Nov 5, 2021
Food for Agile Thought #317: Underperforming Dev Team, PO vs. PM Madness
TL; DR: Underperforming Dev Team, PO vs. PM Madness — Food for Agile Thought #317
Welcome to the 317th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 33,471 peers. This week, we share advice on how to support an underperforming dev team. Moreover, we listen to Richard Kasperowski and Woody Zuill talking about leadership, and we reflect on the agile mantra of failing fast. Could it be wrong?
We then delve into the Product Manager vs. Product Owner debate; we express concern about the rise of the third class beyond makers and managers in product teams: the process people, and we share Teresa Torres’ first version of her 2022 conference list.
Lastly, we explain three simple ways of getting a grip on splitting user stories, and we point out a surprising truth: the number of people needed for an interview study is often smaller than expected.
Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #316?
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🏆 The Tip of the Week
Roman Pichler: Dealing with an Underperforming Development Team
Roman Pichler shares his advice on how ‘product people can deal with an underperforming development team and help the group improve.’
Source: Dealing with an Underperforming Development Team
Author: Roman Pichler
➿ Agile & Scrum
🎙 Richard Kasperowski and Woody Zuill: The Best Leader Is the One Who Leads Without Authority
In this second part of the interview, Richard Kasperowski and Woody Zuill talk about leadership.
Source: 🎙 The Best Leader Is the One Who Leads Without Authority
Authors: Richard Kasperowski and Woody Zuill
Chris Matts: Failure Cultures Reward failure
Chris Matts has come to believe that the agile mantra about failing fast is wrong: the goal or focus of an agile team is not to fail but to create value for customers.
Source: Failure Cultures Reward failure
Author: Chris Matts
Joost Minnaar (via Corporate Rebels): Flat Organizations: Companies Do NOT Need Middle Managers
Joost Minnaar dives into the discussion of flat organizations without middle management.
Source: Corporate Rebels: Flat Organizations: Companies Do NOT Need Middle Managers
Author: Joost Minnaar
📅 November 30, 2021: Hands-on Agile #37: Agile Metrics Survey 2021 — Alexander Bergmann & Stefan Wolpers
We crowdsourced data and information on a critical topic: Who is using what metrics under which context to what success during an agile transformation.
We collected the data in two subsequent phases. In the 1st phase, from 2019–11–17 to 2020–02–13, we collected 534 data sets. In the second phase, from 2020–07–22 to 21–01–30, we collected another 629 data sets. Overall, 1,153 people participated in our survey.
Join us and learn what we have found with the Agile Metrics Survey 2021.
👉 RSVP now — seats are limited!
👉 From time to time, we can offer last-minute seats for training classes at cost to individuals who do not have access to a corporate training budget. If you like to be notified about these opportunities, please register here.
🎯 Product
(via UX Collective Editors): The PO vs. PM Madness
Afonso Franco delves into the Product Manager vs. Product Owner debate.
Source: The PO vs. PM Madness
Marty Cagan: Process People
Marty Cagan expresses concern about the rise of the third class beyond makers and managers in product teams: the process people.
Source: Process People
Author: Marty Cagan
Teresa Torres: 2022 Product Conference List
Teresa Torres shares the first version of her 2022 conference list. Is your favorite conference missing? No worries, just help them extend the list for the benefit of the community.
Source: 2022 Product Conference List
Author: Teresa Torres
📯 Maximizing Utilization, Ignoring Slack Time — Making Your Scrum Work #22
There are plenty of failure possibilities with Scrum. Since Scrum is an intentionally incomplete framework with a reasonable yet short “manual,” this effect should not surprise anyone. For example, what if the focus of the organization is on the maximizing utilization of the “workers” of the Scrum teams? What if the organization is still stuck deeply in industrial paradigm thinking, ignoring the benefits of slack time for the creation of value in the field of knowledge work?
Join me and delve into the effects of this outdated management principle in 60 seconds.
Learn more: Maximizing Utilization, Ignoring Slack Time — Making Your Scrum Work #22.
🛠 Tools & Measuring
Maria Rosala (via Nielsen Norman Group): How Many Participants for a UX Interview?
Maria Rosala points out a surprising truth: the number of people needed for an interview study is often smaller than expected.
Source: Nielsen Norman Group: How Many Participants for a UX Interview?
Author: Maria Rosala
(via Medium): Splitting Stories — Three Easy Ways
0 Tönnhausen NOV #1Steve Bishop explains three simple ways of getting a grip on splitting user stories.
📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events 2021
Upcoming classes and events:
- 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 November 9–12 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)
- 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 November 15–16 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Agile Leadership-Essentials Training (PAL-E; German)
- 🖥 🇩🇪 November 23–26 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; German)
- 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 November 30 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile #37: Agile Metrics Survey 2021 — Alexander Bergmann & Stefan Wolpers (English)
- 🖥 🇩🇪 Nov 30–Dec 3 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)
- 🖥 🇬🇧 December 15–16 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; English)
- 🖥 🇩🇪 December 20–21 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition
📺 Join 3,000-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel:
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile #34: Core Protocols for Psychological Safety with Richard Kasperowski.
- 🆕 Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Adapt How You Lead for Agile Success with Johanna Rothman.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Linking Strategy to Everyday Work with John Cutler.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Sustainable Agility at the Enterprise Levelwith Jorgen Hesselberg.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: How to Win with Agile Resistant Teams — A Case Study with Scott Weiner.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Increasing the Velocity of Value with Dave West.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Evidence-based Interventions with Viktor Cessan.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: Real Cross-functional Teams for Creating real and better Products with Jutta Eckstein and Maryse Meinen.
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Food for Agile Thought #317: Underperforming Dev Team, PO vs. PM Madness, Failure Cultures Reward Failure, 2022 Product Conference List was first published on Age-of-Product.com.
