Food for Agile Thought #455: Creative Destruction Canvas, Identifying Digital Products, Descaling for Fun and Profit, Perfectionism
Also: Product Analytics Market, Agile Retros, AI & Product, Coach Burn Out, Buurtzorg Model

Food for Agile Thought #455: Creative Destruction Canvas, Identifying Digital Products, Descaling for Fun and Profit, Perfectionism

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the 455th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,701 peers. This week, Jeff Patton explores how identifying digital products is crucial for adopting a product operating model, while Esther Derby, Diana Larsen, and David Horowitz discuss updates in their second edition of Agile Retrospectives. Barry Overeem addresses Agile Coach burnout and the importance of creating supportive environments, and Henry E. Pozzetta examines the impact of cognitive biases on Agile, offering strategies to mitigate them. Also, Shane Gibson and Murray Robinson interview Arnold Stroobach about the Buurtzorg model, showcasing the success of small, self-managed teams in delivering high-quality, cost-effective care.

Next, Janna Bastow and Leah Tharin discuss the evolving role of product managers in the age of AI, stressing that AI should enhance rather than replace human judgment. Todd Lankford offers a three-step guide to building effective product teams by fostering ownership and adaptability, and Alexandre Serrurier shares his experiences at ManoMano, highlighting the critical role of ProductOps in optimizing product environments with strong leadership and structured initiatives. Moreover, Marty Cagan clarifies that adopting a product model doesn’t require reorganization; organizational design should align with business strategy and product vision.

Lastly, Philipp Pelka and Johannes Schartau introduce the Creative Destruction Canvas, a tool to help teams trim bloated products by removing unnecessary features. Aakash Gupta delivers a comprehensive analysis of the product analytics market, emphasizing its importance in product management, and Gregor Ojstersek and Jordan Cutler discuss the detrimental effects of perfectionism on engineering productivity, advocating for progress over perfection. Then, dynomight7 explores why advice often fails, offering strategies to enhance its effectiveness through simplicity and practicality, and, finally, Pavel Samsonov examines Nike’s costly reliance on easily gathered data, stressing the importance of qualitative insights in product strategy.


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Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought issue 454 ?

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?? The Tip of the Week: Identifying Digital?Product


Jeff Patton: Identifying your org’s digital?products

Jeff Patton delves into identifying digital products as the first step in adopting a product operating model. He explains using a simple product decomposition model to organize teams around digital products for effective software development.

Source: Identifying your org’s digital products

Author: Jeff Patton


?? Lemon of the?Week


Scrum is the Symptom, not the?Problem

Adam Ard claims that Scrum is a tool for corporate control rather than Agile empowerment, overlooking the true potential of Scrum when implemented correctly. His solution? Engineers need to own companies to escape the horrors of micro-management! Seriously?

Source: Scrum is the Symptom, not the Problem


? Agile &?Scrum


?? Diana Larsen, Esther Derby, and David Horowitz: What’s New in the 2nd Edition of Agile Retrospectives

Esther Derby, Diana Larsen, and David Horowitz discuss updates in the second edition of ‘Agile Retrospectives,’ sharing new insights, practices, and real-life stories to enhance team learning and improvement.

Source: ?? What’s New in the 2nd Edition of Agile Retrospectives

Authors: Diana Larsen , Esther Derby , and David Horowitz


Barry Overeem (via The Liberators): Are Agile Coaches Burning?Out?

Barry Overeem reflects on Agile Coach burnout, highlighting their struggles with lack of mandate and respect, and suggests using Liberating Structures to foster supportive and impactful environments for better team collaboration and decision-making.

Source: The Liberators: Are Agile Coaches Burning Out?

Author: Barry Overeem


?? Arnold Stroobach, Shane Gibson and Murray Robinson: The Buurtzorg Model with Arnold Stroobach

Shane Gibson and Murray Robinson talk with Arnold Stroobach about the Buurtzorg model, where small, self-managed teams deliver decentralized, high-quality, cost-effective home care, illustrating the potential for wider organizational efficiency and effectiveness.

Source: The Buurtzorg Model with Arnold Stroobach

Authors: Arnold Stroobach , Shane Gibson , and Murray Robinson


Henry Pozzetta: Agility Shares an Expected Utility Problem. Here’s a Solution.

Henry E. Pozzetta highlights the challenges Agile faces due to cognitive biases and offers solutions like promoting risk awareness, fostering experimentation, and embracing diverse perspectives to enhance team decision-making and innovation.

Source: Agility Shares an Expected Utility Problem. Here’s a Solution.

Author: Henry Pozzetta


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Learn more: ?? ???? Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM II Certificate?—?August 20–21, 2024 .

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?? Product


?? Leah Tharin and Janna Bastow: The challenges and opportunities AI brings to Product Management

Janna Bastow and Leah Tharin discuss the role of product managers in the age of AI, emphasizing that AI should assist, not replace, human judgment. She highlights the importance of product road mapping, stakeholder alignment, and understanding revenue connections.

Source: ?? The challenges and opportunities AI brings to Product Management

Authors: Leah Tharin and Janna Bastow


Marty Cagan (via Silicon Valley Product Group): The Product Model and Org?Design

Marty Cagan explains that adopting a product model doesn’t necessitate reorganization. Organizational design should align with business strategy and product vision, leveraging either the GM or Functional model based on specific needs.

Source: Silicon Valley Product Group: The Product Model and Org Design

Author: Marty Cagan


(via Mind The Product): Product ops is the fuel of your product environment’s health

Alexandre Serrurier shares insights from his experience at ManoMano on the crucial role of ProductOps in optimizing product environments, emphasizing the importance of leadership support, structured community initiatives, and resilient implementation.

Source: Mind The Product: Product ops is the fuel of your product environment’s health


Todd Lankford (via Medium): How I Build Powerful Product Teams Without Boundaries and Governance

Todd Lankford shares a three-step guide for building powerful product teams: removing boundaries and governance, fostering end-to-end ownership, creating safety, and cultivating adaptability for better outcomes.

Source: Medium: How I Build Powerful Product Teams Without Boundaries and Governance

Author: Todd Lankford


?? Quick Scrum Gains to Elevate Your Standing as a Scrum Master or Agile?Coach

Suppose you are a Scrum Master or Agile Coach. Have you recently been asked to explain your contribution to the organization’s value creation?

In other words, does management want to know whether you are pulling your weight or if your salary is an expendable expenditure? This article points to ten quick Scrum gains you can pull off without asking for permission or budget to prove your contribution to your organization’s survival in these challenging times.

Learn more: Quick Scrum Gains to Elevate Your Standing as a Scrum Master or Agile Coach .


?? Concepts, Tools & Measuring


(via Holisticon): Discover the Power of Creative Destruction

Philipp Pelka and Johannes Schartau introduce the Creative Destruction Canvas, a tool to help teams reflect on and remove product functionalities effectively, addressing the common issue of bloated products due to our tendency to add features rather than remove them.

Source: Holisticon: Discover the Power of Creative Destruction


Aakash Gupta: The Product Analytics Market: Overview and Deep?Dive

Aakash Gupta provides an in-depth analysis of the product analytics market, including interviews with leaders, a market map, and insights into top tools, emphasizing their critical role in product management.

Source: The Product Analytics Market: Overview and Deep Dive

Author: Aakash Gupta


(via dynomight): Why doesn’t advice?work?

The author examines why advice often fails, suggesting reasons like incomplete understanding, lack of willpower, and cognitive biases while offering insights into improving advice effectiveness by focusing on simplicity and practicality.

Source: dynomight: Why doesn’t advice work?


Gregor Ojstersek and Jordan Cutler: Perfectionism?—?one of the biggest productivity killers in the engineering industry

Gregor Ojstersek and Jordan Cutler share their personal experiences of how perfectionism hampers productivity in the engineering industry. They emphasize the importance of progress over perfection for better mental health and efficiency.

Source: Perfectionism?—?one of the biggest productivity killers in the engineering industry

Authors: Gregor Ojstersek and Jordan Cutler


?? Encore


Pavel Samsonov (via UX Collective): Nike’s $25B blunder shows us the limits of ‘data-driven’

Pavel Samsonov highlights Nike’s $25B mistake, showing the pitfalls of relying solely on easy-to-gather data for decisions, and underscores the need for qualitative insights and human judgment in product and UX strategy.

Source: UX Collective: Nike’s $25B blunder shows us the limits of ‘data-driven’

Author: Pavel Samsonov


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??? Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought?Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought 454: Product Type Canvas, AI Tools for Product Managers, High-Stakes Collaboration, Disrupting Large Organizations .

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Food for Agile Thought 455: Creative Destruction Canvas, Identifying Digital Products, Descaling for Fun and Profit, Perfectionism was first published on Age-of-Product.com .

Henry E. Pozzetta

Operational Agility Coach | Kanban & Scrum Master | Business Transformation Leader | Lean DevOps Expert | Product Development & Problem Solving at Scale

3 个月

Stefan Wolpers I appreciate the resources, coaching and support!

?Shane Gibson

Building out the second AgileData out of the box Information Product, all about automated SaaS Metric reporting.

3 个月

Thanks for including the podcast we did with Arnold Stroobach . Im still trying to get me head around the idea of an organisation with 16,000 front line staff and only 45 back office staff. Why do more organisations not work this way?

Aakash Gupta

Product Growth Newsletter and Podcast ?? | Helping PMs, product leaders, and aspiring PMs succeed

3 个月

Thanks for the shoutout!

Gregor Ojstersek

CTO | Founder of Engineering Leadership newsletter (89k+ subscribers) - Helping you become a great engineering leader!

3 个月

Thanks Stefan Wolpers for including our article that we did together with Jordan Cutler in this edition!

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