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TL; DR: Product Discovery Tool, Vanity Metrics — Food for Agile Thought #350

Welcome to the 350th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 35,507 peers. This week, we introduce the ‘Confidence Meter,’ a product discovery tool. Plus, we ask a seemingly simple question: how do we define team longevity, and is it indeed a helpful approach? Moreover, we enjoy an introductory guide to understanding and using Product Goals to your team’s advantage and point at waste at all levels in our software shops.

Then, we share ‘empirical evidence for the [usefulness of the] Double-Diamond model’ and applaud Jason Yip, who sketched use cases of user stories, from 😞 to 🤔 to 😀 practices. And in case you plan your next career step: Roman Pichler sheds light on the responsibilities of a head of product. Moreover, Janna Bastow talks about being lean while creating and maintaining your roadmap and how objectives and key results (OKR) may help meet that challenge.

Finally, we share John Cutler’s ultimate guide to fighting vanity metrics, from understanding their appeal to identifying and overcoming them. And while we are at it: Agile Uprising provides a guide to helpful metrics in various environments, from flow efficiency to work item age to time to market.

Food for Agile Thought #350: Product Discovery Tool, Team Longevity, Vanity Metrics, Shared Understanding in Sketches — Age-of-Product.com

Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue 349 ?

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🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — September 6-9, 2022 .

Join the Anonymous Poll for the Upcoming Free ‘Product Owner and Product Manager Salary Report 2022’ —Age-of-Product.com

🏆 The Tip of the Week: Product Discovery Tool

Itamar Gilad: How Much Product Discovery Is Enough?

Itamar Gilad addresses a common problem in product discovery, getting lost in yet another discovery activity, by introducing the ‘Confidence Meter’ tool.

➿ Agile & Scrum

Jeff Gothelf: How long should we keep the team together?

Jeff Gothelf asks a seemingly simple question: how do we define team longevity, and is it indeed a helpful approach?

(via Parabol Focus): Product Goals: How to Write and Use Them (With Examples)

Parabol shares an introductory guide to understanding and using Product Goals to your team’s advantage.

Tim Ottinger (via Industrial Logic): Waste Snake

Tim Ottinger points to various forms of waste at all levels in our software shops and what we can do about it.

🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — September 6-9, 2022

Discover Scrum’s four success principles in this official Scrum.org Advanced Scrum Master training class including the industry-recognized PSM II certification. The PSM II training class is designed as a live virtual class and will be offered in English.

Enjoy the benefits of an immersive class of four sessions with like-minded agile peers in the morning hours from 09:00 – 13:00 o’clock CEST.

🎓 🖥 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — September 6-9, 2022 — Berlin Product People GmbH

Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇩🇪 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — September 6-9, 2022 .

“Very hands-on class with lots of concrete takeaways to help in real world scenarios. Reinforced practices and highlighted things that helped in passing the PSM II exam but that was merely a bonus as the content of the class is so useful – certifications or not. Stefan Wolpers is an excellent trainer with broad practical and theoretical knowledge on the subject and his classes seem to have very good working atmosphere (this was a second class by him that I have taken).”

(Link .)

👉 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

Sharon Ferguson (via Medium): How do product design teams converge on an idea?

Sharon Ferguson shares ‘empirical evidence for the [usefulness of the] Double-Diamond model.’

Jason Yip (via Medium): Some sketches about using User Stories to facilitate shared understanding: bad, better, best

Jason Yip sketches use cases of user stories, from 😞 to 🤔 to 😀 practices.

Roman Pichler: What Should a Head of Product Do?

Roman Pichler sheds light on the responsibilities of a head of product, a career aspiration for many product managers and Product Owners.

📺 Janna Bastow: Lean Roadmapping and OKRs — Hands-on Agile #42

In this energizing 42nd Hands-on Agile Lean Roadmapping session, Janna Bastow, the go-to-authority on product roadmaps, talked about being lean while creating and maintaining your roadmap and how objectives and key results (OKR) may help meet that challenge.

Janna Bastow: Lean Roadmapping and OKRs — Hands-on Agile #42 — Age-of-Product.com

📺 Watch the video now: Janna Bastow: Lean Roadmapping and OKRs — Hands-on-Agile #42 .

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

John Cutler (via Amplitude): What Are Vanity Metrics and How to Stop Using Them

John Cutler shares his ultimate guide to fighting vanity metrics, from understanding their appeal to identifying and overcoming them.

(via Agile Uprising): Actionable Agile Metrics For Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, or ANYTHING! How to get started!

Agile Uprising shares a guide to helpful metrics in various environments, from flow efficiency to work item age to time to market.

✂️ Cutting Room Floor

Cal Newport: The 3-Hour Fields Medal: A Slow Productivity Case Study

Cal Newport explains why three hours of work per day may not be painfully slow but massively productive — when you zoom out and take a long-term perspective.


📅 Scrum Training & Event Schedule

You can secure your seat for Scrum training classes, workshops, and meetups directly by following the corresponding link in the table below:

Date Class and Language City Price
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 July 14, 2022 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile 43: Outcome-Based Product Planning with Jeff Gothelf (English; Live Virtual Meetup) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 🇩🇪 August 29-30, 2022 Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 September 5, 2022 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #44: Honey, I Shrunk the Backlog with Allan Kelly (English; Live Virtual Meetup) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 🇬🇧 September 6-9, 2022 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 September 26-27, 2022 Professional Agile Leadership Essentials Schulung (PAL I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 October 4-5, 2022 Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇩🇪 October 18-21, 2022 Advanced Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO-A; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.399 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 Oct 31-Nov 3, 2022 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO-I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1.189 incl. 19% VAT

See all upcoming classes here .

Professional Scrum Trainer Stefan Wolpers

You can book your seat for the training directly by following the corresponding links to the ticket shop. If the procurement process of your organization requires a different purchasing process, please contact Berlin Product People GmbH directly.

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Download the free Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide by PST Stefan Wolpers — 160 ways to improve as a Scrum Team — Age-of-Product.com

🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #349: 4 Deadly Sins of Work Culture, Right-Sizing Your Stories, Engineering Culture at Uber, Little Scrum Islands .

The post Food for Agile Thought #350: Product Discovery Tool, Team Longevity, Vanity Metrics, Shared Understanding in Sketches appeared first on Age-of-Product.com .

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