Engineers in Customer Support — Food for Agile Thought #458

TL; DR: Engineers in Customer Support — Food for Agile Thought #458

Welcome to the 458th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,762 peers. This week, Ian Vanagas advocates involving engineers in customer support to boost product quality through faster feedback and ownership. Maarten Dalmijn identifies six common pitfalls in using spikes in Agile, and Jamil Zaki warns that workplace cynicism diminishes success, while Joost Minnaar attributes Enterprise’s success to decentralization and a customer-centric approach. Lastly, Andy Cleff emphasizes the importance of leadership virtues—courage, resilience, alliances, gratitude, and vulnerability—in driving continuous improvement and change.

Next, Gregor Ojstersek and Robert Ta provide engineers with strategies to convince Product Managers to prioritize technical debt by aligning it with business goals. Aakash Gupta and Jason Knight shed light on the complexities of B2B product management, stressing the need for PMs to balance revenue-driven features and broader strategic influence, and Aatir Abdul Rauf identifies 15 crucial mistakes to avoid during product launches. Moreover, Yuri Berchenko offers guidance on optimizing subscription product pricing through regular adjustments and customer segmentation.

Lastly, Domenic Edwards presents a detailed list of essential Product Manager tasks, adaptable to any organization’s needs. Dirk Lässig offers strategies for managing “evil dependencies” in software development, focusing on minimization, mitigation, and coordination, and Gustavo Razzetti explains how teams can rapidly build trust by fostering transparency and clarity. Also, Mario Caropreso stresses the need to balance operational excellence with project delivery. Finally, Michael H. Goitein advocates shifting from a “waiter” mindset to a “doctor” approach in product development, emphasizing user-focused continuous discovery.

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🏆 The Tip of the Week: Engineers in Customer Support

(via PostHog): Doing Support Makes You a Better Engineer

Ian Vanagas argues that involving engineers in customer support improves product quality and development by creating faster feedback loops, encouraging full-cycle ownership, and fostering continuous improvements.

🍋 Lemon of the Week

(via Medium): Beyond Agile and Scrum: Great Leadership Matters More Than Methodology

The author’s article misses the mark, blaming Scrum for poor performance while ignoring how Agile empowers teams. His rant against structure reveals a profound misunderstanding of Scrum’s true purpose.

➿ Agile & Scrum

Maarten Dalmijn: 6 Common Mistakes When Using Spikes

Maarten Dalmijn discusses the proper use of spikes in Agile, highlighting six common mistakes, such as unclear outcomes, overuse, and performing spikes too early, which can undermine their effectiveness.

(via Harvard Business Review): Why Cynics Are Less Likely to Succeed

Jamil Zaki explains that cynicism in the workplace hinders success, leading to lower earnings, reduced job satisfaction, and fewer leadership opportunities, while fostering trust and collaboration can unlock more significant achievements.

Joost Minnaar (via Corporate Rebels): Profit Through People: The Enterprise Model of Decentralization and Extreme Customer Care

Joost Minnaar highlights Enterprise’s success through decentralization, entrepreneurship training, rigorous customer service tracking, and linking employee compensation to customer satisfaction, demonstrating how these strategies drive profit and long-term customer loyalty.

Andy Cleff: 5 Essential Leadership Virtues for Change & Continuous Improvement

Andy Cleff reflects on five essential leadership virtues—courage, resilience, alliances, gratitude, and vulnerability—highlighting their interconnectedness and importance for driving change and continuous organizational improvement.

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🎯 Product

Gregor Ojstersek: Engineer’s guide to convincing your Product Manager to prioritize technical debt

Gregor Ojstersek and Robert Ta offer a guide for engineers to convince Product Managers to prioritize technical debt by aligning it with business strategy, quantifying its impact, and proposing clear, value-driven solutions.

Aakash Gupta and Jason Knight: 🎙 Dealing with the Messy Reality of B2B Product Management

Aakash Gupta and Jason Knight discuss the messy reality of B2B product management, emphasizing the challenges of balancing revenue-driven features, complex planning, and the need for PMs to influence strategy beyond the product team.

Aatir Abdul Rauf: 15 mistakes PMs & PMMs need to avoid for better product launches

Aatir Abdul Rauf highlights 15 common mistakes product managers and marketers must avoid to ensure successful product launches, from validating messaging with customers to aligning teams and refining pricing strategies.

Yuri Berchenko (via Mind The Product): How to price your subscription product: insights and examples

Yuri Berchenko outlines strategies for pricing subscription products, emphasizing the importance of regular price adjustments, understanding customer segments, and choosing the suitable pricing model to maximize revenue.

📯 You Don’t Get Paid to Practice Scrum

Scrum is just a tool; your job is to solve real customer problems and deliver value. Stop focusing on perfecting frameworks and start prioritizing outcomes that matter. It’s time to reassess what truly drives your success, particularly given the challenging business environment.

Learn more: You Don’t Get Paid to Practice Scrum.

🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring

Domenic Edwards (via ProdPad): The Complete List of Product Manager Tasks

Domenic Edwards provides a comprehensive list of essential Product Manager tasks, highlighting the diverse roles and responsibilities that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of any organization.

(via ThoughtWorks): How to tame evil dependencies

Dirk Lässig discusses strategies to manage “evil dependencies” in software development, emphasizing the importance of minimizing, mitigating, and coordinating dependencies to reduce risks and improve team performance and product delivery.

Gustavo Razzetti: How to Build Swift Trust

Gustavo Razzetti explains how teams can quickly build trust by assuming positive intent, fostering transparency, clarifying roles, and focusing on action. This leads to faster collaboration and improved outcomes.

Mario Caropreso (via Medium): The Map is not the Territory: How to balance Operational Excellence

Mario Caropreso emphasizes the importance of balancing operational excellence with project delivery, urging leaders to empower teams, focus on customer experience, and demonstrate commitment to operational metrics to ensure sustainable success.

🎶 Encore

Michael Goitein (via Medium): Stakeholder Wants vs. User Needs: Why Following Orders Creates Bad Product

Michael H. Goitein emphasizes shifting from a “waiter” mindset—mindlessly following stakeholder orders—to a “doctor” approach, focusing on user needs through continuous discovery to build successful products.

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🗞️ Last Week’s Food for Agile Thought Edition

Read more: Food for Agile Thought #457: Blaming Agile for Lacking Innovation, Structuring Product Organizations, Cost of Delay, Unhealthy Team Tension.