This page is the result of Jan's observations during his first various contacts with teams at Aesculap. Each principle is a suggestion for a behavior or way of working that is currently not being lived and thus delays project progress.
by at the level of team work
Make all work visible. Kanban boards, sprint planning and proper documentation
Async-first work culture: Pull over push for tasks and issues.
Avoid “death by PPT”. Just don’t … don’t use PowerPoint for everything …
Show — don’t tell. Mural boards, visualizations, rapid pretotypes, etc.
Bring a preto- or prototype to every meeting.
Always agree on your definitions of “done”.
Rotate leadership as needed. But keep the PM (IPL) accountable for critical trade-off decisions at all times.
Always experiment with customers. You won’t find answers in committees and meetings with colleagues.
establish at an organizational level
Reduce lines of communication. … or you end up with a too high cost of coordination and a slow-down of progress …
Reduce work in progress.
Reduce context switches. (Try to) work in sprints with sufficient deep work and focus time.
Jan Schmiedgen's Self-Development Reading List for Innovators and Product People
You might also want to check out the “Agile Ways of Working” section in our suggested self-study pathways for product people.
Oh, and follow and read everything from these people …
Follow These People … Thank Us Later
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If you are a maker, risk-taker, or product person in charge of (leading or) driving the development of a new venture, product, or service, you will follow the »Maker’s Path«. For makers these people are interesting to follow:
John Cutler (@johncutlefish) on X
George from 🕹prodmgmt.world (@nurijanian) on X
Marty Cagan | Silicon Valley Product Group
Allen Holub @allenholub.bsky.social (@allenholub) on X
Rich Mironov (@RichMironov) on X
Melissa Perri (@lissijean) on X
loomista - Petra Wille | STRONG product people (@loomista) on X
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