Jan 21
Food for Agile Thought #326: Enabling Great Work, The Better Listener
TL; DR: Enabling Great Work, The Better Listener — Food for Agile Thought #326
Welcome to the 326th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 34,017 peers. This week, we point out the patterns enabling great work. We also reflect on the essential pre-requisite of a high-performing team: Team members ‘feel free to express their questions, concerns, ideas, and mistakes,’ and we suggest building our listening mindset to escape the ‘surface listening’ trap.
We then delve into the need to balance discovery & delivery while establishing strong ethics of testing business ideas and share an approach to creating an experimentation mindset when the target organization values structure and process. Moreover, we have an interesting look at the top-down world of product management, where the team is just executing what’s put in front of them.
Lastly, we explain why product roadmaps may be roads; however, they are no road maps, and we try a simple quiz to get the self-management discussion going: Where do we stand as a team?
Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue #325?
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🏆 The Tip of the Week
Esther Derby: Shaping Patterns
Esther Derby points out the importance of “Clarity, Conditions, and Constraints” to build healthy environments enabling great work.
Source: Shaping Patterns
Author: Esther Derby
➿ Agile & Scrum
(via InfoQ): Creating Psychological Safety in Your Teams
Mehmet Baha reflects on the essential pre-requisite of a high-performing team: Team members ‘feel free to express their questions, concerns, ideas, and mistakes.’
David Ehrlichman (via Stanford Social Innovation): Fostering Self-Organization
David Ehrlichman shares an excerpt from his book ‘Impact Networks’ on ‘four key principles to realize the immense potential of collaborative and purpose-driven networks.’
Source: Stanford Social Innovation: Fostering Self-Organization
Author: David Ehrlichman
Ximena Vengoechea (via First Round Capital): The Art of Becoming a Better Listener — Tactical Advice for the Startup Setting
Ximena Vengoechea suggests building our listening mindset to escape the ‘surface listening’ trap.
Source: First Round Capital: The Art of Becoming a Better Listener — Tactical Advice for the Startup Setting
Author: Ximena Vengoechea
📅 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Hands-on Agile #38: AMA w/ Roman Pichler: The Product Owner — February 8, 2022
Join us for an exciting AMA session with Roman Pichler on the role of the Product Owner!
Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 HoA #38: Ask-Me-Anything w/ Roman Pichler: The Product Owner.
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🎯 Product
🎙 David J Bland and Jason Knight: Test Business Ideas Ethically by Experimenting With, Not On, Customers
In this podcast, David Bland delves into the need to balance discovery & delivery while establishing strong ethics of testing business ideas.
Source: 🎙 Test Business Ideas Ethically by Experimenting With, Not On, Customers
Authors: David J Bland and Jason Knight
📺 Jason Little: The Experimentation Mindset
In this episode of ‘That Change Show,’ Jason Little shares his approach to creating an experimentation mindset when the target organization values structure and process.
Source: 📺 The Experimentation Mindset
Author: Jason Little
(via Mind The Product): Don’t let your first PRD be your last
Adam Darcy cites a new survey on how PMs feel writing product requirements documents — an interesting look at the top-down world of product management, where the team is just executing what’s put in front of them.
Source: Mind The Product: Don’t let your first PRD be your last
📯 Product Owner Interview Guide: The Product Mindset
If you are looking to fill a position for a Product Owner in your organization, you may find the following 82 interview questions useful to identify the right candidate. This 8th set of Product Owner interview questions addresses the product mindset.
The questions are derived from my sixteen years of practical experience with XP and Scrum, serving both as Product Owner and Scrum Master and interviewing dozens of Product Owner candidates on behalf of my clients. So far, this Product Owner interview guide has been downloaded more than 10,000 times.
Learn more: Product Owner Interview Guide: The Product Mindset?
🛠 Tools & Measuring
Pim de Morree (via Corporate Rebels): Quiz: How Self-Managed Is Your Team?
Pim de Morree shares a simple test to get the discussion going: Where do we stand as a team?
Source: Corporate Rebels: Quiz: How Self-Managed Is Your Team?
Author: Pim de Morree
Itamar Gilad: Your Roadmap Isn’t Really a Road Map
Itamar Gilad explains why product roadmaps may be roads; however, they are no road maps.
Source: Your Roadmap Isn’t Really a Road Map
Author: Itamar Gilad
✂️ Cutting Room Floor
There are no entries in this category for this issue.
📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events 2022
Upcoming classes and events:
- 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Jan 25–28 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)
- 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Jan 31-Feb 1 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)
- 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Feb 8 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile #38: AMA w/ Roman Pichler: The Product Owner (English)
- 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Feb 8–11 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; English)
- 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Feb 15–18 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; English)
- 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Feb 22–25 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
- 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Mar 1 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile 39: Agile Challenges 2022 (English)
- 🖥 🇩🇪 Mar 7–8 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; German)
- 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Mar 15–18 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO-A; German)
- 🖥 🇩🇪 Mar 21–22 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Agile Leadership Essentials Training (PAL I; German)
- 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Mar 23 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile #40: Best Team Ever — David Burkus (English)
- 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Mar 29-Apr 1 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)
🗞️ 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 #31: The Zones of Value Framework with Valerio Zanini & Zeina Zeitouni.
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile #35: Designing Powerful Questions to help you Coach & Create with Daniel Stillman.
- 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 Level with 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 & Maryse Meinen.
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Food for Agile Thought #326: Enabling Great Work, Experimenting w/ Customers, The Better Listener, The Experimentation Mindset was first published on Age-of-Product.com.
