Age of Product’s Food for Thought of May 7th, 2017 is shared with 8,337 peers. We deal with various aspects of change: metaphors, agile OKRs, thirsty plants, and misconceptions. And we wholeheartedly support Tanner’s idea of actively doing nothing as a scrum master.

On the product side, we start with another round of anti-patterns in product development. Then we switch to how to do it right, and we end with why you should not confuse alignment with an agreement.

Lastly: We understand the magic of disruptive innovation disguised as toys and appealing to the inner child.

Agile OKRs & Scrum

Lynne Cazaly : Where's your project on the path of change Another great visualization by Lynne Cazaly: the ‘ladder’ metaphor for (agile) change and transformation project.

Dan North : Applying OKRs Dan North shares his learning from exploring ‘objectives and key results’ with several organizations, from a few hundred people in size to a couple of thousand.

John Yorke : Why don’t developers water the plants? John Yorke thinks there are zones of diminishing responsibility that reduce the effectiveness of self-organized teams.

Simon Powers : The 6 Misconceptions of Agile Coaching & How to Overcome Them Simon Powers believes that Agile coaching is in a muddle, and he tries to de-muddle it by pointing at six common misunderstandings.

Rob Wortham : Mastering the Art of Actively Doing Nothing Tanner Wortham explains why he believes that scrum masters should learn the art of actively doing nothing.

Product & Lean

Jeff Patton : Backlog Grooming Bugs Me Jeff Patton shares a rant on product backlog refinement meetings, believing those are often the most unproductive and painful ones in Scrum.

Sean Johnson (via Hacker Noon ): 11 Essential Laws of Product Development Sean Johnson provides a short, yet seemingly battle-proven guide on product development.

Tim Herbig : Alignment doesn't need Agreement Tim Herbig praises Jeff Bezos’ “disagree and commit” phrase when it comes to not confusing alignment with an agreement.

John Cutler (via Medium ): Why We Write Tickets A comprehensive reminder—Slack-style—by John Cutler on why we create tickets. I would add creating a shared understanding, though.

Sebastian Radics : Costs of Delay combined with How to measure anything Sebastian Radics shares a slide-deck on costs of delay including an exercise to apply the quantitative cost of delay matrix.

The Essential Read