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𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦🎄 As the year comes to a close, we’re humbled by the resilience and growth within our agile community. Together, we’ve navigated new challenges, embraced fresh learning opportunities, and discovered innovative ways to build stronger, more adaptive teams. We are deeply grateful to each of you — coaches, leaders, developers, product owners, scrum masters, and everyone who strives for continuous improvement. Your dedication to learning, experimenting, and sharing experiences has inspired us to push the boundaries of agile education. Motivated by our shared achievements — new courses launched, vibrant community events expanded, coaches and learners worldwide coming together to shape the future of work — we as a team now look toward 2025 committed to making every learning journey more holistic, meaningful, and sustainable. Join us as we transform each experience into a continuous growth adventure and help us discover new ways to support your agile aspirations. Wishing you a peaceful, joyful, and inspiring holiday season. Warm wishes, The Agile Academy Team

If we’re honest, many of us treat #OKRs as if they’re sacred texts. We set our objectives and key results, and then force everything to fit neatly into these boxes. But what if we allowed ourselves to be more flexible? In Christina Wodtke's blogpost “𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐊𝐑𝐬—𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨” https://lnkd.in/e33UNcMw , there’s a powerful reminder that OKRs should serve us, not the other way around. Too often, teams become trapped by rigid goals that don’t reflect real-world changes. This piece encourages us to step back, reassess, and consider what truly matters: delivering value to our customers and responding quickly to evolving conditions. As you map your path into 2025, ask yourself: How can you embrace flexibility, stay open to change, and ensure your goals drive real impact? The time to start is now. #AgileAcademy #AgileLeadership #Teamgoals

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐫𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥? As leaders, we often face rapid change and uncertainty, and the old ways of leading don’t always hold up. We need new approaches—focusing on trust, clear communication, and learning from mistakes—so our teams can adapt, innovate, and thrive. Our latest blog post, based on insights from an interview with Sohrab Salimi in Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, offers practical guidance on how to lead in times of disruption. Sohrab shares what it takes to create an environment where teams feel safe to test new ideas, learn from their outcomes, and make their own informed decisions. If you’re looking for honest, hands-on advice on navigating constant change, we invite you to read it here: https://lnkd.in/eggpH5Ms #AgileAcademy #change #AgileLeadership

🚀 Opinion-Based Decisions: The Catalyst for Innovation Tony Fadell’s reflection on Steve Jobs and the power of opinion-based decisions during revolutionary product development resonates deeply with Agile Leadership. In Agile, we often emphasize iteration, learning, and adapting. Tony’s words—“At the revolution stage: opinions, opinions, opinions. No data.”—highlight a fundamental truth: the courage to make decisions without complete data is critical for creating something truly new. 💡 Here’s how this connects to Agile practices: Vision-Driven Leadership: As leaders, we must clearly articulate the why behind decisions, especially when venturing into the unknown. Transparency fosters alignment and trust within teams. Iteration Over Perfection: Just like the first versions of the iPod and iPhone, initial iterations of a product—or a process—will rarely be perfect. Agile reminds us: Inspect and adapt. Failing Forward: Wrong opinions? No problem. As Fadell puts it, “Own them, fix them, and move on.” Agile thrives on the mindset of learning from failures and improving continuously. 💬 What about you? How do you balance intuition and data when navigating uncharted territory? Let’s discuss in the comments! #AgileLeadership #Innovation #Iteration #TonyFadell #AgileAcademy

🚀 Agile in the Age of AI: Insights from Henrik Kniberg & Sohrab Salimi In the latest Agile Insights Conversation, Henrik & Sohrab explore an engaging mix of timeless principles and futuristic trends, shedding light on the evolution of Agile and the transformative role of AI in the workplace. 💡 What’s in store? 👉 Agile is alive and evolving—embracing flexibility and growth like never before. 👉 Curiosity is the new superpower—the key to adaptability and breakthrough innovations. 👉 AI as a creative collaborator—from boosting productivity to co-creating solutions. 👉 Prompt engineering—a critical skill for harnessing AI's potential. 👉 AI twins and digital colleagues—redefining teamwork and collaboration. 👉 Ethical AI—the cornerstone of responsible innovation. 🎯 Why it matters: This isn’t just about Agile or AI—it’s about how humans and technology can work together, blending curiosity, creativity, and ethics to build a better future. Ready to reimagine your approach to work, technology, and continuous learning? Let’s dive into a world where Agile and AI converge: a future of collaboration, innovation, and boundless possibilities. Watch the full conversation on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/duAgMZhx #AgileLeadership #Innovation #AITransformation #FutureOfWork #AgileAcademy

🚀 On Raising the Bar – A New Beginning We’re excited to share a significant moment with you! Sohrab, our CEO, recently wrote about why excellence matters to him and how this belief has inspired us to take a new step forward. After weeks of deep discussions with our clients, trainers, coaches, and HR professionals, we’re proud to introduce our new certification. It’s designed to be better for learners, better for organizations, and better for trainers. This is our way of raising the standard in agile education. We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback! 🌟 #AgileEducation #AgileAcademy #ContinuousImprovement #ExcellenceInLearning #LifelongLearning

🎥 Outtakes: Kanban Essentials mit Ruedi Gysi Als Video Creator bei der Agile Academy ist es meine Leidenschaft, E-Learning-Kurse zu lebendigen Erlebnissen zu machen. Kürzlich hatte ich die Freude, gemeinsam mit Rudolf Gysi, besser bekannt als Ruedi und einer unserer engsten Partner, an unserem neuen Kurs „Kanban Essentials“ zu arbeiten. Selbst für erfahrene Coaches und Redner wie Ruedi, die es gewohnt sind, vor großem Publikum zu sprechen, kann der Übergang in ein Video-Setup eine ungewohnte Herausforderung darstellen. Die Kameraumgebung ist einfach ein anderer Kosmos. Hier kommt meine Erfahrung als Porträtfotografin ins Spiel: Ich achte darauf, eine entspannte und unterstützende Atmosphäre zu schaffen. Dies hilft den Trainern, sich vor der Kamera wohlzufühlen und ihre Expertise authentisch zu präsentieren. Und manchmal passiert es natürlich auch, dass wir vor lauter Lachen gar nicht aufnehmen können – solche Momente machen die Zusammenarbeit besonders unvergesslich! Am Ende geht es immer um Teamwork – ganz im Sinne der Agilität. Das Fachwissen des Trainers kombiniert mit meiner Kreativität und einem flexiblen, iterativen Ansatz, um etwas Außergewöhnliches für unsere Kunden zu schaffen. Und wenn dabei auch noch Spaß im Prozess steckt, ist das die perfekte Mischung! Danke Ruedi, es war mir ein Fest! Agile Academy on LinkedIn #KanbanEssentials #AgileAcademy #Videoproduktion #ELearning #BehindTheScenes #Outtakes

This morning, I listened to the podcast from Lenny's Newsletter. Lenny Rachitsky had a quite interesting conversation with Melissa Perri around "agile" and specifically the the Scaled Agile Framework a.k.a. SAFe from Scaled Agile, Inc. Melissa is very knowledgable in that space. I actually recommend listening to the podcast: https://lnkd.in/eVmKEhnS These were some of my thoughts: 1️⃣ Product Owner (PO) vs. Product Manager (PM) In the conversation a PO is portrayed as a role that has less responsibility than a PM. In reality - having worked with Jeff Sutherland myself - I know that a PO is meant to be even more than a PM. Jeff picked the best PM of Easel (the company in which he designed and piloted Scrum) and gave that person more responsibility e.g. product strategy and revenue generation. To this date, the best PO coaches/trainers develop POs in that philosophy i.e. they teach them core PM skills and more e.g. business modelling. I did that even for entry level PO courses. 2️⃣ "Scrum has a million meetings" No... it does not. A good Scrum team has only the following meetings with the timeboxes in () for a 2 week sprint: 🗓Sprint Planning (4h) 🗓Daily Scrum (15 min) 🗓Sprint Review (2h) 🗓Sprint Retrospective (1.5h) 🗓Product Backlog refinement (10% of Dev capacity) If you max out all timeboxes (which is the maximum amount of time to use) and sum this all up you are left with about 20% of developers' time spent in meetings which also means that 80% of their time is free for "actual" work. This in itself is already a huge amount of progress compared to how much time most developers spend in meetings. Beyond that, the 20% of meeting time are constructive meetings. 3️⃣ Scrum does not help you identify whether you are building the right thing Again, very wrong... this is what Sprint Reviews are specifically designed for. Reviews are an inspect/adapt meeting with regards to WHAT we build. The Retrospective is all about improving HOW we build things. If you fail to invite real customers to your Sprint Review... that is on you and not on the framework. 4️⃣ Scrum is too prescriptive and does not allow you to change On the one hand, it is criticized that Scrum is too prescriptive. On the other hand, it is criticized that the PO role is not specified detailed even more... Scrum is intentionally a framework which includes proven patterns to deliver any product in a more incremental and iterative way. That's it. It does not have the ambition to give you all the answers. In addition, one should at best consider Scrum as the starting point of a continuous improvement journey. The Retrospective does not exist to help us live Scrum better according to the guide. The Retrospective helps to continuously improve our value creation capabilities. There is more to talk about here... But again, I loved the conversation and would be happy to provide a non-US/ non-Startup perspective if Lenny is up for it.

Great mentors were essential to my growth... In 2014 - exactly 10 years ago - I got to meet Henrik Kniberg through two shared friends Gabrielle Benefield and Reza Farhang. Henrik and I immediately connected... I co-trained on a Scrum Master course and that evening I spend some time with him and his family cooking and eating together. Henrik became a person from whom I would take a lot of inspiration, whom I would ask for advice from time to time, and who would eventually also open up the world of AI to me. At the beginning of this year, Henrik and I teamed up to create #HenrikAI in order to give everyone - especially in the agile space - access to a mentor like Henrik. My team did a wonderful job building the product from scratch including two mobile apps (iOS and Android). We tested it in private beta first and are now opening it up to everyone. Today, you can create an account and get started asking Henrik all questions you have related to agile ways of working... Our intention with HenrikAI is not to replace Scrum Masters or Agile Coaches. Our intention is to enable Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches to become the best version of themselves so that they can enable their teams and organizations to succeed. We are still in our early stages of the product... but it is already pretty remarkable. I - for instance - use it daily to create drafts of the talks I intend to give and abstracts which I submit. Although I have access to real Henrik, HenrikAI has become my daily companion to do my work better and faster. It has become my sparring partner. You can get started here: https://lnkd.in/eYmUPnM6 For now, HenrikAI is only available in a free version. A paid version will be available soon with some additional features especially for corporations... but there will always be a free version to use as we are primarily a mission driven company with the intention to make society more productive, more humane, and more sustainable.

The #ProductOperatingModel has been talked a lot ever since Marty Cagan published his book #TRANSFORMED earlier this year. I attended Marty's first workshop on this topic more than a year ago, bought more than 100 copies of the book 📚 , interviewed 🎙 Marty himself (multiple times), shared the books with several of my clients 👩💼 👨💼 and have been implementing product operating models based on the principles Marty refers to for the past decade. During the past 6 months, I piloted a workshop about #TRANSFORMED and the #ProductOperatingModel with a few clients internally and after some refinement and great feedback want to make this workshop available to the broader public. As we now operate across the globe and have clients everywhere we will run the first round of this workshop in English so that we can deliver value to a larger group of people. Depending on the success of the course, we will probably also offer German only courses in the near future. How does this course differ from Marty's own course? 1️⃣ We do not intend to copy Marty's course as one cannot copy Marty and his very unique style... I personally very much enjoyed his 1-day course and recommend it 2️⃣ As we have more time in our 2-day setup we will deep dive into not only the principles but also practices that can help an organization create a new operating system... this is all backed by concrete examples from clients we have worked with and companies we have extensively studied 3️⃣ We also combine this course with a few key insights from other authors such as Colin Bryar, Roger Martin, Kim Scott, Christina Wodtke and many more Similar to my #Agile #Leadership workshop, this course is the result of many years of research and practical implementation in order to bring back more innovation, more customer focus, and more collaboration into companies large and small. Who should attend this course? First and foremost this course is designed for practitioners ideally senior management, transformation leaders, and even boards of directors. But this course will also benefit coaches/consultants who want to learn how the principles of the Product Operating Model can be implemented in "old" organizations. This is not a course for team level Scrum Masters... not that I do not like to work with them... I just know that they won't be able to use the concepts as much. How to register/ apply? Just email my team using team(at)scrum-academy.com and indicate your interest. You will not receive an invoice today... we send invoices after the course has been delivered unless you need the invoice in 2024 for budget reasons. You can indicate all of that in the email you send us. Whom to ask if you have more questions? Just DM me on LinkedIn or send me an email to sohrab(at)scrum-academy.com. I am more than happy to help you identify whether this is the right course for you. More information will be published on our website soon... this post is our MVP of marketing a new offering.