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TL; DR: User Story Guide, Free Facilitation Resources โ€” Food for Agile Thought #371

Welcome to the 371st edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,352 peers. This week, we share an extensive user story guide to create successful products, covering a lot of ground from 3Cs to INVEST to 3Ws. Also, we delve into the benefits of applying principles and patterns from the team topologies concept to remote and hybrid work environments. Moreover, John Cutler busts the myth that all planning is in some way helpful when he points to nine situations where planning might not be beneficial, from planning before the last responsible moment to planning to maximize output.

Also, we appreciate a Forrester Consulting study on the benefits of taking product management seriously, including โ€œkey recommendations on making product bets with greater impact.โ€ (Download the study for free.) Then, we analyze different scenarios you may encounter when elevating a team from feature factory workers to problem solvers and dive into the advantages of a product design philosophy popularized by Amazon: Working backward. And Petra Wille shares how to best support your team as a product coach.

Finally, we share lessons learned on how ThoughtWorks helped Etsy create a new product culture, scaling discovery and delivery. The Institute of Cultural Affairs curated an extensive repository of free learning resources for facilitators, from group facilitation methods to virtual facilitation. Lastly, Russ Roberts interviews Annie Duke on the benefits of letting go and how to avoid confusing grit with character.

Food for Agile Thought #371: User Story Guide, Not all Planning Is Helpful, ROI of Product Management, Free Facilitation Resources โ€” Age-of-Product.com

Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue 370 ?

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๐ŸŽ“ Join Stefan in one of his upcoming Professional Scrum training classes !

๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ’ฏ ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — December 12-13, 2022 .

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๐Ÿ† The Tip of the Week

Paulo Caroli: Writing User Stories and building successful products

Paulo Caroli shares an extensive guide on how to best use user stories to create successful products, from 3Cs to INVEST to 3Ws.

โžฟ Agile & Scrum

Eduardo da Silva and Rich Allen (via InfoQ): Enabling Effective Remote Working โ€“ Principles and Patterns from Team Topologies

Eduardo da Silva and Rich Allen delve into the benefits of applying principles and patterns from the team topologies concept to remote and hybrid work environments.

Martin Fowler and Timothy Cochran: Introducing a product delivery culture at Etsy

Timothy Cochran shares lessons learned on how ThoughtWorks helped Etsy create a new product culture, scaling discovery and delivery.

John Cutler: Plans are worthless, but planning is everything. We’ve all heard this. Common sense. But NOโ€ฆnot all planning is helpful.

John Cutler busts the myth that all planning is in some way helpful. Instead, he points to nine situations where planning might not be beneficial, from planning before the last responsible moment to planning to maximize output.

๐ŸŽ“ ๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ’ฏ ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate โ€” December 12-13, 2022

Discover Scrumโ€™s four success principles in this guaranteed 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 a compact immersive class with like-minded agile peers from 09:00 โ€“ 17:30 oโ€™clock CET.

Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — December 12-13, 2022 — Berlin-Product-People.com

Learn more: ๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ’ฏ ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Advanced Professional Scrum Master Online Training w/ PSM II Certificate — December 12-13, 2022 .

โ€œVery 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 โ€“ 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).โ€

(Link .)

๐Ÿ‘‰ 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 .

๐ŸŽฏ Product

(via productboard): ๐Ÿ“– Study: How Investing in Product Management Pays

Forrester Consulting conducted a study on the benefits of taking product management seriously, including โ€œkey recommendations on making product bets with greater impact.โ€ Download the study for free.

Joca Torres (via Medium): How to Turn a Feature Team into a Product Team?

Joca Torres analyzes different scenarios you may encounter when elevating a team from feature factory workers to problem solvers.

Lenny Rachitsky and Petra Wille: ๐ŸŽ™ How to be the best coach to product people

Lenny Rachitsky interviews Petra Wille on how to best support your team as a product coach.

๐Ÿ“บ Engage the Agile Fluencyยฎ Model with Diana Larsen โ€”ย Hands-on Agile #46

On October 12, 2022, agile innovator Diana Larsen delved into the Agile Fluencyยฎ Model. After a short introduction to the model, we shifted to an ask-me-anything-style discussion of the groundbreaking view of agile and teams.

YouTube Video

๐Ÿ“บ Watch the video now: Engage the Agile Fluency® Model with Diana Larsen — Hands-on Agile #46 .

๐Ÿ›  Concepts, Tools & Measuring

(via ICA:UK): ๐Ÿ“– Free Resources [on Facilitation and Participation]

The Institute of Cultural Affairs curated an extensive repository of free learning resources for facilitators, from group facilitation methods to virtual facilitation.

Nick Babich: Working backward: Why it is a must-have approach for product designers

Nick Babich dives into the advantages of a product design philosophy popularized by Amazon.

๐ŸŽถ Encore

Annie Duke and Russ Roberts (via Econlib): ๐ŸŽ™ Annie Duke on the Power of Quitting

Russ Roberts interviews Annie Duke on the benefits of letting go and how to avoid confusing grit with character.


๐Ÿ“… 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
๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ’ฏ ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง December 8, 2022 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #48: How Elon Musk Would Run YOUR Business with Joe Justice (English; Live Virtual Meetup) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ’ฏ ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง December 12-13, 2022 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Master Online (Advanced) Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class โ‚ฌ1.189 incl. 19% VAT
๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ’ฏ ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช December 14-15, 2022 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class โ‚ฌ1.189 incl. 19% VAT
๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ’ฏ ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช December 19-20, 2022 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class โ‚ฌ1.189 incl. 19% VAT
๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ January 23-26, 2023 US Timezone Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class $1,045-$1,245
๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง January 24-27, 2023 Professional Scrum Master (Advanced) Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class โ‚ฌ1.189 incl. 19% VAT
๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช January 31-February 3, 2023 Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class โ‚ฌ1.189 incl. 19% VAT
๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง February 7-10, 2023 Professional Scrum Master Training (PSM I; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class โ‚ฌ1.189 incl. 19% VAT
๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ February 13-16, 2023 โ€”ย US Timezone Professional Scrum Master (Advanced) Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class $1,195-$1,395
๐Ÿ–ฅ ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช February 28-March 3, 2023 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class โ‚ฌ1.189 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.

๐Ÿ“บ Join 4,000-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel to improve learning, for example, about the user story concept:

Download the Remote Agile Guide for Free — Age-of-Product.com

โœ‹ Do Not Miss Out and Learn more about the User Story Concept โ€”ย Join the 12,000-plus Strong โ€˜Hands-on Agileโ€™ Slack Community

I invite you to join the “Hands-on Agile” Slack Community and enjoy the benefits of a fast-growing, vibrant community of agile practitioners from around the world.

Large scale agile: Join the Hands-on Agile Slack Group

If you like to join all you have to do now is provide your credentials via this Google form , and I will sign you up. By the way, itโ€™s free.

Help your team with the user story guide by pointing them to the free Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide :

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

๐Ÿ—ž๏ธ Last Weekโ€™s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #370: Calm Innovation, Delivery Dates, Participatory Decisions, Bad Bosses .

The post Food for Agile Thought #371: User Story Guide, Not all Planning Is Helpful, ROI of Product Management, Free Facilitation Resources appeared first on Age-of-Product.com .

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