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Scrum

13h

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Product Operations – A Key Ingredient in your Product Journey

The vision of the Product-oriented organization is to have product teams aligned around outcomes, focused on what truly matters, collaborating cross-functionally, and equipped with data-driven insights.
Moving from managing tasks and backlogs to managing outcomes and owning products is a challenging transformation, especially for organizations new to the product world.
Product Operations, also known as optimizing structure, processes, and tooling, plays a crucial role in established Product Organizations, enhancing the Product Management experience and driving innovation with fewer distractions.
As companies embrace product thinking to develop the company, there will be an increased demand for enabling people to think and work in product ways of working, making the future of Product Operations even more interesting.

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Scrum

14h

127

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Continuous Deployment – Vanity or Transformational Capability?

Continuous Deployment has become a bragging right for technology organizations.
Integrating and deploying every small change reduces the length of the feedback loop.
Continuous deployment is crucial for trying, inspecting, and adapting in an environment of uncertainty.
Closing fast feedback loops is essential for various products and industries.

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Scrum

21h

279

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The Gut Feeling Agile Coach or Scrum Master

Many Agile-related change initiatives rely on gut feelings to make big decisions.
These decisions can impact team and organizational effectiveness.
Organizations trust the gut feelings of external Agile coaches or consultants.
It is recommended to use a data-informed and evidence-based approach for decision-making.

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Scrum

240

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How to Manage a Product Backlog in a Way That Maximises Value Delivery?

Managing the Product Backlog is about understanding what’s most valuable to be worked on next, fostering transparency, and maintaining flexibility to adapt to changes.
1. Order for Impact: Evaluate items based on potential impact to prioritize value creation.
2. Refine Regularly: Continuous refinement sessions clarify scope and requirements.
3. Embrace Flexibility: Be open to re-ordering, incorporating new ideas and discarding irrelevant ones.
4. Focus on Outcomes: Clearly define criteria for completion to maximize value addition.

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Medium

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[OnlineWebinar] Fundamentals of Agile Product Management

This online webinar focuses on the fundamentals of Agile product management.
It aims to provide an understanding of product management principles that can be applied to projects.
The speaker, Eiki Takeuchi, is an experienced scrum master and agile coach.
To join the webinar, please register on the meetup.com page.

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Scrum

288

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Product Washing

The product operating model has become very popular among many companies, promising a more customer-focused and outcome-oriented approach that empowers teams to create value iteratively and autonomously.
However, the misuse and abuse of the product operating model term may lead to a hollow adoption of product practices, offering a new buzzword but no significant changes.
Organizations that are eager to save the status quo without proper transformation may adopt the Product Washing, which refers to cosmetic changes and new vocabulary without genuine empowerment, accountability, and culture shift.
Executive leaders and other stakeholders may assert the rhetoric of the product-led philosophy but resist POM implementation, aiming to preserve resources, project timelines, and strategic decisions.
Similarly, external consultancies may promote POM as a turnkey solution, focusing on replicable templates and processes rather than context-sensitive transformation. They prioritize visible, short-term outcomes to justify their fees over fundamental cultural changes needed for the product operating model.
Some of the most common anti-patterns of a hollow product operating model transformation include surface-level structural changes without empowerment or accountability, renaming project managers and business analysts as product managers without redefining roles, and token autonomy without real decision-making authority.
To establish a genuine product operating model transformation, organizations need to go beyond labels and create conditions where product-led practices thrive.
It requires leadership alignment on product goals, building internal expertise, shifting metrics to focus on outcomes and adapting bonus systems, starting with pilot teams and scaling intentionally, and committing to a culture of learning and adaptation.
True transformation involves bold, often uncomfortable cultural shifts, accountability, and leadership buy-in to deliver the product operating model's promise of a better, more effective, and outcome-driven approach.
Product Washing, on the other hand, may lead to cynicism and disillusionment, leaving organizations stuck in old dynamics with a new vocabulary.

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Productcoalition

11h

Image Credit: Productcoalition

Does Anyone Really Ever “Complete” a Sprint

The real secret to sprint effectiveness isn’t about checking every box by Sprint Review day; it’s about delivering consistent value while maintaining team sanity and stakeholder trust.
Perfect sprint completion itself is a vanity metric.
Instead of playing a weird game of capacity chicken with your sprint, teams should estimate work more reasonably and plan for 80% capacity and acknowledge that if everything is P0 then nothing is.
Measure what matters including value delivered to customers, velocity, team sustainability, prediction accuracy, and quality of output.
Agile ceremonies should offer opportunities for genuine collaboration and improvement.
Conversations need to be had with stakeholders that clarify the new way of working.
Stay focused on planning based on reality, delivering consistent value, measuring true metrics of success, learning and improving, and managing expectations well.
The real win will be the maximal value you provided your customers along the way.

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Scrum

12h

296

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There's more to Organizational Agility than the Scrum Guide

While Scrum framework guides the interactions of Scrum team, it doesn't describe organizational changes that support agility.
Organizations need to figure out how they can best use Agility within their unique environment.
Leadership alignment is crucial for Agile teams. Leaders must shift from a command-and-control mindset to a model that empowers and trusts teams.
Leaders should also empower teams to self-organize, foster accountability, innovation, and a higher level of engagement.
Leaders should evaluate customer outcomes, value creation, and overall team culture instead of merely measuring success by throughput.
Leaders should also focus on removing organizational and technical impediments to help their teams perform well in an agile environment.
Leaders should work to foster open communication, trust, and a willingness to experiment and learn from failure to build a strong team culture.
An Agile Transformation requires a clear purpose & vision aligned with organizational objectives that serves as a foundation for success.
Leaders should invest in Scrum training & knowledge sharing to ensure everyone has the knowledge to contribute to a sustainable transformation.
Ongoing coaching support helps maintain Agile momentum and encourages continuous improvement. Coaches are key to reinforcing practices, answering questions, and providing feedback.

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Scrum-Master-Toolbox

20h

356

Mike Bowler: Leading Change In Agile Teams Through Curiosity and Trust

Approaching teams with curiosity and offering options for experimentation can lead to significant breakthroughs.
Creating safe environments where teams feel comfortable testing new ideas is crucial.
Sensitivity to the environment is necessary as not all spaces foster psychological safety.
Mike Bowler, a seasoned Agile coach, emphasizes the importance of trust and psychological safety in leading change in Agile teams.

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21 Likes

Medium

261

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The Scrum Framework and Best Practices

The Scrum framework is a widely-used agile methodology for product development that has proven to be effective in delivering value iteratively and responding to changing market needs.
Understanding the Scrum framework’s key components, roles, artifacts, and events is essential for implementing Agile Product Management practices effectively.
Product Owner plays a critical role in Scrum by ensuring the development team delivers value. We will outline the responsibilities of the Product Owner and discuss strategies for effective product backlog management.
The Scrum Master acts as a facilitator, ensuring that the Scrum framework is properly understood and implemented. We will explore the responsibilities of the Scrum Master and highlight their role in fostering collaboration and removing impediments.
The Development Team is responsible for delivering the product increment during each sprint. We will discuss the composition of the Development Team, their self-organizing nature, and the importance of cross-functional collaboration.
Scrum events are time-boxed events that facilitate the inspection and adaptation of the product and the process. We will explore best practices for the following Scrum events
Maintain a well-groomed product backlog, including user story prioritization, backlog refinement, and managing dependencies.
Effective sprint planning is crucial for setting the right direction and goals for the upcoming sprint.
Daily stand-ups, or daily scrums, are short meetings aimed at enhancing team communication and coordination.
Retrospectives allow teams to reflect on their process and identify areas for improvement.
Implementing the Scrum framework requires a strategic approach to create a culture that fosters collaboration, effective communication, and transparency within your organization.
Scrum is built upon the principles of continuous improvement.
Challenges can arise during the adoption of Scrum. It is important to address these challenges to ensure a smooth and successful implementation.
Resistance to change, a lack of understanding of Scrum roles and responsibilities, inaccurate estimation and planning, poor backlog management, a lack of focus on continuous improvement, and insufficient engagement with stakeholders are some of the common challenges that organizations may face when adopting Scrum.
To overcome these challenges, organizations must implement corresponding strategies, such as providing clear communication, training and support, accurate estimation, backlog management, and empowering teams to make decisions.

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15 Likes

Medium

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Vabro: The Modern PM Tool

Vabro is a project management tool with advanced features.
Key features include comprehensive task management, enhanced collaboration, customizable workflows, advanced reporting and analytics, seamless integration with other tools, user-friendly interface, resource management capabilities, and mobile accessibility.
Vabro offers robust task management with support for task dependencies, milestones, and deadlines.
The tool excels in collaboration with real-time communication features and integration with popular communication tools.

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2 Likes

Scrum

361

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Financial Aspects in Agile Product Management

Product Managers and Product Owners often neglect the financial aspect of product development.
Managing a product’s financial perspective is important for making informed decisions.
Instead of fixed cost estimates, teams should align budgets with expected customer outcomes.
Key financial metrics in Product Management include ROI, market share, revenue, and cost.
Agile teams must continuously review financial risks through contingency budgeting and financial transparency.
Visualization and a shared space for measurement can help teams make informed decisions on financial health.
Items order based on financial impact, where Feature A gets a higher order due to its higher ROI.
Agile teams should also focus on incremental funding and iterative value delivery to reduce upfront risks.
To handle uncertainty, Product Owners or Product Managers can stay flexible with budgets, use financial metrics with agile principles and practices and keep the business healthy.
Using financial metrics with agile principles and practices helps both product and business remain financially viable.

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Scrum-Master-Toolbox

158

Mike Bowler: Reviving Dysfunctional Teams with Trust and Collaboration

Mike Bowler recounts his experience with an extremely dysfunctional team he joined six months into a three-month project.
He employed practical techniques like individual conversations, pairing exercises, and ensemble programming to build trust.
Collaborative activities such as team lunches were also crucial in improving teamwork and communication.
Mike recommends the book 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman for understanding team dynamics and behavior changes.

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9 Likes

Scrum

304

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Demystifying Accountability: How to Hold Yourself and Others Accountable

Accountability is important for team culture and performance in Scrum.
Accountability is the ability to give an account, providing transparency, inspection, and adaptation.
Leaders should foster a culture of self-accountability by defining commitments, creating a plan, self-reviewing, retrospecting, and sharing with the team.
In case team members or leaders are not holding themselves accountable, point out discrepancies and invite a response to mentor them in self-accountability.

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18 Likes

Medium

296

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Keeping it Simple: What ‘Mrs Armitage on Wheels’ Teaches Us about Product Focus

Feature creep, or the addition of unnecessary features, can negatively impact products.
Products should stay focused on solving real problems and meeting user needs.
Listening to user feedback and testing can reveal essential features and unexpected needs.
Building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that solves a core problem is key to success.

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