TL; DR: DeepSeek, Product Model OS — Food for Agile Thought #478
Welcome to the 478th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,750 peers. This week, John Cutler explores the nuances of product operating systems, emphasizing leadership-driven design and enabling constraints. Ben Thompson, Dario Amodei, and Steven Sinofsky analyze DeepSeek ’s impact on AI, from China’s efficiency breakthroughs to the shift from scale-up to scale-out and its implications for global tech leadership. Meanwhile, Dave Arneson counters Marty Cagan’s claim that Agile is solely about delivery, highlighting its influence on modern product practices. Mike Cohn dispels the myth that Scrum has too many meetings, arguing for well-run, efficient collaboration, while Egor Savochkin shares actionable steps to streamline Scrum and enhance team productivity.
Next, Marty Cagan distinguishes “true agility” from process-heavy implementations, stressing its role in strategy and discovery. Paweł Huryn explores AI prototyping, while Aakash Gupta & Sergio Pereira discuss AI-driven product leadership in startups. Rohini Pandhi, in conversation with Lenny Rachitsky, shares lessons on hiring PMs and scaling multi-product strategies effectively.
Lastly, Grant Slatton explores the rise and fall of bureaucracies, proposing “bureaulogy” as a formal study. Mike Fisher highlights the power of cross-disciplinary thinking for innovation. Also, Gustavo Razzetti examines “conversational debt” and strategies for direct, trust-building dialogue. Finally, Ethan Mollick provides an updated guide on selecting the best AI models, which compares ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and others based on reasoning, real-time interaction, and emerging capabilities.
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This week, the most popular discussion on LinkedIn was: Scrum Masters, are you working too much?
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🏆 The Tip of the Week
: Product OS Design Tips and Principles
John Cutler explores product operating systems, emphasizing leadership-driven design, adaptable rituals, enabling constraints, and balancing simplicity with nuance to create high-functioning, context-aware product organizations.
🧠 DeepSeek Special
(via The Stratechery): DeepSeek FAQ
Ben Thompson explores DeepSeek’s impact on AI, emphasizing China’s efficiency breakthroughs, the commoditization of AI models, and the strategic implications for U.S. tech giants Nvidia, OpenAI, and global AI leadership.
: On DeepSeek and Export Controls
Dario Amodei argues that DeepSeek’s AI advancements reinforce, rather than weaken, the need for strict US export controls on AI chips, emphasizing their role in maintaining technological leadership and limiting authoritarian military applications.
: DeepSeek Has Been Inevitable and Here’s Why (History Tells Us)
Steven Sinofsky argues that DeepSeek was inevitable, highlighting AI’s shift from scale-up to scale-out, historical tech patterns, and the need for US innovation to pivot toward cost-effective, decentralized AI solutions.
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🍋 Lemon of the Week
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➿ Agile & Leadership
(via Reddit): Is Agile only about delivery as Marty Cagan says?
Dave Arneson challenges Marty Cagan’s claim that Agile is solely about delivery, arguing that Agile thinking has deeply shaped modern product practices, including Lean Startup, Lean UX, and user story mapping, fostering continuous innovation.
(via booking.com): Quick Steps for a Scrum Team to Improve the Process
Egor Savochkin shares practical steps for streamlining Scrum, emphasizing concise Daily Scrums, tackling blockers efficiently, and focusing on value-driven work rather than activity tracking to improve team productivity and clarity.
: What to Do When Teams Complain about Too Many Scrum Meetings
Mike Cohn debunks the myth that Scrum has too many meetings, arguing that well-run Scrum events streamline collaboration and boost efficiency and that complaints often stem from misunderstandings or resistance to Agile adoption.
🖥 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM II Certificate — February 12-13, 2025
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Enjoy the benefits of a live virtual immersive class with like-minded agile peers from 09:00 – 17:30 CET.
Learn more: 🖥 🇬🇧 Advanced Professional Scrum Master Training w/ PSM II Certificate — February 12-13, 2025.
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🎯 Product
(via Silicon Valley Product Group): The Product Model and Agile
Marty Cagan clarifies that Agile is just one dimension of the Product Operating Model, emphasizing that true agility aids product delivery but doesn’t replace strategy or discovery—contrasting process-heavy Agile implementations with outcome-driven product thinking.
: AI Prototyping: The Ultimate Guide For Product Managers
Paweł Huryn explores AI prototyping as a key tool for product teams, detailing frameworks, tools, and step-by-step case studies. He highlights AI’s rapid prototyping role while emphasizing the need for thoughtful design and experimentation.
and : How to PM with AI at Early Stage Startups | Fractional CPO and CTO, Sergio Pereira
Aakash Gupta & Sergio Pereira share insights on AI-driven product leadership in early-stage startups, covering PM adaptability, hiring strategies, prioritization, and the necessity of rapid iteration to achieve product-market fit efficiently.
: How to build your product team from scratch, attract top product talent, go multi-product, and more
In this podcast with Lenny Rachitsky, Rohini Pandhi shares insights on building product teams, hiring PMs, and scaling multi-product strategies. She emphasizes founder-led product management, structured PM roles, and de-risked expansion while leveraging distribution advantages.
📯 Stop Shipping Waste: How to Align Teams and Finally Fix Your Product Backlog
When product teams fail to establish stakeholder alignment and implement rigorous Product Backlog management, they get caught in an endless cycle of competing priorities, reactive delivery, and shipping waste.
The result? Wasted resources, frustrated teams, and missed business opportunities. Success in 2025 requires turning your Product Backlog from a chaotic wish list into a strategic tool that connects vision to value delivery. Learn how to do so.
Learn more: Stop Shipping Waste: How to Align Teams and Finally Fix Your Product Backlog.
🛠 Concepts, Tools & Measuring
: Bureaulogy
Grant Slatton explores the inevitable formation, evolution, and decline of bureaucracies, proposing “bureaulogy” as a field of study. He examines bureaucratic triggers, growth factors, and strategies to combat the decline.
: Cross-Discipline Approaches
Mike Fisher explores the power of cross-disciplinary thinking, illustrating how blending diverse fields—from gaming to surgery—drives innovation, enhances problem-solving, and fosters adaptability in tackling complex challenges across industries.
: Why We Avoid Difficult Conversations – And How to Change That
Gustavo Razzetti explores why people avoid difficult conversations and how this avoidance creates “conversational debt.” He offers actionable strategies for fostering a direct, constructive dialogue that builds trust and improves workplace culture.
🎶 Encore
: Which AI to Use Now: An Updated Opinionated Guide
Ethan Mollick provides an updated guide on choosing the best AI model evaluating ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and others based on reasoning, real-time interaction, web access, coding, privacy, and emerging capabilities.
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Now available on the Age-of-Product Youtube channel to improve learning, for example, about PM Career-Defining AI Skills:
- Hands-on Agile 66: Escape the Feature Frenzy, Build to Sell with Sandrine Olivencia.
- Hands-on Agile 62: From Backlog Manager to Product Manager with David Pereira.
- Hands-on Agile 61: Toyota Kata Coaching for Agile Teams & Transformations with Fortune Buchholtz.
- Hands-on Agile 59: Tackling Fake Agility with Johanna Rothman.
- Hands-on Agile 57: Humble Planning with Maarten Dalmijn.
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