You hear this all the time.  It’s constantly thrown around in every organization of every size at every level at every turn.  I highlight several key principals in running efficient scaled agile to deliver products to consumers that your team is proud of and that users want to use.  What it means as a leader, what it means for the product mindset, what it means for the product team, and what it means to & for the organization.

I have had the pleasure of experiencing all types of agile.  Waterfall, Scrum, Agile XP, and a few variations of each along the way.  I’ve worked on hardware/product that was designed and prototyped in house, parts built overseas, assembled in the USA and delivered to big box retailers.  I’ve iterated on start up ideas that are time boxed and lean.  I’ve worked in a small in-house agency that utilized third party vendors.  I’ve worked in two Fortune 100 organizations that look to utilize product development to create software to provide to consumers.  I’ve worked on consumer facing products as well as internal automation using contemporary SaaS solutions to enable business drivers both earnings and savings.

To put it into the shortest paragraph I can - I believe a true agile product mindset is best created when the desired product outcomes are defined and measurable, the product value is delivered to the consumer with pace and often, and iterations are informed based upon user centric feedback captured through various methods of closing the loop.  Agile to me at the core is simple - just do what works.  Listen to your product's users, listen to your product contributors, and listen to the industry.  To maximize your learning velocity you may need to fail fast - and correctly.  That’s okay.  Discover and test ideas.  Dare to dream.  You cannot plan what you will learn next.  Feed the backlog.  Maximize your delivery velocity.  Focus on iterations you can “ship”.  Putting usable software/automation/products first is key.  Value working functional things you can see, touch and use.  The prettiest design is not always the best design.

By taking this approach it ultimately leads to more customer retention for your product and its users, faster and less expensive value for your organization or business and higher functioning product teams who want to stay at your company.