Hire Your Next Boss

by Charl Dreyer on June 25, 2009 · 0 comments

in Jobs

Managing Agile has just launched Agile.jobs, which is a free service to you (and your new boss). Agile.jobs is a place where you can create job offers to prospective employers. And after we put you in contact with them, you can interiew your new boss and company to see if they are an ideal fit for you.

It probably sounds a bit odd, I know, but once you get your head around this, it’ll make perfect sense. The chances of you finding your ideal position the next time you’re in the job market are statistically very slim.

One reason is that recruitment agencies operate in substantially the same way as they always have despite the digital revolution. And employers are increasingly dissatisfied with their low value-add. Someone could offer employers this service cheaper, faster, and more effectively than agencies. That someone could be you. [click to continue…]

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Product Owner Themes

by Charl Dreyer on May 16, 2009 · 0 comments

in Individuals and Interactions

In the early days of our Scrum implementation our team of 11 Product Owners used to have fairly lengthy debates as we were coming to grips with the role. Typically the discussions would turn strongly introspective, as you may imagine. As the leader of the team I was interested to discover that similar themes emerged whenever we got together without an agenda. I list them here and will elaborate on each one in future posts.

  • An overarching product strategy spanning all teams is needed.
  • Be careful to react to user needs rather than user solutions.
  • Product Owners easily become too operational.
  • Product Owners need to champion ‘less is more’.
  • More agility is needed to get product proofs out quicker.
  • Product Owners need to encourage teams towards optimistic development, with less optioning.
  • Product Owners need to discourage teams from creating complicated implementations.

Whilst we expected the introspective tone of these discussions, we were too well aware that we don’t practice our trade in isolation of the market place. Inward-facing issues need to be sorted as quickly as possible.

What are your customers and competitors doing while you spend time trying to solve internal issues?

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