The Daily Standup

9 Unwritten Social Rules Everyone Should Know

1. Be direct when you are too tired to function.
2. If someone turns down alcohol, let it go.
3. Don’t stand in a door way. 
4. Don’t make plans in front of those you don’t plan to invite.
5. Never criticize someone’s laugh or smile.
6. Respect your surroundings.
7. If someone drives you somewhere offer to pay for gas every time.
8. Don’t cut the line.
9. Say thank you when someone holds the door for you.

BONUS: Always show gratitude 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/

From Product Manager to AI Product Manager - Making the Transition Why focus on AI product management ?

• AI or traditional(??) Machine Learning has been driving business impact for a while (decades now). Search, recommendations, Ads, fraud detection and many such areas are heavily driven by ML algorithms
• AI is bound to have a large impact on business productivity going forward. There is some hype, but there is surely some real gains after the hype settles.

There will be a lot of effort by businesses to extract productivity gains out of AI and this will open door for more innovations. An AI Product Manager could be working for:

• a tech company building foundational models and serving API-s (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft)
• a tech company building tools and applications that will be heavily influenced by AI eg. — Adobe, Google, Microsoft, Netflix; startups, etc.
• businesses that want to extract benefits from this new technology
• consulting companies that help business through the transformation (the role here might be ‘consultant’ instead of ‘PM’)

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/

Story Points Are NOT Trash! Recently, I noticed another ‘Story Points are trash’ article on LinkedIn. It was a popular post, with many people responding to AND agreeing with this statement. I disagree. 😱 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/

Why People Don't Listen and How We Can Encourage Them

1. If your senior management team is ignoring you, it is probably not because they are stupid
2. If the message does not inspire your intended reaction, you may not have been clear in your communication
3. If your manager is ignoring recommendations from professional researchers, it is probably not because they don’t think understanding customers is important
4. If you’re doing planning activites when you should be doing strategic activities, the business might not be encouraging the behaviours it intends to encourage
5. If your ideas meet resistance, it might be because you’re not in an environment where true learning is valued.

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The Top 5 Undeserved Reasons Scrum Gets a Black Eye

1. Micromanagement
2. Sprints are mini waterfalls
3. Excessive Meetings
4. Story Points estimation gives a false sense of security
5. We can’t work in two weeks Sprints

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What Was I Made For? Who would have ever thought that I would have an episode completely inspired by the lyrics of a Billie Eillish song? Okay.. all of you who know me well realize that this is not so far fetched. As we remember a dear friend who passed on or we are trying to introspect on our own contribution to the world, it is time we ask the question.. What was I made for?
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/

Managers Are Overworked and I'm Worried - Mike Cohn I’m scared, folks—not of zombies, spiders, or flying.
I’m afraid of managers. Maybe I should say I’m afraid for managers.
I just read a new Harvard Business review article called Four Reasons Why Managers Fail. It said managers have nearly three times as many direct reports as they did just six years ago.
Managers also reported an average of 51% more responsibilities than they can handle.
The same research found that 44% of managers are struggling to fully support their direct reports.
I get that it’s fashionable to bash managers and to think of them as all living in a Dilbert cartoon. But managers perform important functions in organizations:
 

• They help convey organizational strategy.
• They look out for the careers and development of their employees.
• Managers resolve conflict.
• They help put the right people together to form great teams.
• They shelter teams from the potentially swirling whirlwind of change that often exists outside the team.
• Managers facilitate decisions.
• They have resources and can get more when it’s justified.
• Managers help create—or change—the culture of an organization.
• And when you want someone to remove an impediment? There’s no one better than a manager with both budget and people responsibilities.

So when some serious research reveals 48% of managers are at risk of failure, I’m worried.
I can literally remember becoming a manager. The responsibilities I had felt huge. The company was planning for a public offering and if the teams I managed were to fail, the public offering wouldn’t happen. Some nights I was sleepless with excitement over what my teams were accomplishing and how well they were working together.
Some nights I was sleepless with worry. (Other nights I was sleepless from too much pizza.)
But according to the research in this article, I had it easy as a manager back then compared to the stress and responsibilities managers feel today.
If you’re a manager with too many responsibilities, or three times the direct reports you had a few years ago, or you’re worried you’re at risk of failure, please understand you’re not alone; what you’re feeling is the norm now.
Next, take a look at my website. I’ve got hundreds of blog posts there, in addition to the videos on YouTube. It’s very likely you’ll find something there to help.
Or try asking GoatBot, our AI answer engine. It’s been trained on everything I’ve written or taught.
Finally, just click reply to this email—even if you only want some sympathy for the challenges of being a manager today. My team and I want to help.
So many managers at risk of failing scares me. That’s a lot of value that could be created in the world that may not be. Let’s fix that together, 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/

Everybody Hates the Product Manager Product managers are almost universally hated — and with (good?) reason. They just don’t get it. They make a lot of excuses. They never deliver, and when they do, it’s the wrong feature. And don’t get me started on how poorly they iterate, descope, estimate, roadmap, and “prioritize” their “backlog”. Being a PM is an almost impossible job by definition. You’re supposed to somehow keep all these disparate sets of people happy, and they all want different things. Not just different — sometimes the exact opposite.
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/

Product Manager vs Project Manager - The Importance in the Difference Why should I care about the differences between product and project management? And why do the differences matter? Despite being distinct roles, product managers and project managers are often confused
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/

Remembering Memorial Day - Reflection
Reflect on what memorial day really means..
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/