Food for Agile Thought #418: Spotify Product Model, Advanced Forecasting, Healthy Storming, Biases in PM

Also: Saying No, Product Leadership, Velocity Illusions, Kata-style Retros

Nov 12, 2023

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to the 418th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 49,581 peers. This week, we traverse the landscape of agility in leadership: from Joakim Sundén’s ‘Autonomous Squads’ in the Spotify Product Model to Takeshi Yoshida’s facilitative leadership model. Moreover, Pim de Morree discusses Krisos’s transformational investments, while Daniele Davi offers a cautionary tale on agile adoption. We also dissect the ‘Illusion of Velocity’ in agile metrics, advocating for servant leadership and pushing past conventional metrics to embrace innovation and actual progress.

Then, John Cutler explores delivery tactics; Tiago Nogal delves into strategies against cognitive biases, and Roman Pichler shares inclusive product leadership insights. Plus, experience the ‘Product/Market Fit’ journey with Jason Cohen, from the initial customer pursuit to the overwhelming demand.

Finally, Troy Lightfoot interviews Dan Vacanti and Prateek Singh on advanced agile forecasting, while John Miller champions a Kata-style practice for revitalizing Retrospectives. Sketchplanations brings us a powerful lesson in responsibility, and Marc Randolph praises the strategic value of saying ‘no’ for entrepreneurial clarity and prioritization.

📖 Preorder the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide book now for delivery in January 2024!

🗞️ Exclusively on my Substack Newsletter: Developer Anti-Patterns — An Excerpt from the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide (3).

Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue 417?

🎓 Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes!

👉 Join 575-plus peers and help create the next edition of the Scrum Master Salary Report!

🏆 The Tip of the Week: The Spotify Product Model

Joakim Sundén (via Crisp): The Product Model at Spotify

Joakim Sundén shares insights on Spotify’s true differentiator, ‘Autonomous Squads,’ and the company’s unique approach to product leadership, inspired by Marty Cagan’s empowered team concepts.

Source: Crisp: The Product Model at Spotify

Author: Joakim Sundén

🍋 Lemon of the Week

(via Medium): What Is Agile? A Comprehensive Guide

This week’s Lemon depicts a graphic of “Agile” that is a Waterfall wolf in Agile sheep’s clothing, missing the iterative heart and collaborative soul of proper agile practices!

Source: Medium: What Is Agile? A Comprehensive Guide

➿ Agile & Scrum

Takeshi Yoshida (via Medium): Facilitating Healthy Storming

Takeshi Yoshida emphasizes the role of facilitative leadership in navigating teams through Tuckman’s stages for robust development and trust-building.

Source: Medium: Facilitating Healthy Storming

Author: Takeshi Yoshida

Pim de Morree (via Corporate Rebels): Becoming Bossless: An Update On The Radical Transformation Of Our First Acquisition

Pim de Morree reveals how investment firm Krisos turns research into action, buying and transforming companies into self-managing, progressive workplaces with the NER approach.

Source: Corporate Rebels: Becoming Bossless: An Update On The Radical Transformation Of Our First Acquisition

Author: Pim de Morree

Daniele Davi (via Medium): Stop! Stop hiring Scrum Masters!

Daniele Davi warns against hiring Scrum Masters without embracing actual agile change, highlighting a clash between old habits and Scrum values.

Source: Medium: Stop! Stop hiring Scrum Masters!

Author: Daniele Davi

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🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Product Backlog Management Cohort Class of Jan 23 to Feb 20, 2024

Discover the Product Owner success principles in this engaging Product Backlog Management cohort class and accelerate your professional growth and career perspective with tried & tested, hands-on practices:

Excel at delivering value regularly — your #1 career success factor.
Learn to distinguish between valuable and useless ideas.
Abandon the feature factory. Instead, learn to contribute to customer and organizational success.
Gain actionable insights, learn supportive tools, and practice everything in a safe community of like-minded peers.
Learn to say no and build trust and rapport with stakeholders while focusing on creating value.
Create engaging feedback loops.

The class will be offered in English.

Enjoy the benefits of an immersive cohort class with like-minded agile peers on the following dates:

Tuesday, January 23, 2024, from 4:00 pm — 6:00 pm o’clock CET.
Tuesday, February 6, 2024, from 4:00 pm — 6:00 pm o’clock CET.
Tuesday, February 20, 2024, from 4:00 pm — 6:00 pm o’clock CET.

Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Product Backlog Management Cohort Class of Jan 23 to Feb 20, 2024.

👉 From time to time, we can offer last-minute seats for training classes at cost to individuals who do not have access to a corporate training budget. If you like to be notified about these opportunities, please register here.

🎯 Product

📺 John Cutler (via Loom): My 5 Minute Manifesto on Measuring Velocity, Impact, “Efficiency”

John Cutler distills the essence of agile delivery: prioritize, work small, and value feedback to fuel strategy and prevent system overload.

Source: Loom: My 5 minute manifesto on measuring velocity, impact, “efficiency”, etc. I use emojis like 🔥, 👩🏼‍🚒 , 💵 , and 🚀 and even add a little humor.

Author: John Cutler

(via Mind The Product): Navigating biases in product management

Tiago Nogal highlights insights on cognitive biases in product management, from the Bandwagon effect to the Recency bias, advocating for strategies that promote informed, bias-aware decision-making.

Source: Mind The Product: Navigating biases in product management

Roman Pichler: Decoding Product Leadership

Roman Pichler discusses the essential role of solid product leadership beyond job titles, offering advice for fostering inclusive and impactful leadership within product management teams.

Source: Decoding Product Leadership

Author: Roman Pichler

(via Jason Cohen): Product/Market Fit: Experience & Data

Jason Cohen articulates the palpable shift to ‘Product/Market Fit’ as a transition from customer chase to demand surge, outlining its challenges and critical growth indicators.

Source:Jason Cohen: Product/Market Fit: Experience & Data

📯 The Illusion of Velocity — The Effect of Unsuitable Practices on Agility

In this article, I explore the pitfalls of ‘The Illusion of Velocity’ in agile contexts, peeling back the layers of traditional metrics as leadership tools. Moreover, I point to the advantages gained from leadership engaging directly with teams.

Understand why servant leadership and practices like the Gemba Walks are crucial for coping with complex, adaptive environments toward actual progress. Moreover, get an idea of how to start flipping outdated hierarchies and embrace the natural rhythm of productivity and innovation.

Learn more: The Illusion of Velocity — The Effect of Unsuitable Practices on Agility.

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

🎙 Daniel S Vacanti and Prateek Singh (via Agile Uprising): Advanced Topics in Metrics and Predictability

Troy Lightfoot explores advanced agile concepts with Dan Vacanti and Prateek Singh, debunking myths and offering tools for enhanced predictability in their new book “Actionable Agile Metrics For Predictability Vol II.”

Source: Agile Uprising: 🎙 Advanced Topics in Metrics and Predictability

Authors: Daniel S Vacanti and Prateek Singh

John Miller: Revitalizing Agile Retrospectives with Katas

John Miller probes the inefficacy of agile Retrospectives, advocating for a deeper, Kata-style approach to foster genuine continuous improvement and learning.

Source: Revitalizing Agile Retrospectives with Katas

Author: John Miller

(via Sketchplanations): Whose job is it?

Sketchplanations reflects on a tale of accountability, reminding us that action often falls through when left to ‘Everybody,’ ‘Somebody,’ ‘Anybody,’ and ‘Nobody.’

Source: Sketchplanations: Whose job is it?