Something strikes me; many companies hire experienced product professionals in the hope of scaling up their products. However, what happens in practice is frightening; such product professionals become powerless because they are not the ones calling the shots. Top management believes in knowing best what to do and expecting product…

Scrum Teams will never reach their highest potential without solid Product Management practices. — Why do companies hire highly qualified professionals? The answer should be straightforward, but what happens, in reality, is complex. I’ve observed many talented people trapped in the business world from doing what they are capable of. The reasons are endless, but some common ones are: Unskilled managers limit talents by…

The market is shifting in a new direction, can Scrum still find its space? — It’s impossible to ignore how well known Scrum is. For years, Scrum was the first choice among Agile frameworks for most companies worldwide; only a few would challenge it. But recently, something changed, organizations are losing trust in Scrum. …

Moving from abstraction to action — How often have you heard something like, “Our mission is to create value for our customers.” I already lost the count, and though this sentence makes total sense, it gives you no guidance. People interpret the word value differently, and that’s where the confusion starts. Don’t get me wrong, I’m…

Originally published in GoRetro You may find many reasons why several Agile transformations fail, but one is more than a cause — it’s a precondition: top management buy-in. Without full support from your company’s leadership, no Agile implementation can thrive. The million-dollar question is how can you convince the top…

The older your Product Backlog Item gets, the more irrelevant it becomes — Do you have dozens or hundreds of items in your Product Backlog? Do your backlog items last a couple of months or several months, if not years? Do you remove old items from your backlog or move them to the bottom? The more on the left your answers are, the…

Stepping Back — Originally published in GoRetro After a hundred Sprints, team Jorvik was done with Scrum. Their motivation sunk after Björn challenged their achievements. They delivered many features but had no idea whether that created any value whatsoever, and they didn’t know how to escape from this trap. Morale was down, and…

You face a simple choice between a yes and no many times a day. You may not think about how impactful such decisions are because they seem trivial. But that may be the difference between reaching something outstanding or mediocre. You acquire a new responsibility for every yes you say…

Originally published in GoRetro I’d be a billionaire if I’d get a dime every time a developer complained about Scrum events. Recently, I noticed an increased resistance towards Scrum. Developers challenge whether the framework helps them get their work done or gets in the way. Some developers urge to abandon…