How You Start Is Everything
Whether your next big initiative delivers value quickly or becomes a million-dollar lesson in what not to do comes down to one decision: what you… Read More
Key Ideas of the Week
When you can’t say “Agile”
Agile wasn’t working. It was, frankly, chaos. Planning never went beyond two weeks. Retrospectives didn’t really lead to improvement. Estimates weren’t trusted by anybody. Susan,… Read More
Why Take a CSPO Course in 2025?
Here in the second half of 2025, a lot of Scrum feels either commonplace (“Pretty much every team uses sprints—I don’t need a class for… Read More
5 Ways AI Prototypes Mess With Your Brain
Modern AI tools let product managers generate high-fidelity prototypes—things users can actually interact with. This new capability is powerful, but it amplifies some predictable patterns… Read More
2 AI+Backlog Pitfalls to Watch Out For
The other day, I was talking with a technology leader who’s responsible for a portfolio of internal business applications. He and his teams deal with… Read More
From Debate to Decision: 3 Strategies to Get Unstuck When Feedback Goes Sideways
The other day, I asked for feedback on some writing and quickly regretted it. I’d been working on the copy for our Certified CAPED Consultant… Read More
The High Stakes of Internal Products
Internal products often begin with a PO hearing, “here are the requirements,” and end with a user hearing, “you’re required to use this.” Of course,… Read More
What do we mean when we say work is complex?
Ever had the experience of making what seems like a solid plan, getting into the work, and then quickly finding out reality doesn’t fit the… Read More
PI Planning Problems
PI Planning promised to solve the old tension between agile adaptability and business predictability. Neither too little planning like sprint-by-sprint work, nor too much like… Read More
CAPED for Better Agile
If you’re way into Agile Software Development (as we have been for the past 20+ years), CAPED (Complexity-Aware Planning, Estimation, & Delivery) may look distastefully… Read More