Product Forge

The 'Two-Pizza Rule' for team size is being rewritten by AI. A week ago our Product Manager cranked out a prototype that would've taken 3 weeks by the entire team in 10 hours by himself. This isn't just a cool story—it's a fundamental shift in how software gets made. Early prototyping is moving dramatically to the left on the timeline. What used to require weeks of team effort can now happen before the first team meeting even starts. Our PM translated the vision in his head directly into working software in hours, not weeks or months. The speed is incredible, but it comes with new challenges we're still figuring out: ?? The prototype works, but it's nowhere near production ready. It's not quite ready for sharing at all. ?? Ironically, it has TOO MANY features—there wasn't the natural filtering that happens when multiple team members collaborate. Plus, it was just too easy to build it. It also created an unexpected tension: what's the engineering team supposed to do with this? The traditional handoff process doesn't work when someone leapfrogs the to this phase and then tries to hand off a large codebase to the team.. This is the new reality of AI in software development. The conversation moves at 10x the speed, but our processes haven't caught up. Teams that figure out how to leverage this superpower while maintaining quality and collaboration will win big. Have you experienced this acceleration in your work? #ProductManagement, #ProjectManagement, #AI, #Beta, #Agile, #agility, #userstories

80% of teams accumulate tech debt unintentionally—only 20% take it on strategically. Are you in the right camp? Here's a hard truth: Most teams don't decide to take on tech debt. It just happens. And by the time the Engineers start talking about it, you're usually in deeper than you'd like to be. The real problem? The team isn't discussing tech debt early enough. Product want more features (as they should). Engineers keep pushing forward (as they should). The Engineers suffer silently until there's a stranglehold on your ability to adapt. But highly effective teams know the question isn't how to avoid tech debt—it's when to strategically take it on. When should you intentionally take on tech debt? ?? When testing new concepts that need market validation in hours, not days ?? When both ROI and technical cost are high, but there's a viable workaround to capture immediate business value (refactor later when you're already getting returns) But here's the catch: It's not always this straightforward. Your team's ability to actually address tech debt later is crucial. Without the discipline to clean things up, you'll need to be more conservative in your approach. To get more strategic about tech debt: ?? Create an environment where the Engineers are comfortable speaking up ?? Ask the entire team how we're doing on tech debt ever 6-8 weeks ?? Ask yourself right now: Do we have the discipline to circle back for tech debt if we take it on right now? What's your take? How does your team handle these trade-offs? #ProductManagement, #ProjectManagement, #AI, #Beta, #Agile, #agility, #userstories

Product folks: If your engineers don’t care about your product vision, that’s on you, not them. It’s easy to assume “vision” is out there and carried by the team (because it's ringing in your head all the time). But just because it's ringing in your head doesn't mean it's ringing in theirs. ? You're actually trying to give them a piece of yourself when you cast vision. How? Make sharing your vision a habit, not an afterthought. Every two weeks (at minimum), bring the team back to the bigger picture. Weekly is even better. Random times, multiple times throughout the week in a few different ways is even better. Don’t just repeat a slide deck – there's nothing more boring. Here are two approaches I’ve used that are slightly less conventional: ?? Tell a story. Once, I explained our product vision from the perspective of an office dog. You could sense something was different about the perspective being offered but you couldn't tell it was from the perspective of the dog til the end. It was about a page long and the perspective of the dog helped it cut through our normal language and approach to hep people engage. ?? Make it real. At an insurance company, I shared a YouTube video of a farmer rebuilding after a tornado. Suddenly the focus wasn't on policy forms and premiums. It was about helping people put their lives back together. A similar video that I used at a bank helped shift the focus from pushing data around to helping families buy their first home (much more powerful). A strong vision isn’t just inspiring—it helps teams make better decisions every day. When people understand the “why,” the “what” and “how” become much clearer. #ProductManagement, #ProjectManagement, #AI, #Beta, #Agile, #agility, #userstories

"Last sprint, you delivered 84 points. I'd like you to deliver 94 in the next sprint." Nobody wants to be on this team. This approach is ineffective and it damages the culture of the org. Why? Because humans inherently resist tyranny. When story points get used as a control mechanism, it doesn't inspire efficiency or speed. It creates a culture where the team will do one of the following: ?? Game the system by inflating estimates ?? Sacrifice quality to hit arbitrary targets ?? Disengage from their work entirely Teams don't deliver less because they lack motivation or because someone didn't push them to set some goal; they deliver exactly what they're capable of within the constraints they have. Said differently, teams thrive on autonomy and trust, not arbitrary numerical targets. Instead of demanding more points, ask the team: "What's holding us back from delivering more value? How can I help remove those obstacles?" #agile #leadership #projectmanagement #teamculture #productivity

What's the longest amount of time you've spent debating whether a story is 8 points or 13 points? We've all been there. What should be a quick discussion turns into a 45 minute conversation that ends with "let's split the difference and call it 10" ??. In reality, you might not need to size stories at all (gasp!). Eliminating estimates isn't as radical as it sounds. It comes down to two key factors: ?? How predictable does your delivery need to be? ?? How long has your team been together? Teams that have been together longer know each other well enough to make accurate predictions. They know each other's capabilities, understand their collective capacity, and might not need formal sizing to provide accurate estimates. If you need high predictability (think: major product launches, coordinated marketing campaigns, strict stakeholder deadlines), you'll likely need to keep estimating (barring the experience level outlined above). But if speed is your priority and you can flex on predictability, stop estimating. Those hours spent sizing stories are better spent delivering value. The key is being honest about your context. Don't force #NoEstimates when your organization needs predictability, but don't waste time estimating when speed matters more. What's your experience? Do other dimensions matter more than these two? Let me know in the comments ?? #AgileMethodology #ProjectManagement #SoftwareDevelopment #Leadership #NoEstimates

In an AI-First world, breaking down work isn't a manual process. It's a process that starts by using AI to break down work and then lets the humans bring their best to perfect it. Most teams struggle with breaking work down because: ?? Breaking down work tends to focus on steps to create software, not value creation. That's a mistake because it slows the deliver of value to your customers. ?? Breaking down work takes a long time. Most of that time is tediously writing out details. The real value is in talking about the work and that's best done with something to react to. We don't think humans should do that work by hand anymore. so we want to showcase a capability in Product Forge that addresses these challenges. We built a free (no account required) tool to let you try it. In less than 5 seconds, you'll turn an Epic into the User Stories you need to build the software. #AI-First Follow the link in the comments to try it now!

Modern Agile doesn't always create agility. Agile promised flexibility but it's struggled to deliver. Here's what we see in our research: ?? Teams get caught up in efficiency metrics and scale ?? People become cogs in a machine (instead of problem solvers) ?? The focus shifts from delivering value to following the process ?? Here's one thing you could do: Shrink and subdivide your teams. When teams grow too large, they lose the very thing that makes Agile powerful - the ability to adapt quickly and deliver real value. They trade flexibility in a search for efficiency. I know what you're thinking: "We can't possibly get enough done with fewer people." But many studies show diminishing returns starting around 5 people (whoa!) Why? Two reasons: ? Because smaller teams have fewer communication touchpoints (Metcalfe's Law), ? Because the more people on a team, the less likely they are to pull their own weight (this is something called the Ringelmann Effect) When you eliminate these problems, the team will: ?? Move faster ?? Communicate clearer ?? Own their decisions ?? Stay focused on tangible deliverables ?? Maintain their agility Real agility comes from small, empowered teams with clear vision and the freedom to deliver. What's your experience with team size and agility? Share your thoughts below. ??

Would love to hear your thoughts on this question (below)

What's broken about Agile right now? Comment below to help us understand. We've talked to a lot of teams and have heard enough who are frustrated with Agile that we thought we'd ask for some insight. ?? Where is it not living up to its original intent? #ProductManagement, #ProjectManagement, #AI, #Beta, #Agile, #agility, #userstories

A user story is the beginning of a conversation – not the end." ?? Some write stories so vague the team is left guessing what to build. Others pack stories with so much detail their engineers feel trapped in someone else's solution. But the teams that nail it get one thing right: ???They treat stories as transferring ideas, not issuing direction. ??? The direction gets co-created with the team. This approach frees the product folks to think about customer needs while preserving the team's autonomy. Win-Win. Remember: Your best stories don't dictate HOW to solve the problem. They illuminate WHAT problem needs solving, then trust your team's expertise to find the best path forward. #ProductManagement #Agile #Leadership #SoftwareDevelopment #Teamwork