Food for Agile Thought #360: How Minds Change, Think Big & Work Small, Grassroots Movements
Stefan Wolpers
?? I help Product Owners, Product Managers, Scrum Masters & Agile Coaches Grow w/ Classes, Courses, Books & Community. ?? Author of the ”Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide;” ??Trainer at Scrum.org; ?? Book a 1-on-1; talk chances!
TL; DR: How Minds Change, Think Big & Work Small — Food for Agile Thought?#360
Welcome to the 360th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 35,907 peers. This week, we have a fantastic interview with David McRaney on how minds change, rationalization, and belief. (If you are coaching other people, you should listen.) Also, we learn how teams can “experiment and learn, develop new markets, [and] outmaneuver the competition,” and we reflect on who may likely get ahead when encountering an impediment. Switching perspectives, we delve into the “best way to kill a grassroots movement at your company” and how to help it flourish instead.
Then, we point to the necessary “changes to how the product teams need to interact with customers” when an organization abandons a sales-driven approach, and Roman Pichler details his product model, from product vision to Product Backlog, including four artifacts and two templates. Moreover, we reflect on the perils of Think Small and Work Big, Think Big, Work Big, and Think Small, Work Small, and link mental models to building products, from Parkinson’s Law of Triviality to Conway’s Law to the Pareto Principle.
Finally, Mike Cohn shares a free assessment tool for your team’s mastery of 20 essential elements of a successful transformation. Also, we advocate using anti-personas to “help anticipate how products can be misused in ways that can harm users and the business.” Lastly, Phil Mistry tells the incredible story of an invention ahead of its time in a classic case of an innovator’s dilemma: How Steve Sasson invented Kodak’s digital camera!
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?? The Tip of the Week: How Minds?Change
?? Russ Roberts and David McRaney (via Econlib): David McRaney on How Minds?Change
Russ Roberts interviews David McRaney on the psychology of change, rationalization, and belief.
Authors:?Russ Roberts?and?David McRaney
? Agile &?Scrum
?? James Shore, Mary Poppendieck, Tom Poppendieck: Optimizing Outcomes
James Shore, Mary Poppendieck, and Tom Poppendieck discuss how teams can “experiment and learn, develop new markets, [and] outmaneuver the competition.”
Source:??? Optimizing Outcomes
Authors:?James Shore?and?Mary Poppendieck
John Cutler: Drivers vs.?Fixers
John Cutler reflects on who may likely get ahead when encountering an impediment — drivers or fixers — and why we need a balance between both.
Source:?Drivers vs. Fixers
Author:?John Cutler
Viktor Cessan: Grassroots movements at work: How management interventions affect?agency
Viktor Cessan delves into the “best way to kill a grassroots movement at your company” and how to help it flourish instead.
Author:?Viktor Cessan
?? ?? ?? ???? Hands-on Agile 46: Engage the Agile Fluency? Model with Diana?Larsen
Join Agile innovator?Diana Larsen?for a lively engagement with the Agile Fluency Model?. After a short introduction to AFM, we’ll shift to an AMA-style discussion (Ask Me Anything) of the groundbreaking view of agile and teams. Then, learn about an inclusive, positive, improvement-oriented approach to guiding Agile choices.
RSVP now and join 100-plus peers — seats are limited: ?? ?? ?????Engage the Agile Fluency? Model with Diana Larsen?on?October 12, 2022.
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?? Product
Marty Cagan (via Silicon Valley Product Group): Pledge To Customers
Marty Cagan points to the necessary “changes to how the product teams need to interact with customers” when an organization abandons a sales-driven approach.
Author:?Marty Cagan
Roman Pichler: My Product Strategy?Model
Roman Pichler details his model, from product vision to Product Backlog, including four artifacts and two templates.
Source:?My Product Strategy Model
Author:?Roman Pichler
Jason Yip (via Medium): Guiding principle: Think Big, Work?Small
Jason Yip reflects on the perils of Think Small and Work Big, Think Big, Work Big, and Think Small, Work Small.
Author:?Jason Yip
Brian Bassett (via Simple Thread): Applying Mental Models to Building Digital?Products
Brian Bassett links mental models to building products, from Parkinson’s Law of Triviality to Conway’s Law to the Pareto Principle.
Author:?Brian Bassett
?? The Product Backlog: 14 First Principles to Help Your Scrum Team?Succeed
Contrary to popular belief, the Product Owner does not have dictatorial powers regarding the composition and order of the Product Backlog. Instead, Scrum as a framework is based on a delicate system of checks and balances, collaboration, and joint decision-making to mitigate risk; for example, the Product Owner falling in love with their solution over the problem of the customers. Learn more about critical Product Backlog principles, from the size and growth of the Product Backlog to whether a Product Backlog is necessary in the first place. (Some lean practitioners dispute its existence is justified.
?? Concepts, Tools & Measuring
Mike Cohn: Elements of Agile: An Agile Assessment Tool for Iterative Improvements
Mike Cohn shares a free assessment tool for your team’s mastery of 20 essential elements of a successful transformation.
Author:?Mike Cohn
Itamar Gilad: Dealing with Top-Down?Projects
Itamar Gilad suggests using the GIST framework — Goals, Ideas, Steps, Tasks — next time a manager imposes an output goal.
Source:?Dealing with Top-Down Projects
Author:?Itamar Gilad
Jeff Gothelf: The Truth?Curve
Jeff Gothelf utilizes a simple visualization technique to determine where and when to spend on experimentation.
Source:?The Truth Curve
Author:?Jeff Gothelf
(via Nielsen Norman Group): Antipersonas: What, How, Who, and?Why?
Sara Ramaswamy advocates using anti-personas to “help anticipate how products can be misused in ways that can harm users and the business.”
?? Encore
(via PetaPixel): How Steve Sasson Invented the Digital?Camera
Phil Mistry tells the incredible story of an invention ahead of its time in a classic case of an innovator’s dilemma.
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Food for Agile Thought 360: How Minds Change, Think Big & Work Small, Grassroots Movements, Elements of Agile Assessment was first published on Age-of-Product.com.