lemon of the Week

Engprax: A study claims Agile software projects fail 268% more often than non-Agile ones. Ironically, the proposed solution is a new methodology, Impact Engineering, which supposedly cuts failures and saves billions. Honi soit qui mal y pense: "268% Higher Failure Rates for Agile Software Projects, Study Finds."

➿ Agile & Scrum

• Code Like A Girl: Sivan Hermon shares how adopting Itamar Gilad’s GIST framework and adapting to COVID-19 challenges enabled Google to reduce software delivery time from 12-18 months to under six months, accelerating innovation: "Unlocking Agility at Scale: A Googler’s Story."

• Agile Alliance: David Luke highlights that aligning CapEx and OpEx with Agile models enhances flexibility, innovation, and efficiency. This streamlines funding processes and drives sustainable growth and competitive advantage in today’s dynamic market: "Success pattern: Aligning CapEx and OpEx to Agile models."

• McKinsey & Company: The dark side opens up: The McKinsey Talks Operations podcast discusses how embracing failure can drive innovation. Emphasizing capability centers, the discussion highlights the need for psychological safety, continuous learning, and aligning technological investments with organizational goals for successful transformation: "When failure is an option: Fostering organizational innovation and learning."

🎓 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!

🎯 Product

• John Cutler argues that product transformations fail if treated as projects, devaluing the present, ignoring team-led change, copying frameworks, neglecting architecture, and losing sight of continuous improvement and customer focus: "Why Your Product Transformation Will Fail."

• Teresa Torres explains that product trios are cross-functional teams that decide and build together, highlighting their benefits, roles, and collaboration methods, emphasizing small, balanced teams for effective, rapid decision-making: "Product Trios: What They Are, Why They Matter, and How to Get Started."

• Medium: Itamar Medeiros explores how the Jobs-to-be-Done framework can transform roadmap planning and Product Backlog refinement, ensuring user needs drive every decision, fostering alignment, and enhancing product development efficiency: "Crafting Customer-Centric Roadmaps: A Jobs-to-be-Done Approach to Roadmap Planning and Better Backlog Grooming."

• Mind The Product: Andy Hughes outlines essential conditions for product managers’ success, emphasizing the need for supportive environments, effective processes, appropriate tools, clear initiatives, and a conducive organizational culture: "How to enable product managers to be successful."

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• Dave Hora explores the shift from research-led projects to continuous product-team-led discovery, emphasizing integrating user research activities into product practices for effective and efficient decision-making: "Unbundling User Research."

• Ant Murphy emphasizes that OKRs should not be mistaken for strategy. He highlights the need for clear vision, strategic context, and alignment to ensure OKRs are effective and meaningful for teams: "OKRs ≠ Strategy."

• The Liberators: Barry Overeem offers a 90-minute workshop introducing your team to the Agile Team Effectiveness model. The workshop emphasizes collaboration and practical steps for continuous improvement: "Explore The Agile Team Effectiveness Model With Your Team."

• Nir Zicherman explores the trade-off between productivity and alignment in companies, emphasizing the need to consciously balance communication channels to foster innovation without overwhelming organizational efficiency: "Productivity Versus Alignment."

🎶 Encore

• The Space Review: Jeff Foust describes Starlink’s significant impact on the space industry, highlighting its rapid growth, satellite and launch technology innovation, and influence on competitors and geopolitical dynamics: "Starlink’s disruption of the space industry."

📯 Rookie Mistakes Scrum Masters Make

Are you struggling with imposter syndrome as a new Scrum Master? Avoid five common rookie mistakes Scrum Masters make. Instead, discover how to set clear Sprint Goals, build trust, balance metrics, and empower your team to make independent decisions.

Don’t let early missteps define your journey. Learn from these mistakes and transform them into stepping stones towards mastery. By understanding and addressing these pitfalls, you’ll gain confidence, enhance your leadership skills, and truly embody the principles of Scrum.

This article provides actionable insights and practical exercises to help you grow from a beginner into an effective and respected Scrum Master.

Learn more: Rookie Mistakes Scrum Masters Make.

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 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 20-21 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master - Advanced Training (PSM II; English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Aug 27-28 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Sep 3-6 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)

See all upcoming classes here.

📺 Youtube Channel

• Fortune Buchholtz: Toyota Kata Coaching for Agile Teams & Transformations.

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