Friday Links: Product edition
Friday Links: Product edition
Here are five interesting links from the product team’s chat logs. Thanks to Tyler Strand. Collated by Chloe Olewitz.
- “Agile is the new Waterfall”
Agile touted the promise of engineer-driven development, but according to Amir Yasin (ayasin), too many big-ticket decisions are still left to business people who don’t get tech. For some people, Agile is the source of more pressure and anxiety—not a system of accountability to encourage progress. Waterfall may have sucked, but Agile is worse. (Link from Tyler Strand.) - “A step by step guide to using Trello for team retrospectives”
For those that don’t hate Agile quite so much, “looking back” is a big part of the Agile Manifesto. This Trello system for retrospective meetings, suggested by Jessica Barnett, uses four columns: “Went Well,” “Needs to Change,” “Questions & Discussion,” and “Action Items.” A particularly useful method for both in-office and remote employees. (Via Shawn Medero.) - “Building products”
Julie Zhuo is the VP of Product Design at Facebook, and although she admits there is no comprehensive checklist for product designers, she shares her thoughts on framing, execution, measuring success, and team dynamics. (Via Brynn Shepherd.) - Why are podcasts still so hard to make?
Ian Miles Ownbey is the creator of an app called Bumpers. He was looking for an easier, more efficient way to produce polished podcasts. Bumpers chops audio up by phrases and lets users easily mute the “ums” and “uhs,” highlighting only the best moments of audio recordings (which are made from within the app!). (Via Maxim Siebert.) - Optimization
Are you prematurely optimizing, or just taking time to do things right? Consult this flowchart to determine your fate… or don’t. It’s a short flowchart. (Via Brynn Shepherd.)