Food for Agile Thought #137

Stefan Wolpers
Food for Agile Thought
4 min readApr 14, 2018

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Food for Agile Thought’s issue #137 focuses on the role of the agile manager, from cracking the whip to servant leadership.

We support the ‘Scrum Master Trends 2018’ initiative of Scrum.org and Age of Product and learn from Semco’s example that becoming self-organized is a lucrative investment.

Lastly, we address common product creation issues, from talking to paying customers — and not to the folks in the cubicles next to you — to communicating roadmaps to stakeholders.

Have a great week!

🏆 The Tip of the Week

Ian Borges (via Corporate Rebels): Why Semco Doesn’t Want Your Company To Be Like Semco

Ian Borges points at Semco’s learning from 35 years of trial and error, and the resulting success driven by self-organization.

Source: Corporate Rebels: Why Semco Doesn’t Want Your Company To Be Like Semco

Author: Ian Borges

Agile Manager & Scrum

David Tzemach: The Manager Role in Scrum Team

David Tzemach analyses quite comprehensively the role of the agile manager in Scrum.

Source: The Manager Role in Scrum Team

Author: David Tzemach

Shaaron A Alvares (via Agnostic Agile): Agnostic Agile from the Trenches — 3. Managers and Team Retrospectives

Shaaron Alvares illuminates background and context of management, leadership, and agile and how these meet in a ceremony — the retrospective.

Source: Agnostic Agile: Agnostic Agile from the Trenches — 3. Managers and Team Retrospectives

Author: Shaaron A Alvares

Mike Cohn: Defect Management by Policy: Prioritize Bug Fixes Efficiently

Mike Cohn shares a defect policy matrix to prioritize bugs.

Source: Defect Management by Policy: Prioritize Bug Fixes Efficiently

Author: Mike Cohn

📯 Scrum Master Trends Survey 2018 — Join Scrum.org and Age of Product

The purpose of this the anonymous Scrum Master Trends Survey is to create a clear, data-backed benchmark that allows everyone in the agile community to get an understanding of Scrum Masters, their background, how they got there and where their compensation falls in comparison to others in the community.

By the way, the report will cover Scrum Masters as well as Agile Coaches, both employed and freelancing.

Join Scrum Master Trends the survey now: Scrum Master Trends Survey.

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Product & Lean

Rich Mironov: Talking Directly with (Real) Customers

Rich Mironov reminds us of the importance of communicating directly with (paying) customers.

Source: Talking Directly with (Real) Customers

Author: Rich Mironov

Teresa Torres (via Product Talk): How Much Time Should You Spend in Product Discovery?

Teresa Torres suggests not to focus on time spent on product discovery as it is not a one-time chunk of work but a continuous task.

Source: Product Talk: How Much Time Should You Spend in Product Discovery?

Author: Teresa Torres

(via UserVoice): 7 Hacks for Communicating Your Product Roadmap to Stakeholders

Colin Lernell outlines a template for your stakeholder communication of everything product roadmap related.

Source: UserVoice: 7 Hacks for Communicating Your Product Roadmap to Stakeholders

📅 Hands-on Agile Webinars

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Food for Agile Thought #137: The Agile Manager, Scrum Master Trends 2018, Talking to Customers, Bug Prioritization was first published on Age-of-Product.

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Stefan Wolpers
Food for Agile Thought

I have worked for 18-plus years as a Scrum Master, Product Owner, and agile coach. Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) with Scrum.org.