TL; DR: Technical Product Ownership Dive deep into the benefits—or the lack thereof—of the technical Product Owner (or product manager) and their profound impact on teams, customer satisfaction, and organizational success. Uncover when their technical acumen is a game-changer, a nice-to-have, or probably detrimental. ?? Zur deutschsprachigen Version des Artikels: Technische Product Owner: Vorteilhaft oder problematisch?. ? July 1, 2024: Learn to Master Your Most Important Artifact w/ the Advanced Product Backlog Management Course for Just $99! ? Please note: The course includes membership i ..read more

TL; DR: The Hexi Approach to Scaling — Food for Agile Thought #441 Welcome to the 441st edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,489 peers. This week, Dave Snowden and Nigel Thurlow present the Hexi approach, a multi-method strategy enhancing agility through complex adaptive systems. Joshua Arnold advocates for a Quarterly Look Ahead process, and Annie Duke and Lenny Rachitsky explore decision-making improvements using techniques like the “3Ds” framework and pre-mortems. Also, we reveal the hidden costs of offshore software consulting and delve into system-level anti-pa ..read more

TL; DR: System-Level Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Patterns Learn how outdated organizational structures manifest themselves in system-level Scrum stakeholder anti-patterns that easily impede any agile transformation to a product-led organization. We cover the perils of a lack of transparency, limited to non-existing leadership support, and why penny-pinching is the wrong approach. ?? Zur deutschsprachigen Version des Artikels: Die drei wichtigsten Scrum Stakeholder Anti-Muster auf Systemebene. ? July 1, 2024: Learn to Master Your Most Important Artifact w/ the Advanced Product Backlog Management Co ..read more

TL; DR: Product Operating Model Template — Food for Agile Thought #440 Welcome to the 440th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,461 peers. This week, Andy Birds shares a product operating model template to enhance ROI and customer outcomes. Brendan Gregg critiques the impact of disruptive “brilliant jerks” in engineering, while John Cutler advocates for engagement over layoffs. Also, Alex Debecker shares Basecamp’s Shape Up methodology, and Murray Robinson discusses the commodification of methodologies. Then, Itamar Gilad warns about the potential pitfalls of Gener ..read more

TL; DR: Scrum Master Tasks: Let’s Bust Some Myths! Rumor says that a great Scrum Master supports one team at a time. If that is true, how do you spend your time with the team members, helping them become self-managing? Moreover, what about stakeholders and the organization? Let’s gather some data on Scrum Master tasks anonymously and answer the question! ? Please join the 2024 survey on Scrum Master tasks here. ? May 30, 2024: Learn to Master Your Most Important Artifact w/ the Advanced Product Backlog Management Course for Just $149! ? Shall I notify you about articles like this one? Awesom ..read more

TL; DR: Ancient Scrum — Food for Agile Thought #439 Welcome to the 439th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,436 peers. This week, Tobias Mayer traces Scrum back to ancient human processes, suggesting its natural integration in creative endeavors. Scott Seivwright critiques the narrow focus of Agile coaches on methodology, advocating for adaptive practices in response to economic challenges, and David Burkus highlights the crucial role of managers in fostering autonomy and leadership amid rising trends towards managerless models. Chris Matts uses Eric Berne’s trans ..read more

TL; DR: Scrum Master Interview Questions on Creating Value with Scrum If you are looking to fill a position for a Scrum Master (or agile coach) in your organization, you may find the following 12th set of the Scrum Master interview questions useful to identify the right candidate. They are derived from my eighteen years of practical experience with XP as well as Scrum, serving both as Product Owner and Scrum Master as well as interviewing dozens of Scrum Master candidates on behalf of my clients. So far, this Scrum Master interview guide has been downloaded more than 27,000 times. ? May 30, 2 ..read more

TL; DR: Agile in the AI Age — Food for Agile Thought #438 Welcome to the 438th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,401 peers. This week, Henrik Kniberg challenges traditional Agile team sizes, advocating for smaller, AI-enhanced teams in his article on Agile in the AI age. Our Lemon champions a retro, bureaucratic approach to “Agile reporting,” and Murray Robinson and Shane Gibson discuss enhancing organizational agility with Evan Leybourn. Also, Michael Küsters argues for Agile as a dynamic, evolvable practice rather than a rigid dogma, while Petra Wille emphasize ..read more

TL; DR: The Product Operating Model — An Interview with Marty Cagan Let’s explore Marty Cagan’s insights on revolutionizing product management, embracing empowered teams, and fostering innovation by employing the Product Operation Model described in his latest book “Transformed.” We will uncover how to effectively navigate the transformational path to a product-centric approach and how Marty sees Scrum in this context. (Move directly to the Scrum-related part of the interview.) ? May 30, 2024: Learn to Master Your Most Important Artifact w/ the Advanced Product Backlog Management Course for J ..read more

TL; DR: Dunbar’s Number — Food for Agile Thought #437 Welcome to the 437th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,378 peers. This week, Patrick O’Shaughnessy interviews Robin Dunbar on Dunbar’s Number, revealing insights into human connections and their relevance in organizational structures. Jim Doran links Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle with Agile, highlighting the balance between focus and speed, alongside the importance of collaboration between Product Managers and Technical Leads. Eric Barker offers strategies to enhance team performance, including keeping te ..read more