Food for Agile Thought #376: Product Team Performance, Injustice at Work, How to Lead Complexity, ChatGPT Prompts for Scrum

TL; DR: Product Team Performance — Food for Agile Thought #376

Welcome to the 376th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 36,564 peers. This week, we listen to our two product heavyweights, Lenny Rachitsky and John Cutler, delving into the performance of product teams. We continue with suggesting abandoning the popular framing that Waterfall is the opposite of Agile and that moving from one to the other requires a transformation, and identify four roles, at least one which you will play in a moment of injustice: person harmed, upstander, the person who caused harm, or leader. Moreover, we learn how a major Toyota program was saved by descaling and applying Scrum.

Then, we enjoy Marty Cagan sharing his approach to how teams and companies “can best deal with the challenges of complexity.” Also, we explore “three popular models for product teams,” and point to stakeholder alignment factors, from not trapping yourself to not confusing roadmaps with release plans to treating stakeholders as customers. Moreover, the ProdPad folks compiled a comprehensive list of questions your team may engage in identifying what is worth building.

Finally, Petra Wille shares the first findings from her 2022 survey into what drives thriving communities of practices for product people. Next, JTBD Toolkit released the JTBD Canvas 2.0, and there are new ChatGPT prompts for Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Developers. Lastly, Tami Reiss has a candid conversation with Rich Mironov on product ethics and the corresponding responsibilities of product managers and leaders.

Food for Agile Thought #376: Product Team Performance, Injustice at Work, How to Lead Complexity, ChatGPT Prompts for Scrum — Age-of-Product.com

Did you miss the previous Food for Agile Thought’s issue 375?

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Hands-on Agile 49: ChatGPT — Age-of-Product.com

📈 Join 100-plus peers: Hands-on Agile 49: ChatGPT.

🏆 The Tip of the Week: Product Team Performance

Lenny Rachitsky and John Cutler: 🎙 What differentiates the highest-performing product teams

Our two product heavyweights, Lenny Rachitsky and John Cutler delve into the performance of product teams.

➿ Agile & Scrum

Charles Lambdin: Agile vs. Waterfall (And Other Obfuscation)

Charles Lambdin suggests abandoning the popular framing that Waterfall is the opposite of Agile and that moving from one to the other requires a transformation.

Kim Scott (via Radical Candor): Injustice At Work: 4 Effective Ways To Respond

Kim Scott identifies four roles, at least one which you will play in a moment of injustice: person harmed, upstander, the person who caused harm, or leader.

Nigel Thurlow: How Scrum Rescued a Major Toyota Program

Nigel Thurlow shares how a major Toyota program was saved by descaling and applying Scrum.

🎓 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM I Certificate — Live Virtual Class: February 7-10, 2023

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

Enjoy the benefits of a live immersive class with like-minded agile peers in the morning hours from 9 am – 1 pm CET.

Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM I Certificate — Live Virtual Class: February 7-10, 2023

Learn more: 🖥 💯 🇬🇧 Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM I Certificate — Live Virtual Class: February 7-10, 2023.

“Great class. Probably the best training I ever attended. Extremely driven and productive class, with interactive exercises that challenge you to think in Agile manner. Keeps the focus on the point regardless of the remote session. Stefan for sure goes above and beyond to teach you how to be a real Scum master.”

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🎯 Product

Marty Cagan (via Crisp): 📺 Leading Complexity with Context not Control

In this video, Marty Cagan shares his approach to how teams and companies “can best deal with the challenges of complexity.”

John Cutler: Three Product Teams

John Cutler explores “three popular models for product teams” and points to the impossibility of reducing real life into three simple models.

Bruce McCarthy (via productboard): 5 Secrets to Stakeholder Alignment on Roadmaps

Bruce McCarthy points to stakeholder alignment factors, from not trapping yourself to not confusing roadmaps with release plans to treating stakeholders as customers.

📯 ChatGPT Prompts for Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Developers

Last week, I ran an “interview” with ChatGPT as an applicant for a fictitious Scrum Master position based on questions from Scrum Master Interview Guide. (See below.) While the overall results were broadly acceptable, I thought that changing the ChatGPT prompts might deliver better results. So, this time, I chose to present ChatGPT with three everyday scenarios based on more comprehensive prompts. Lo and behold, it worked very well.

Think twice if you still believe this technology is a fad or a toy. Instead, grab a cup of coffee and read for yourself.

ChatGPT Prompts for Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Developers — Age-of-Product.com

👉 Learn more: ChatGPT Prompts for Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Developers.

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

Petra Wille: What I Learned from Surveying Over 100 People About Product Communities of Practice

Petra Wille shares the first findings from her 2022 survey into what drives thriving communities of practices for product people.

Fleur Sykes (via ProdPad): The 12 Most Important Product Discovery Questions

Fleur Sykes compiled a comprehensive list of questions your team may engage in identifying what is worth building.

(via JTBD Toolkit): JTBD Canvas 2.0

JTBD Toolkit released the JTBD Canvas 2.0, a tool “to help you scope out your JTBD landscape prior to conducting field research.”

🎶 Encore

Tami Reiss and Rich Mironov: 🎙 Ethical Dilemmas in Product Management

Tami Reiss has a candid conversation with Rich Mironov on product ethics and the corresponding responsibilities of product managers and leaders.


📅 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
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 2-30, 2024 GUARANTEED: Product Backlog Management Cohort Class (English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €499 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 9, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #60: A Q&A on Dynamic Reteaming with Heidi Helfand (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 💯 🇩🇪 April 10-11, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 April 23-24, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Master (Advanced) Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 7, 2024 GUARANTEED: Professional Scrum Facilitation Skills Training (PSFS; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €749 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 May 7, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #61: Toyota Kata Coaching for Agile Teams & Transformations with Fortune Buchholtz (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 🇩🇪 May 14-15, 2024 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 🇬🇧 May 28-29, 2024 Professional Scrum Master (Advanced) Training (PSM II; English; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,189 incl. 19% VAT
🖥 💯 🇬🇧 June 6, 2024 GUARANTEED: Hands-on Agile #62: From Backlog Manager to Product Manager: From Outputs to Outcomes w/ David Pereira (English) Live Virtual Meetup FREE
🖥 🇩🇪 June 25-26, 2024 Professional Scrum Product Owner Training (PSPO I; German; Live Virtual Class) Live Virtual Class €1,299 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.

📺 Join 4,000-plus Agile Peers on Youtube

Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel to improve learning, for example, about product team performance:

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✋ Do Not Miss Out and Learn more about Product Team Performance — Join the 12,000-plus Strong ‘Hands-on Agile’ 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.

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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, it’s free.

Help your team to deal with product team performance 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

🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #375: Acceleration Beats Velocity, Jazz Lessons for Product, 3 Forms of Debt, Becoming a Product Coach.

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