May 13
Food for Agile Thought #342: Agile Laggards, Fireside Chat with Marty Cagan, Stakeholder Trust
TL; DR: Agile Laggards, Fireside Chat with Marty Cagan — Food for Agile Thought #342
Welcome to the 342nd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 35,264 peers. This week, we point to Geoffrey Moore’s ‘Technology Adoption Life Cycle,’ and that ‘Agile’ has entered the laggards segment. We also delve into an essential team success factor — stakeholder trust — and reflect on ‘balancing long-lived teams with short term coordination and alignment.’
Then, we learn how to determine best whether an idea is worth pursuing and define six ‘first principles’ for product leaders to deal with team topology, from ownership to alignment to autonomy. Moreover, we follow Behzod Sirjani, who believes that NPS has been turned into a useless vanity metric while it has actual value for measuring ‘word-of-mouth loops.’
Also, we advocate not focusing on productivity but, for example, on value, quality, speed, and flexibility, as they may lead to higher productivity later on. Lastly, we enjoy a fireside chat with Marty Cagan, where he addresses empowerment, adopting a product-led mindset, and why project-oriented companies should consider becoming product-oriented.
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🏆 The Tip of the Week
📺 Marty Cagan (via Mind The Product): Fireside chat with Marty Cagan
In this video, Marty Cagan addresses empowerment, adopting a product-led mindset, and why project-oriented companies should consider becoming product-oriented.
Source: Mind The Product: 📺 Fireside chat with Marty Cagan
Author: Marty Cagan
➿ Agile & Scrum: Agile Laggards
Mike Griffiths: Agile Adoption — Left to Right is the Way to Go
Mike Griffiths points to Geoffrey Moore’s ‘Technology Adoption Life Cycle,’ and that ‘Agile’ has entered the agile laggards segment, leading to shortcuts and the wrong mindset.
Source: Agile Adoption — Left to Right is the Way to Go
Author: Mike Griffiths
James Shore: Stakeholder Trust
In this excerpt from ‘The Art of Agile Development,’ James Shore delves into an essential team success factor.
Source: Stakeholder Trust
Author: James Shore
Chris Combe (he / him) (via Better Programming): Stable Teams and Dynamic Structures
Chris Combe reflects on ‘balancing long-lived teams with short term coordination and alignment.’
Source: Better Programming: Stable Teams and Dynamic Structures
Author: Chris Combe
🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Hands-on Agile #42: The Skinny on Lean Roadmapping and OKRs w/ Janna Bastow — May 30, 2022
This presentation will look at modern roadmapping best practices, including where lean roadmapping came from and how to put it to use in your organization. It’ll cover practical tips on how to move away from old school feature and date driven roadmaps, and how to move your team on to a leaner, more objective-focused track of product management using OKRs (Objectives and Key Results).
Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Hands-on Agile #42: The Skinny on Lean Roadmapping and OKRs — Janna Bastow — Mai 30, 2022.
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🎯 Product
Petra Wille — loomista: Patrick Sauerwein on the Product Community of Practice at Deutsche Telekom
Petra Wille interviews Patrick Sauerwein on CoP lessons learned, from formats to inviting external guests to impact.
Author: Petra Wille
Todd Jackson (via Lenny Rachitsky): How to Validate Your Startup Idea
Todd Jackson shares his experience as a seed-stage investor at First Round Capital on how to best figure out whether an idea is worth pursuing.
Source: How to Validate Your Startup Idea
Authors: Lenny Rachitsky and Todd Jackson
Yi Lv: Productivity Focus
Yi Lv advocates not focusing on productivity but, for example, on value, quality, speed, and flexibility, as they may lead to higher productivity later on.
Source: Productivity Focus
Author: Yi Lv
📯 How to Pass the Product Owner Certification — PSPO I, PSPO II, and PSPO III
The first article of this mini-series established that you do not need a certificate to become good at what you do, for example, working as a Scrum Master or Product Owner. However, getting certified may be a piece of sound investment advice. If you want to take advantage of the signaling power that Scrum certificates seem to have, the question is how to pass the Product Owner certification?
👉 Learn more: How to Pass the Product Owner Certification — PSPO I, PSPO II, and PSPO III.
🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring
(via UX Collective Editors): Team Topology: 6 ‘First Principles’ for Product Leaders
Afonso Franco defines six ‘first principles’ for product leaders to deal with team topology, from ownership to alignment to autonomy.
Source: UX Collective: Team Topology: 6 ‘First Principles’ for Product Leaders
Behzod Sirjani (via Reforge): How to (Really) Measure NPS
Behzod Sirjani believes that NPS has been turned into a useless vanity metric while it has actual value for measuring ‘word-of-mouth loops.’
Source: Reforge: How to (Really) Measure NPS
Author: Behzod Sirjani
✂️ Cutting Room Floor
John Cutler: Old Guard, New Guard
John Cutler reflects on change, contrasting different viewpoints of incumbents and change agents.
Source: Old Guard, New Guard
Author: John Cutler
📅 Training Classes, Meetups & Events 2022
Upcoming classes and events:
- 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 May 17–20 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO-A; German)
- 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 30 — Live Virtual Meetup: Hands-on Agile 42: The Skinny on Lean Roadmapping and OKRs — Janna Bastow (English)
- 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 31–Jun 1 — Live Virtual Class: Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM II; English)
- 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Jun 7–10 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German)
- 🖥 🇬🇧 Jun 20–23 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; English)
- 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Jun 28–Jul 1 — Live Virtual Class: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German)
See all upcoming classes here.
🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition
📺 Join 3,800-plus Agile Peers on Youtube
Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel:
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile #40: The Best Team Ever with David Burkus.
- 🆕 Hands-on Agile #38: The Product Owner with Roman Pichler.
- Agile Camp Berlin 2021: The Power and Pains of Autonomy with Jimmy Janlén.
- 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.
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Food for Agile Thought #342: Agile Laggards, Fireside Chat with Marty Cagan, Stakeholder Trust, How to (Really) Measure NPS was first published on Age-of-Product.com.
