Sculpting the Product Backlog: A Delicate Balance Between Lean Inventory and Future Readiness

Unravel the art of sculpting an effective Product Backlog in our latest blog post. Discover the significance of a lean inventory reflecting your product’s unrealized value, and the necessity of anticipating the future without clouding the backlog. We explore the essence of continuous reflection in calibrating the backlog, dissecting surprises, and turning them into invaluable insights. Just as sculptors chisel away to create masterpieces, learn how product managers can craft a Product Backlog that’s lean, comprehensible, and future-ready, thereby optimizing ROI for stakeholders.

Navigating the Future with a Fine-Tuned Product Backlog

🔍 Discover the underpinnings of a transparent and promising future in Agile Product Management! My latest blog post explores the indispensable role of an ordered Product Backlog that is coherent, refined, and rightly sized.

From Unused Gym Memberships to Agile Implementation The Parallels of Misapplied Investments

🏋️‍♂️🔄 Agile Practices = Gym Memberships? Discover the unexpected connection in our latest article! Just as people sign up for gym memberships with good intentions but don’t always follow through, companies can adopt Agile methodologies without fully reaping the benefits. Learn how to avoid being stuck with an ‘unused membership’ and elevate your Agile game to its full potential.💡💪

The Dumpster fire of SAFe!

Martin HinshelwoodJun 25·2 min readThere is no cookie-cutter approach or blueprint that will result in your company being successful. SAFe is the death star plan that will ultimately be your demise.The Dumpster fire of SAFe! SAFe has done irreparable damage to many companies like Volvo & Fitbit. Do not take their case studies at face value, they are mostly smoke & mirrors.𝘍𝘪𝘵𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘚𝘈𝘍𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 2016, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴.SAFe may well have worked somewhere, built iteratively and incrementally from scratch inside a single company. However, there is no way to be successful at scale using someone else process, essentially copying their homework for a different assignment. Every company is unique because of the niche that it grew to fill. Those unique niches were slow-moving in the past, allowing the ability to change to atrophy and eventually become stagnant. This stagnation is organisational cruft or, more commonly, bureaucracy. The pace of change is relentlessly increasing, and your organisational cruft is slowing you down.𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆’𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰, 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁-𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀.You need to allow the right practices to emerge over time and build a unique set of systems that allow you to maintain your niche and adapt to new niches as they arise. Leadership, not Management will help you get there.“Value is the real goal. In these increasingly uncertain times, having the technical excellence and business flexibility to quickly and deliberately respond to change will be the differentiator between the business that thrive and those that struggle to survive. The forced adaptations from Covid demonstrated the need to trust and empower your people. How will monolithic bureaucratic practices support that?” — Simon ReindlA leader’s job is to foster a lean-agile mindset and then get out of the way and allow folks to get the work done.𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀:The Results of Companies Migrating to heavy-weight Scaled Frameworks and off-the-shelf platformsHow large successful companies achieve agility at scale.USAF Memorandum: Preferred Agile Framework

APS Secret Agent: The Hero

It is important to assess the impact of different team behaviours on the outcomes of Sprints. The purpose of Sprint 3 is to investigate this and this activity on your part will help your team see how different dysfunctional team behaviours impact their effectiveness. Your Scrum Master will not know what’s going on. Part of […]

APS Secret Agent: The 90 Percenter

It is important to assess the impact of different team behaviours on the outcomes of Sprints. The purpose of Sprint 3 is to investigate this and this activity on your part will help your team see how different dysfunctional team behaviours impact their effectiveness. Your Scrum Master will not know what’s going on. Part of […]

APS Secret Agent: The Eye Roller

It is important to assess the impact of different team behaviours on the outcomes of Sprints. The purpose of Sprint 3 is to investigate this and this activity on your part will help your team see how different dysfunctional team behaviours impact their effectiveness. Your Scrum Master will not know what’s going on. Part of […]

APS Secret Agent: The Absent Product Owner

It is important to assess the impact of different team behaviours on the outcomes of Sprints. The purpose of Sprint 3 is to investigate this and this activity on your part will help your team see how different dysfunctional team behaviours impact their effectiveness. Your Scrum Master and the team will not know what’s going […]

APS Secret Agent: The Avoider

It is important to assess the impact of different team behaviours on the outcomes of Sprints. The purpose of Sprint 3 is to investigate this and this activity on your part will help your team see how different dysfunctional team behaviours impact their effectiveness. Your Scrum Master will not know what’s going on. Part of […]