Innovation Sprint Planning

Was asked what my "Sprint planning secret" was. My secret is to do something effective instead of a fake-Agile waterfall-planning session complete with SWAG story-point estimates and tactical planning—something that makes no room for learning as we work. Instead, pick a single story. Keep asking "Can we make this smaller?" until the answer is no. (Most teams don't know what "small" actually is, so they'll have to learn how to do this.) Throw out any of those small stories that aren't worth doing (the best way to get faster is to not build stuff nobody wants), and put all but the most valuable of the stories back on the backlog. Build that most valuable thing. Given that a story represents a customer's problem, not a solution (another thing fake-Agile shops get wrong), sit down with your product people and, ideally, a representative customer and collect enough information to START (not finish) the work. One customer is enough (you've got to start somewhere)—release to more customers and adjust once you've got something concrete in your hands. Continuously collect additional information and feedback as you work with very small incremental releases to skin-in-the-game customers. Better yet, get rid of Sprints altogether. There's some value in doing some things on a regular cadence, but doing everything on the same cadence seems ineffective to me.

Your Head of Product will tell you this: The best PMs aren’t product people. The best PMs are business people. Early in my career, I thought being a strong PM meant: ✅ Clean roadmaps ✅ On-time releases ✅ Backlog grooming like a pro I checked every box—and still missed the mark. Because none of that matters if the product doesn’t drive the business. Old way: PMs manage features, coordinate teams, and keep the engine running. New way: PMs challenge assumptions, prioritize by impact, and own outcomes—not just outputs. Before anything goes on the roadmap, ask: - What business metric does this move? - What customer problem does it solve? - Why now? When you start thinking like a business owner—not just a product owner—everything changes. Here are 3 ways to make that shift: ✅ Take the initiative to drive action. Don’t wait for direction—own the next move. -> Frame problems, not just solutions. -> Bring data and customer insights to support your case. -> Proactively align with cross-functional partners. 💡 Actionable step: Use a BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) to pitch new ideas: - What we’re proposing - Why it matters to the business - What we need to move forward ✅ Ensure the team knows the vision you’re pursuing. People don’t rally behind features—they rally behind purpose. -> Set clear outcomes, not just outputs. -> Anchor sprints to customer impact. -> Tell the story behind the roadmap. 💡 Actionable step: Start each sprint with a one-liner: "This week, we’re solving this problem for this customer because it supports this business goal." ✅ Prioritize by business impact. Great PMs don’t chase effort—they chase outcomes. -> Tie every feature to a metric that matters. -> Cut what doesn’t move the needle. -> Make tradeoffs visible and deliberate. 💡 Actionable step: Make sure every feature on the roadmap is linked to a prioritized strategic initiative. If it doesn’t ladder up, it doesn’t ship. Final thought: You don’t need an MBA. But you do need to think like a GM. -- 👋 I’m Ron Yang, a product leader and advisor. Follow me for insights on product leadership & strategy.

Scrum as a Service: When Agile Teams Become Ticket Processors Scrum as a Service is when Agile teams are execution units, taking orders instead of owning value delivery. They don’t solve problems; or shaping the product, they just code and close Jira issues. It’s what happens when companies adopt Scrum mechanically but keep traditional thinking and control structures intact. Symptoms of Scrum as a Service 1) No Product Ownership The PO is a backlog manager, not a decision-maker. Teams can’t challenge priorities. The backlog is a job assignment queue. Sprint Planning is a scheduling exercise, not a conversation about functional or technical trade-offs. 2) No Cross-Discipline Collaboration UX, DevOps, and Security exist outside the team, creating slow handoffs. Developers get fully fleshed-out requirements, not problems to solve. Agile teams are ticket processors, not value creators. 3) Nothing Changes Daily Scrums become status meetings for managers. Retros don’t lead to improvements, just performance reviews. Teams are judged by team outputs like velocity, not business outcomes. How This Happens 1) No Organizational Change Leadership keeps command and control, just renaming old roles. 2) Waterfall Thinking Teams have fixed scope and deadlines, no room for continuous discovery or progressive elaboration. 3) POs as Middlemen, Not Leaders POs relay stakeholder demands instead of shaping product strategy. 4) SMs are Managers. Not Coaches SMs push teams to move faster rather than helping them achieve a sustainable pace. How to Fix It 1) Give Teams Ownership Let teams define and prioritize their backlog. Facilitate direct feedback loops with users, not just stakeholder requests. Make POs strategic leaders, not order-takers. 2) Tear Down Silos Embed UX, DevOps, QA, and Security into the Scrum team. Stop treating devs as coders for hire. Make them coequal partners in product thinking. 3) Shift to Outcome Metrics Stop measuring success by velocity, throughput, or tickets. Track customer impact, retention, usability, and product adoption. Ask: Are we solving problems or just releasing code? 4) Decentralize Decision-Making Replace top-down roadmaps with team-driven prioritization. Let teams influence scope, trade-offs, and release planning. Encourage teams to experiment and innovate. 5) Foster Continuous Improvement Make retros actionable. Give teams time for technical excellence, like refactoring, automation, and innovation. Shift from feature delivery to sustainable, high-quality product development. From Execution Teams to Product Teams Scrum teams should be value creators, not feature factories. Agile is meant to empower teams, not turn them into Jira clerks. If teams can’t challenge priorities, shape solutions, adjust processes, or innovate, then you don’t have Agile. You have Scrum as a Service. Does your organization trust teams to own the product? If not, Scrum isn’t the problem. Your structure is.

Michael Margolis has been a UX research partner at GV (Google Ventures) for nearly 15 years, and through his hands-on work with over 300 startups has developed a unique approach to helping founders identify their “bullseye customer”—the specific subset of their target market who initially is most likely to adopt their product. In our conversation, Michael shares: 🔸 The step-by-step process of running a bullseye customer sprint 🔸 Practical tips for conducting effective customer interviews 🔸 The most common mistakes founders make when picking their first customers 🔸 The power of “watch parties” in aligning teams around customer insights 🔸 How to apply these methods beyond typical tech startups 🔸 Much more Listen now 👇 - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gwJ6vMfm - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gpZgzVfc - Apple: https://lnkd.in/g493bRqG Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for supporting the podcast: 🏆 Eppo — Run reliable, impactful experiments: https://www.geteppo.com/ 🏆 Paragon — Ship every SaaS integration your customers want: https://lnkd.in/geirC2qS 🏆 Enterpret — Transform customer feedback into product growth: https://lnkd.in/gjz_mCJt Some key takeaways: 1. Instead of a long, drawn-out research process, you can identify your ideal customer by doing a one-day sprint with your whole team. The process involves five qualitative interviews with your bullseye customers and watching them as a team in real time. This speeds up learning and ensures that the whole team gets aligned around the same insights. 2. The bullseye customer is more specific than a typical ideal customer profile (ICP). It’s an even more narrow subset of your target market most likely to initially adopt your product. Focusing on this narrow group helps you prioritize product development, align teams, and accelerate learning. 3. When validating your ideas, don’t get stuck on perfecting a single prototype. Instead, create at least three different versions to test. This helps you see what resonates most with your bullseye customer and allows your team to avoid getting too attached to one concept. 4. One of the biggest advantages of doing the bullseye sprint is learning how to recognize rejection early. Pay attention to signs of indifference during customer interviews. When you hear, “Oh yeah, I guess that would be nice,” or something similarly noncommittal, that’s your cue to move on. You’re looking for customers who are ready to say, “Take my money—where do I sign up?” 5. The way you approach customer research should differ from sales. Practice humble inquiry—ask questions as if you’re learning, not selling. Be vulnerable and embrace the fact that you don’t know everything. Your goal should be to learn, not to pitch. 6. Before diving into interviews, get everyone to predict what they think they’re going to learn.

BEYOND MODERATION - THE HIDDEN POWER OF FACILITATION Facilitators matter more than most people realize. In every workshop, sprint, and strategic conversation, they quietly turn talk into traction—designing flow, building psychological safety, and steering diverse voices toward a shared outcome. Because great facilitation feels effortless, its impact is often underrated. Yet when stakes are high and complexity rises, a skilled facilitator is the multiplier that transforms ideas into decisions and momentum into results. 🎯 DESIGNER - Great facilitation starts with intentional design. Map the flow of the workshop or discussion with crystal-clear outcomes. When you know where you’re headed, you can confidently animate the session, guide transitions, and keep everyone aligned. ⚡ ENERGIZER - Read the room and manage energy in real time. Build trust and comfort with timely breaks, quick icebreakers, and inclusive prompts. When energy dips, reset; when momentum rises, harness it. Your presence sets the tone for participation. 🎻 CONDUCTOR - Facilitation is orchestration. Ensure everyone knows what to do, how to contribute, and where to focus. Guard against tangents, surface the core questions, and gently steer the group back to the intended outcome. ⏱️ TIMEKEEPER - Time is the constraint that sharpens thinking. Listen actively, paraphrase to clarify, and interrupt with care. Adapt on the fly in agile environments so discussions stay effective, efficient, and outcome-driven. ✨ CATALYST - Your energy is contagious . Show up positive, grounded, and healthy. If you bring light, the room brightens; if you bring clouds, the mood follows. Protect your mindset—it’s a strategic asset. 💡TIPS to be a great facilitator: Be positive and confident; Prepare deeply, then stay flexible; Design clear outcomes and guardrails; Listen actively and paraphrase often; Invite quieter voices and balance dominant ones; Use pauses, breaks, and icebreakers wisely; Keep discussions outcome-focused; Manage time with compassion and firmness; Read the room and adapt; Practice, practice, then practice again. 💪 #Facilitation #HR #Leadership #Workshops #EmployeeEngagement #Agile #Communication #SoftSkills #MeetingDesign #PeopleOps #Moderator #TeamDynamics #PsychologicalSafety #DecisionMaking

That’s the thing about feedback—you can’t just ask for it once and call it a day. I learned this the hard way. Early on, I’d send out surveys after product launches, thinking I was doing enough. But here’s what happened: responses trickled in, and the insights felt either outdated or too general by the time we acted on them. It hit me: feedback isn’t a one-time event—it’s an ongoing process, and that’s where feedback loops come into play. A feedback loop is a system where you consistently collect, analyze, and act on customer insights. It’s not just about gathering input but creating an ongoing dialogue that shapes your product, service, or messaging architecture in real-time. When done right, feedback loops build emotional resonance with your audience. They show customers you’re not just listening—you’re evolving based on what they need. How can you build effective feedback loops? → Embed feedback opportunities into the customer journey: Don’t wait until the end of a cycle to ask for input. Include feedback points within key moments—like after onboarding, post-purchase, or following customer support interactions. These micro-moments keep the loop alive and relevant. → Leverage multiple channels for input: People share feedback differently. Use a mix of surveys, live chat, community polls, and social media listening to capture diverse perspectives. This enriches your feedback loop with varied insights. → Automate small, actionable nudges: Implement automated follow-ups asking users to rate their experience or suggest improvements. This not only gathers real-time data but also fosters a culture of continuous improvement. But here’s the challenge—feedback loops can easily become overwhelming. When you’re swimming in data, it’s tough to decide what to act on, and there’s always the risk of analysis paralysis. Here’s how you manage it: → Define the building blocks of useful feedback: Prioritize feedback that aligns with your brand’s goals or messaging architecture. Not every suggestion needs action—focus on trends that impact customer experience or growth. → Close the loop publicly: When customers see their input being acted upon, they feel heard. Announce product improvements or service changes driven by customer feedback. It builds trust and strengthens emotional resonance. → Involve your team in the loop: Feedback isn’t just for customer support or marketing—it’s a company-wide asset. Use feedback loops to align cross-functional teams, ensuring insights flow seamlessly between product, marketing, and operations. When feedback becomes a living system, it shifts from being a reactive task to a proactive strategy. It’s not just about gathering opinions—it’s about creating a continuous conversation that shapes your brand in real-time. And as we’ve learned, that’s where real value lies—building something dynamic, adaptive, and truly connected to your audience. #storytelling #marketing #customermarketing

One of the main reasons we overwork in corporate isn’t because the work is harder or something actually needs to be done quickly. It’s "artificial urgency", that constant, low-level panic that makes every task feel like a five-alarm fire. You’ve seen it: an “ASAP” ping with no consequence, a Friday deadline that quietly slides to Monday, scope swollen to make a slide look good instead of to help a user. Most things aren’t actually urgent. Unless it’s a P0 / P1 defect, something that directly impacts customers, revenue, or security, there’s no reason to torch your time for it. The rest is noise. Why it happens - Stakeholder promises: dates get committed upstream before engineers can scope the work. - Misaligned incentives: speed and green boards look better on metrics than durable outcomes. - Lack of long term vision: when a shiny quarter outweighs actual impact and quality over time. The irony We exhaust ourselves for rewards that rarely justify the cost. That short-term “hero sprint” rarely compounds; 200% effort for perhaps a 5% extra raise or bonus and you'll still be easily underpaid or under levelled compared to a lateral hire. Steady, deliberate delivery plus investing in your skills and network usually yields far greater returns over time. What developers can do: the PACE framework 1. Prioritize: Tie every task to user impact or revenue/risk. If it doesn’t map, it’s optional. 2. Align: Name the stakeholders and decision-makers early. No decider = no deadline. 3. Capacity: Break work into thin slices, publish capacity, then set dates. (Three-point estimates + buffer > single heroic ETA.) 4. Escalate (politely): Push back with options, not emotions. Tactical moves: 1. Smarter estimates: Best / likely / worst, with a 15–30% buffer for unknowns. 2. Clear breakdown: Convert epics → thin vertical slices you can ship independently. 3. Capacity planning: Public weekly lanes: Committed / Stretch / Parked. 4. Under-promise, over-deliver: Ship the Minimum Remarkable first; add polish if time permits. 5. Guardrails: No mid-sprint scope swaps without swapping something out. 6. Frame trade-offs: Always present choices (scope vs date vs resources) and let leaders pick. Use this note when “urgency” lands "Thanks for the ping. To hit this responsibly, I can deliver A by DATE (user-visible value). If we also want B and C, we can: 1) Keep the date, drop B/C, or 2) Keep scope, move to NEW DATE, or 3) Add X capacity. Which option aligns best with the goal?" ----------- Calm isn’t slow. It’s clarity. Strip the noise, force trade-offs into daylight, and your real speed will compound. I don’t get all of this right either—far from it—but I'll try. Eventually, hopefully, I’ll align myself better. Sprint when it matters: not for artificial urgency.

Do product launches feel like a last-minute scramble? Here's how to fix it. For Company X, the only thing consistent about product launches was that they were delayed, often by weeks. Each delay pushed back revenue, annoyed prospective customers, and frustrated the sales team. The teams were left rushing to pull together last-minute go-to-market materials. What was going wrong? The product team stopped once the product was built. They were time-pressured and had to get straight onto the next piece of work. They knew the marketing team handled messaging and they didn't have time for a big handover at the end of the project. It was unclear who was responsible for pulling together materials, like screen grabs, features and benefits. Sound familiar? Here's the fix: 🚀 Start launch planning at the beginning of the project. Involve reps from marketing, CX, and support in the kick off meeting and agree what ongoing involvement is needed up front. 🚀 Collaborate in parallel. By starting launch planning early, you eliminate a handoff. Marketing gets all the information they need and can work in parallel. Both product and marketing enjoy efficiency benefits, and the product launches on time. 🚀 Share meaningful show & tells. Invite stakeholders to regular demos (tailor the content to meet their needs). A great demo doesn't only show functionality; it prepares, elicits feedback, and gets buy-in. When I helped this company change their approach, their launches became timely and far more effective. Marketing had better messaging, meaning the product landed better with customers. The noise from exec stakeholders disappeared. --- If this sounds familiar, let's talk (just drop me a DM). I help time-strapped CTOs & CPOs build collaborative, effective product teams that deliver impact. You don't have to do it all alone.

Most founders overcomplicate their first build. Here’s a 7-day MVP sprint that anyone can run with zero budget. I have seen too many founders spend 6 months on pitch decks, 3 months chasing investors, and another 6 months debating features, only to realise they still do not have a single user. The truth is simple: your first proof is not capital, it is customers. And the fastest way to get there is to move in sprints, not wait for perfect conditions. Here’s a sprint that works, straight from the trenches: Day 1: Talk to 5 real users. Listen more than you speak. Day 2: Draft a landing page (Canva, Figma, Notion or anything works). Day 3: Run mock signups or interest forms. Day 4: Collect feedback. Kill what nobody wants. Day 5: Build a no-code MVP (Glide, Airtable, Bubble). Day 6: Test with real users, not friends. Day 7: Measure one metric that matters (signups, retention, or revenue). That is it. No investors. No pitch decks. No excuses. Just momentum that proves your idea deserves to exist. Execution is the cheapest currency. Clarity is the rarest one. If you are a founder reading this, ask yourself one simple question: What can you launch in the next 7 days that proves your idea belongs in the market? We All Grow Together 🦋✨🧿 #BuildWithMe #FounderTips #Deckless #VentureStudio #IndianStartups #TNStartups #entrepreneurship #StartupIndia #MVP #EarlyStageFounders #BuildInPublic

🔄 Agile Leaders: Want Faster Feedback? Start Here. PMI-ACP Mindset Domain | Task 6: Shorten Feedback Loops isn't just about speed—it's about learning fast, reducing waste, and maximizing value in the shortest possible time. Here’s how we do it ⬇️ 💬 1. Include Stakeholders from Day One Agile thrives on early and continuous collaboration. Involve stakeholders early—not just at release time. Why? ✔️ You reduce rework by getting early validation ✔️ You build trust and shared ownership ✔️ You co-create solutions rather than guess requirements Tip: Design Thinking workshops are a great way to start with stakeholders at the center! ⏱️ 2. Maximize Value in a Timebox We don’t just “deliver faster.” We focus on what brings the most value, right now. That means: ◻️ Prioritizing the riskiest assumptions ◻️ Building just enough to learn ◻️ Validating with real users Approaches like Lean Startup and MVP thinking help us experiment without burning cycles on "what ifs." 🧠 3. Use Tools to Shorten the Feedback Loop Your goal? Learning > Planning Use: 🔹 Design Thinking – To empathize, define, and ideate with users 🔹 Lean Startup – To build-measure-learn fast 🔹 Agile Engineering Practices – Like pair programming and TDD to catch issues early Don’t forget the power of experiments: Run them for a sprint or two, track results on an Experiments Board, and iterate. 🌟 Agile Mindset in Action Short feedback loops = Psychological safety + Stakeholder trust + Team learning And that’s where value lives. 👀 Check the attached infographic to visualize this concept better. How are you shortening feedback loops in your team? Let’s exchange ideas in the comments 💬 #PMIACP #AgileLeadership #LeanStartup #DesignThinking #ShortenFeedbackLoop #AgileMindset #iZenBridge