The Daily Standup

The 2025 Product Manager - Winning Playbook

1. Finding Your Why
2. The rise of The Product Specialist
3. Strategy vs. Execution
4. Crafting Winning Product Documents
5. Say NO To Boring and YES To Automation
6. Ride The Creator Economy

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The 2-Minute Meeting HackHow It WorksSet the stage: Inform your team about the new format beforehand. No team likes surprises.The 2-minute rule: Each team member gets exactly 2 minutes to speak.The magic formula: In those 2 minutes, they must cover:

• One success since the last meeting
• One challenge they’re facing
• One specific ask for help or resources

Then it’s your chance as the boss to shine.You get 30 seconds to respond with:

• A note of praise for the success
• A clarifying question about the challenge
• A commitment to address the ask (or delegate it)

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The Top 3 Weekly Meetings That Will Help You Be the Best Leader!

1. Open Office Hour
2. Work Status Meeting
3. Work Productivity Meeting

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Welcome Home Anthony Henson!My son is FINALLY home! Please join me in welcoming him back! How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] https://www.agiledad.com/- [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/- [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/- [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Lead an Agile Team With Context and ControlYou can only get so far by attempting to manage the performance of people through control. It is far better to lead or manage people by defining the context of their work.
I was fortunate to learn this lesson early on when I worked in...a fast food restaurant. My manager, Jim, trained me that each burger was to be dressed with:
 

• 2 leaves of lettuce
• 2 tomatoes
• 3 slices of onion
• 3 pickles

• defining the wildly important goal (WIG) the team is working toward
• helping people deeply understand and empathize with users
• guiding a team in defining its igniting purpose, an intrinsic motivation that inspires exceptional performance
• understanding the strengths and weaknesses of competitive products

He didn’t drill this into my head. He didn’t inspect my burgers. He didn’t pop-quiz me.
Instead, he explained the context, the reason why our burgers should be dressed exactly that way.
He told me to imagine a customer who orders a burger with extra pickles and a cook who loves pickles and puts five on each burger by default. When asked for extra pickles, that cook puts on seven.
That’s too many for the customer who, on a return visit, asks for “light pickles.” That burger is made by a different cook who would normally put on three pickles and so puts just one on when asked for light pickles.
My boss gave me a vision of hapless customers alternately ordering extra or light pickles and never getting what they want due to the preferences of the cooks.
I remember the context he defined 40+ years later. How long would pimply-faced me have remembered these amounts if my boss had merely presented them as rules?
My manager defined the context of my customer—a hungry person seeking consistency. And that was enough.
Leading through context can involve of mix of things such as:
 
Leading an agile team—whether as a manager, executive, Scrum Master, product owner, team lead or other leader—is different. It requires new skills.
A self-organizing team resists rules and thrives on creativity and freedom. Leading such a team by providing context can also cause it to excel,How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] https://www.agiledad.com/- [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/- [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/- [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Art of Strategic Decision Making - Product Manager EditionIn the fast-paced and ever-changing world of product management, the role of a senior product manager stands out owing to the exceptional combination of talents, perspectives, and strategic thinking that they bring to the table. Senior product managers take a different approach to their position than their junior colleagues do, as they are frequently faced with a large array of responsibilities. They have mastered the capacity to maintain a balance between thinking about the large picture and thinking about minute details, deliberate product direction while managing cross-functional teams, and link product decisions with the outcomes of business operations.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] https://www.agiledad.com/- [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/- [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/- [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The First Principles of Product ManagementSome of the best PMs I know make their decisions based on first principles. A first principle is a “basic, foundational proposition or assumption that cannot be deduced from any other proposition or assumption.”.An example of one that we use for our developer platform team are that “all platform features should be like Lego blocks”, meaning that developers should be able to use any combination of features when building an app. Features should be interoperable, just like Legos.First principle thinking helps PMs because as companies scale, communicating the rationale behind historical, current, and future decisions can be simplified in a way that their team and stakeholders can rally around. This enables people around the PM to move quickly in the same direction, decouple, and make smart trade offs without their presence.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Agile is NOT Dead... It is Just in a New Era!The New Agile Principles1) Own The Problem & The SolutionAgile addresses complexity, where uncertainty reigns. There simply is no clear-cut solution to your problems. What is worse, the moment you apply a solution without understanding it, you surrender control and become a spectator.The first principle is to understand and fully accept that the only person who can decide what the solution might be is the person who is closest to the problem — you. Embrace this responsibility.2) Be a LearnerEffective problem-solving requires knowledge. The only way to take responsibility for your problems is by having the necessary knowledge at hand. And the only way you can do this is by becoming a scholar. Continuously learning.Knowledge is power. The more you know, the better you can understand your problem and the more solutions you will be able to come up with. The better you will be able to spar with others. The better you can take responsibility for your problems.Innovation rests on the shoulders of those who came before you.3) Be CriticalKnowledge is merely information. To wield knowledge effectively you need wisdom.Wisdom comes from scepticism, from asking questions, being aware of assumptions, deep analysis, seeking diverse perspectives and engaging in thoughtful discussion. Strive to understand the context and the limitations of the knowledge you have. Strive to discover the gaps in your knowledge.Being critical is the only way to discern what the value and applicability is of any knowledge.4) Be CreativeComplexity means continuously facing novel problems that demand original solutions. That can only happen with creativity. Experimentation.Accept that! Realize that that is the job!Again, you may stand on the shoulders of geniuses and most of what you create may be derivative, but in the context of your particular problem, the solution will always be an act of creation, something unique.5) Be HumbleWielding the previous principles effectively will do awesome things for your self-confidence. Solving problems will become a game you love to play.But beware! Arrogance is fatal. The only way to remain effective is by embracing humility and always accepting that whatever you come up with may and probably will fail, and can always be improved.Humility is the foundation of continuous improvement. It leads to the need to experiment and validate, a need to second-guess yourself, a quest to make absolutely sure your solutions truly work.6) Be a TeacherLast of all, be a teacher. This may sound weird, but the truth is that teaching solidifies understanding. Teaching, whether through your teams, through writing, presentations, or mentorship, forces you to articulate your thoughts clearly, and forces you to structure your knowledge and identify gaps in your understanding.This is the true sign of mastery of your profession.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] https://www.agiledad.com/- [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/- [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/- [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Bring Out Your Stagnation!In the bustling village of Progressia, every Tuesday morning, the town crier—an overworked man in a tattered robe named Nigel—pushed his old wooden cart through the cobbled streets, shouting:"Bring out your stagnation! Bring out your stagnation!"It was a longstanding tradition. Villagers would shuffle out of their homes, dragging out bad ideas, outdated habits, and half-baked projects, dumping them onto the cart so they could be disposed of properly.One day, old farmer Reginald hobbled out, dragging something heavy behind him.“Here’s my career,” he grumbled. “It hasn’t moved in years.”Nigel peered down at the heap of dusty resignation letters, ignored training courses, and a suspiciously untouched LinkedIn profile. He poked it with a stick.“Oh no, that’s not quite dead,” Nigel said. “It just needs a bit of effort!”“Nonsense,” said Reginald. “I’m stuck, out of ideas, and might as well give up.”Suddenly, the heap of career mistakes coughed and sat up. “I’m feeling much better,” it croaked. “I think I’ll take a course on Agile leadership and try networking again.”Reginald frowned. “Look, can we just throw it on the cart? Makes things simpler.”But Nigel shook his head. “You see, mate, the problem isn’t that your career is dead. It’s that you stopped improving. If you’re still breathing, you can still grow.”A murmur of agreement spread through the crowd. People began dragging out their own half-forgotten goals—neglected gym memberships, dusty musical instruments, and an entire sack labeled "New Year’s Resolutions (2009-2024)".Nigel grinned. “See? You don’t need to get rid of your past—you need to upgrade it! Continual improvement, people! That’s how you avoid ending up on the cart.”From that day forward, Progressia changed. Every Tuesday, instead of throwing away their “stagnation,” people took their old ideas and revitalized them—learning new skills, trying new methods, and embracing a growth mindset.And as for Reginald? Well, he got himself a Scrum Master certification and became quite the success. (Though he still grumbled about it.)Moral of the story: Don’t throw yourself on the cart too soon. If you’re still breathing, you can still grow!How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] https://www.agiledad.com/- [instagram] https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/- [facebook] https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/- [Linkedin] https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Top 5 Daily Rituals of Highly Effective Leaders

1. Start The Day With Clarity
2. Connect With Your Team
3. Focus on Learning
4. Celebrate Small Wins
5. Practice Reflection

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