Food for Agile Thought #275
TL; DR: Bureaucratic Blunderland, Saying No — Food for Agile Thought #275
Welcome to the 275th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 29,852 peers. This week, we delve into the sheer variety of folly at play in any bureaucratic blunderland; we analyze different kinds of technical debt and how to best measure it, and we embrace a simple process to apply swarming as a team practice to solve critical challenges.
We then learn five practical tips to say no without offending senior or assertive stakeholders, and we enter a quest for magic metrics by ‘counting things that happened that you care about.’ We also check general product manager salary data based on January 2021.
Lastly, we examine a formula and a process that may allow us to figure out why things are less agile than hoped.
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🏆 The Tip of the Week
Charles Lambdin: Bureaucratic Blunderland
Charles Lambdin delves into the sheer variety of folly at play in any bureaucratic ‘wonderland of blunders.’
Source: Bureaucratic Blunderland
Author: Charles Lambdin
➰ Agile & Scrum History
Gojko Adzic: The Play, the points, and the biggest lie in software
Gojko Adzic reflects on how to start moving away from reporting on effort metrics by changing the language.
Source: The Play, the points, and the biggest lie in software
Author: Gojko Adzic
📺 David Burkus and Todd Henry: How To Find Your Team’s Motivation with Todd Henry
David Burkus chats with Todd Henry about motivating your team by learning what drives each individual’s motivation.
Source: 📺 How To Find Your Team’s Motivation with Todd Henry
Authors: David Burkus and Todd Henry
🖥 🇬🇧 Liberating Structures for Distributed Teams from Feb 16 to March 2, 2021 — € 167+VAT
Enter the new world of how to support remote agile teams with Liberating Structures with our live virtual class on Remote Agile.
The training class of three energizing afternoons addresses practices and tools — such as virtual Liberating Structures — for Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, project managers, and Product Owners to facilitate agile events with distributed teams effectively.
February 16, 2021 @ 4:00 pm — March 2, 2021 @ 6:30 pm
Learn more: Distributed Agile Masterclass — A Live Virtual Class for Distributed Teams.
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🎯 Product
Roman Pichler: 5 Tips for Saying No to Stakeholders
Roman Pichler offers five practical tips to say no in the right way — without offending senior or assertive stakeholders.
Source: 5 Tips for Saying No to Stakeholders
Author: Roman Pichler
John Cutler: Start by Counting Things
John Cutler dives into the quest for magic metrics by ‘counting things that happened that you care about.’
Source: Start by Counting Things
Author: John Cutler
(via 280 Group): Product Manager Salary [2021 Data]
In this article, the 280 Group details general Product Manager salary data based on salary information in January 2021.
🛠 Tools & Measuring
Andre Schweighofer: How to measure technical debt
Andre Schweighofer analyzes different kinds of technical debt and how to best measure it.
Source: How to measure technical debt
Author: Andre Schweighofer
Tim Ottinger (via Industrial Logic): Swarm Programming with the Swarm Board
Tim Ottinger describes a simple process to apply swarming as a team practice to solve critical challenges successfully.
Source: Industrial Logic: Swarm Programming with the Swarm Board
Author: Tim Ottinger
📯 Scrum Commitments: Tying Loose Ends and Shoehorning the Definition of Done
As 2020 comes to an end, you are probably considering how to further your career as a Scrum Master or Product Owner in 2021.
While the new Scrum Guide is less prescriptive and more inclusive, it also ties loose ends by including elements better, namely the previously free-floating Sprint Goal and the Definition of Done with the creation of Scrum commitments. This inclusion works remarkably well in the former’s case; regarding the latter, we need a shoehorn, though.
Read more on how you can use the Scrum Guide 2020 Reordered to spot patterns quickly.
👉 Learn more: Scrum Commitments: Tying Loose Ends and Shoehorning the Definition of Done.
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Food for Agile Thought #275: Bureaucratic Blunderland, Saying No to Stakeholders, Product Manager Salary 2021, Measuring Technical Debt was first published on Age-of-Product.com.
