Food for Agile Thought #263: Engineering Sanity, Skill Mapping, Technical Debt Survey, Outcomes vs. Outputs
Stefan Wolpers
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TL; DR: Engineering Sanity, Skill Mapping — Food for Agile Thought #263
Welcome to the 263rd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 27,516 peers. This week, we delve into how UX can support engineering sanity; we study a recent survey among CIOs on technical debt, and we learn about options of remote engineers if they want to be noticed.
We then enjoy an audio guide to product discovery; we take it beyond the usual ‘output vs. outcome’ discussion, and we learn how to ask better questions when we need to decide what to measure on our quest to create value for customers.
Lastly, we are grateful for a downloadable template that supports skill mapping to identify educational needs.
Did you miss last week’s Food for Agile Thought’s issue #262?
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?? The Tip of the Week: Engineering Sanity
(via InfoQ): Dev & UX: How Integrating UX Improves Engineering’s Efficiency and Sanity
Debbie Levitt advocates that UX is engineering’s time, money, and sanity saver.
Source: InfoQ: Dev & UX: How Integrating UX Improves Engineering’s Efficiency and Sanity
?? ?? Join the Hands-on Agile #28: If You Use Scrum, Don’t Miss this One!
Agile & Scrum
(via McKinsey & Company): Tech debt: Reclaiming tech equity
McKinsey provides data from a recent survey with CIOs on technical debt, 60 percent of whom believe it has risen over the past three years.
Source: McKinsey & Company: Tech debt: Reclaiming tech equity
(via Triplebyte): Getting noticed as a remote engineer — and why it matters
Joseph Pacheco shares suggestions on how to not recede into the background. It is a good inspiration for Scrum Masters on how to support their Development Team members.
Source: Triplebyte: Getting noticed as a remote engineer — and why it matters
Rachel Krause (via Nielsen Norman Group): Skill Mapping: A Digital Template for Remote Teams
Rachel Krause provides a template for skill mapping. Okay, it is focused on UX designers but can easily be adapted to support your Scrum Teams’ members.
Source: Nielsen Norman Group: Skill Mapping: A Digital Template for Remote Teams
Author: Rachel Krause
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Learn more: Virtual Agile Camp Berlin 2020, Oct 22–24, 2020.
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Product & Lean
?? Roman Pichler: A Brief Guide to Product Discovery
Roman Pichler offers an overview of product discovery, explaining its purpose and why it matters. Enjoy the audio version, too.
Source: ?? A Brief Guide to Product Discovery
Author: Roman Pichler
Jens-Fabian Goetzmann (via The Startup): Why “Outcomes Over Outputs” Is Flawed Advice
Jens-Fabian Goetzmann believes that merely considering output and outcome is insufficient to address the challenge.
Source: The Startup: Why “Outcomes Over Outputs” Is Flawed Advice
Author: Jens-Fabian Goetzmann
John Cutler (via Amplitude): Asking Better Questions
John Cutler delves into the art of questioning so that your team can make better decisions about what to measure.
Source: Amplitude: Asking Better Questions
Author: John Cutler
?? Product Roadmap First Principles
The end of 2020 is nearing, and it’s product roadmap building time again — at least for those companies that are still dedicated to the old command-and-control model. In the next few weeks, executives and (key) stakeholders will come together and define new functionality that they believe will meet business demands in 2021.
While investing in product roadmaps can yield a reasonable return by creating a shared understanding between the “the business” and product teams, I also believe that product roadmaps need to be living artifacts requiring continuous attention by everyone involved. To make that process as worthwhile as possible, adhering to the following seven product roadmap first principles has proven beneficial in my experience.
Learn more: Product Roadmap First Principles.
??? Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition
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- Sprint Review Anti-Patterns
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Food for Agile Thought #263: Engineering Sanity, Skill Mapping, Technical Debt Survey, Outcomes vs. Outputs was first published on Age-of-Product.com.