Food for Agile Thought #283
TL; DR: Is Agile a Trojan Horse, Product Strategy Stack — Food for Agile Thought #283
Welcome to the 283rd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 30,593 peers. This week, we ask: Is Agile a Trojan Horse for change? We also enjoy the March 2021 edition of the Culture & Methods Trends Report, learning that COVID-19 was the biggest driver of culture change and that there are dramatic differences between good and bad remote work cultures. Moreover, we introduce a framework on strategic interventions when coaching agile teams.
We then introduce a product strategy stack, including product leadership experiences from Tinder, Facebook, TripAdvisor, and Airbnb. We summarize suggestions on setting practical Product Goals, and we discover an approach to Design Sprints that reduces its original time requirement from five days by 50 percent without sacrificing the outcome’s quality.
Lastly, we address wheel-spinning during transformations and how to overcome transformation theater and start delivering more value faster.
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🏆 The Tip of the Week
📖 Culture & Methods Trends Report March 2021
InfoQ provides the March 2021 edition of the Culture & Methods Trends Report, noting that COVID-19 was the biggest driver of culture change. Also, there are dramatic differences between good and bad remote work cultures.
➿ Is Agile a Trojan Horse & Scrum
Charles Lambdin: Agile’s Ethical Dilemma, Decision Distribution, and the Trojan War
Charles Lambdin delves into why so many agile transformations fail, asking if Agile is a trojan horse for change.
Source: Agile’s Ethical Dilemma, Decision Distribution, and the Trojan War
Author: Charles Lambdin
Viktor Cessan: The Holistic Observations of Teams Framework: Using Active Observations to Identify Strategic Interventions
Viktor Cessan introduces a framework on strategic interventions when coaching agile teams.
Author: Viktor Cessan
Gene Kim: Culture and Leadership: The Seven Domains of Transformation
IT Revolution reflects on why a product-centric operating model requires high levels of empowerment, collaboration, experimentation, and what leadership and culture have to do with those.
Source: Culture and Leadership: The Seven Domains of Transformation
Author: Gene Kim
🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 Professional Agile Leadership Essentials Training w/ PAL-E Certificate — March 30–31, 2021
This Professional Agile Leadership ™ Essentials class is a 2-day official Scrum.org training, including up to two attempts to accomplish the industry-acknowledged PAL-E certification. The training is designed as a live virtual class from 9:00 am to 5:45 pm CET and will be offered in English.
Learn more: 📅 🖥 🇬🇧 Professional Agile Leadership Essentials Training w/ PAL-E Certificate — March 30–31, 2021.
🎯 Product
Ravi Mehta (via Reforge): The Product Strategy Stack
Ravi Mehta introduces the product strategy stack, including product leadership experiences from Tinder, Facebook, TripAdvisor, and Airbnb.
Source: Reforge: The Product Strategy Stack
Author: Ravi Mehta
Roman Pichler: Product Goals in Scrum
Roman Pichler summarizes his suggestions on setting practical Product Goals, recently introduced with the Scrum Guide 2020.
Source: Product Goals in Scrum
Author: Roman Pichler
Haymo Meran (via InfoQ): Cut your Design Sprints in Half with these Key Tips
Haymo Meran shares his approach to Design Sprints that reduces its original time requirement from five days by 50 percent without sacrificing the outcome’s quality.
Source: InfoQ: Cut your Design Sprints in Half with these Key Tips
Author: Haymo Meran
🛠 Tools & Measuring
Barry O’Reilly: The Metrics Of Digital Transformation
Barry O’Reilly addresses wheel-spinning during transformations and how to overcome transformation theater and start delivering more value faster.
Source: The Metrics Of Digital Transformation
Author: Barry O’Reilly
Alita Joyce (via Nielsen Norman Group): Getting Started with Journey Mapping: 27 Tips from Practitioners
Alita Joyce provides an excellent primer on setting yourself up for journey-mapping success by defining objectives, building a cross-functional team, and collaborating on the map.
Source: Nielsen Norman Group: Getting Started with Journey Mapping: 27 Tips from Practitioners
Author: Alita Joyce
📯 Peer Recruiting: How to Hire a Scrum Master in Agile Times
Peer Recruiting is the new hiring: Shortly, all creative, technology-based organizations will need to abandon the command & control structures that served the industrial world of the 20th century so well. Instead, they will reorganize themselves around autonomous teams to deal with the complexity and pace of innovation of the 21st century.
In such an agile world, recruiting will become a team decision, and the “human resources” department’s role will change into a supportive one. Recruiters will need to become servant leaders or facilitators, guiding the peer recruiting process.
The following guide to peer recruiting is based on my experience in participating in recruiting Scrum Team members over the last ten years. This first article will cover the Scrum Master role.
👉 Learn more: Peer Recruiting: How to Hire a Scrum Master in Agile Times.
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Food for Agile Thought #283: Is Agile a Trojan Horse, Culture & Methods Trends 2021, Product Strategy Stack, Metrics of Transformations was first published on Age-of-Product.com.
