Food for Agile Thought #458: Engineers in Customer Support, Product & Tech Debt, Product Launch Mistakes, Cynics Rarely Succeed

Welcome to the 458th edition of the ‘Food for Agile Thought’ newsletter, shared with 42,762 peers. I am Stefan Wolpers, offering hands-on, actionable advice to agile professionals.

This week, Ian Vanagas advocates involving engineers in customer support to boost product quality through faster feedback and ownership. Maarten Dalmijn identifies six common pitfalls in using spikes in Agile, and Jamil Zaki warns that workplace cynicism diminishes success, while Joost Minnaar attributes Enterprise’s success to decentralization and a customer-centric approach. Lastly, Andy Cleff emphasizes the importance of leadership virtues—courage, resilience, alliances, gratitude, and vulnerability—in driving continuous improvement and change.

Next, Gregor Ojstersek and Robert Ta provide engineers with strategies to convince Product Managers to prioritize technical debt by aligning it with business goals. Aakash Gupta and Jason Knight shed light on the complexities of B2B product management, stressing the need for PMs to balance revenue-driven features and broader strategic influence, and Aatir Abdul Rauf identifies 15 crucial mistakes to avoid during product launches. Moreover, Yuri Berchenko offers guidance on optimizing subscription product pricing through regular adjustments and customer segmentation.

Lastly, Domenic Edwards presents a detailed list of essential Product Manager tasks, adaptable to any organization’s needs. Dirk Lässig offers strategies for managing “evil dependencies” in software development, focusing on minimization, mitigation, and coordination, and Gustavo Razzetti explains how teams can rapidly build trust by fostering transparency and clarity. Also, Mario Caropreso stresses the need to balance operational excellence with project delivery. Finally, Michael H. Goitein advocates shifting from a “waiter” mindset to a “doctor” approach in product development, emphasizing user-focused continuous discovery.

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🎓 Launch on October 23: Learn How to Master the Most Important Artifact in the Advanced Product Backlog Management Course!

👉 Please note:

• The course includes membership in my professional students' brand-new Hands-on Agile community.
• The course will only be available for sign-up until October 31, 2024!

🏆 Tip of the Week

PostHog: Ian Vanagas argues that involving engineers in customer support improves product quality and development by creating faster feedback loops, encouraging full-cycle ownership, and fostering continuous improvements: "Doing Support Makes You a Better Engineer."

🍋 Lemon of the Week

Medium: The author’s article misses the mark, blaming Scrum for poor performance while ignoring how Agile empowers teams. His rant against structure reveals a profound misunderstanding of Scrum’s true purpose: "Beyond Agile and Scrum: Great Leadership Matters More Than Methodology."

➿ Agile & Scrum

• Maarten Dalmijn discusses the proper use of spikes in Agile, highlighting six common mistakes, such as unclear outcomes, overuse, and performing spikes too early, which can undermine their effectiveness: "6 Common Mistakes When Using Spikes."

• Harvard Business Review: Jamil Zaki explains that cynicism in the workplace hinders success, leading to lower earnings, reduced job satisfaction, and fewer leadership opportunities, while fostering trust and collaboration can unlock more significant achievements: "Why Cynics Are Less Likely to Succeed."

• Corporate Rebels: Joost Minnaar highlights Enterprise’s success through decentralization, entrepreneurship training, rigorous customer service tracking, and linking employee compensation to customer satisfaction, demonstrating how these strategies drive profit and long-term customer loyalty. "Profit Through People: The Enterprise Model of Decentralization and Extreme Customer Care"

• Andy Cleff reflects on five essential leadership virtues—courage, resilience, alliances, gratitude, and vulnerability—highlighting their interconnectedness and importance for driving change and continuous organizational improvement. "5 Essential Leadership Virtues for Change & Continuous Improvement"

🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class w/ PSFS Certificate — November 21, 2024

The Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills (PSFS) training by Berlin Product People is a one-day 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 a live virtual immersive class with like-minded agile peers from 09:00 – 17:30 CET.

Learn more: 🖥 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Class w/ PSFS Certificate — November 21, 2024.

Customer review: “Great experience – “You reap what you saw.” What I really liked about it was the constant usage of facilitation techniques & Liberating Structures to engage all participants & harness the collective knowledge while reaching the goal of the exercises during the workshop. Therefore, my experience was great because I could really leave with some insights from the whole group that I could apply in my daily work starting from the next day. “You reap what you saw” and in this case, it was the collective intelligence of everyone in the training class.” (Link.)

🎯 Product

• Gregor Ojstersek and Robert Ta offer a guide for engineers to convince Product Managers to prioritize technical debt by aligning it with business strategy, quantifying its impact, and proposing clear, value-driven solutions: "Engineer’s guide to convincing your Product Manager to prioritize technical debt."

• 🎙 Aakash Gupta and Jason Knight discuss the messy reality of B2B product management, emphasizing the challenges of balancing revenue-driven features, complex planning, and the need for PMs to influence strategy beyond the product team: "Dealing with the Messy Reality of B2B Product Management."

• Aatir Abdul Rauf highlights 15 common mistakes product managers and marketers must avoid to ensure successful product launches, from validating messaging with customers to aligning teams and refining pricing strategies: " 15 mistakes PMs & PMMs need to avoid for better product launches."

• Mind The Product: Yuri Berchenko outlines strategies for pricing subscription products, emphasizing the importance of regular price adjustments, understanding customer segments, and choosing the suitable pricing model to maximize revenue: "How to price your subscription product: insights and examples."

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

• ProdPad: Domenic Edwards provides a comprehensive list of essential Product Manager tasks, highlighting the diverse roles and responsibilities that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of any organization: "The Complete List of Product Manager Tasks."

• ThoughtWorks: Dirk Lässig discusses strategies to manage “evil dependencies” in software development, emphasizing the importance of minimizing, mitigating, and coordinating dependencies to reduce risks and improve team performance and product delivery: "How to tame evil dependencies."

• Gustavo Razzetti explains how teams can quickly build trust by assuming positive intent, fostering transparency, clarifying roles, and focusing on action. This leads to faster collaboration and improved outcomes: "How to Build Swift Trust."

• Medium: Mario Caropreso emphasizes the importance of balancing operational excellence with project delivery, urging leaders to empower teams, focus on customer experience, and demonstrate commitment to operational metrics to ensure sustainable success: "The Map is not the Territory: How to balance Operational Excellence."

🎶 Encore

• Medium: Michael Goitein emphasizes shifting from a “waiter” mindset—mindlessly following stakeholder orders—to a “doctor” approach, focusing on user needs through continuous discovery to build successful products. "Stakeholder Wants vs. User Needs: Why Following Orders Creates Bad Product"

📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events

Upcoming classes and events:

• 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Sep 3-6 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Sep 5 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile 64: Mastering Work Intake: The Key to Sustainability and Flow (English)
• 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Oct 1-2 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Oct 9 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile 65: The Lean Tech Manifesto with Fabrice Bernhard (English)
• 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Oct 15-16 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master - Advanced Training (PSM II; English)
• 🖥 🇩🇪 Nov 6-7 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
• 🖥 🇬🇧 Nov 18-19 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master - Advanced Training (PSM II; English)

See all upcoming classes here.

📺 Youtube Channel

• David Pereira: From Backlog Manager to Product Manager.

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