Stefan Wolpers

CORE

Agile Coach at Berlin Product People GmbH

Berlin, DE

Joined Oct 2015

https://age-of-product.com

About

Professional Scrum Trainer with Scrum.org, agile coach, and Scrum Master based in Berlin. Stefan also curates the weekly ”Food for Agile Thought” newsletter on best posts on agile practices, product management, and innovation—with 35,000-plus subscribers. (See @AgeOfProduct.) Also, he hosts the Hands-on Agile Slack community with more than 12,000 peers.

Stats

Reputation:	10274
Pageviews:	1.8M
Articles:	152
Comments:	16

Expertise

Agile

Methodologies

Articles
Comments

Articles

Agile’s Quarter-Century Crisis

Despite 25 years of the Agile Manifesto, countless books, a certification industry, conferences, and consultants, we collectively struggle to make Agile work.

May 21, 2025

· 238 Views

Ethical AI in Agile

Learn all about ethical AI integration for Agile teams with four key guardrails: Data Privacy, Human Value, Output Validation, and Transparent Attribution.

May 14, 2025

· 1,807 Views · 2 Likes

Contextual AI Integration for Agile Product Teams

This article introduces Contextual AI Integration for agile product teams. Stop treating AI as a team member to “onboard;“ AI is a tool that requires context.

April 28, 2025

· 3,600 Views · 2 Likes

AI Interview Analysis

This article discusses how to use generative artificial intelligence to analyze interviews from teammates, stakeholders, and management for better insights.

April 21, 2025

· 2,392 Views · 3 Likes

Optimus Alpha Analyzes Team Data

Learn how Optimus Alpha crafts data-driven retrospective formats to boost agile value creation and bridge technical debt with team autonomy.

April 14, 2025

· 2,736 Views · 1 Like

Generative AI in Agile: A Strategic Career Decision

The cost of experimentation is low; the potential career advantage, on the other side, is substantial. A reason to embrace generative AI in Agile?

April 1, 2025

· 4,153 Views · 4 Likes

Is Vibe Coding Agile or Merely a Hype?

Learn about vibe coding and how it can enhance agile practices and empower non-technical entrepreneurs, but beware of its issues.

March 24, 2025

· 5,102 Views · 4 Likes

The Agile Prompt Engineering Framework

In this article, you will learn about the Agile Prompt Engineering Framework, a structured approach explicitly designed for agile practitioners.

March 17, 2025

· 5,391 Views · 4 Likes

The Alignment-to-Value Pipeline

The Alignment-to-Value Pipeline ensures strategic alignment, backlog health, and focus on outcomes, avoiding the feature factory trap and driving real product value.

March 10, 2025

· 4,629 Views · 4 Likes

AI in Agile Product Teams

In this article, learn about AI in agile product teams, gain insights from deep research, and explore what it means for your practice as an agile practitioner.

March 3, 2025

· 3,784 Views · 2 Likes

Psychological Safety as a Competitive Edge

Learn about psychological safety, the foundation of agile teams that innovate, adapt, and deliver while fostering trust, value creation, and resilience.

February 27, 2025

· 5,140 Views · 2 Likes

The Slides of Hands-On Agile 2025

The virtual Hands-on Agile 2025 conference held last month discussed embracing the shift to context-based agility, from leadership to strategy to AI.

February 17, 2025

· 5,148 Views · 1 Like

Stop Shipping Waste: Fix Your Product Backlog

Learn how to align teams and stakeholders while finally fixing your Product Backlog using two key principles to eliminate waste and deliver real value.

January 28, 2025

· 4,900 Views · 6 Likes

Forensic Product Backlog Analysis: A New Team Exercise

A 60-minute team exercise to fix your Backlog. Identify what’s broken, find out why, and agree on practical fixes — all in five quick steps.

January 16, 2025

· 4,667 Views · 2 Likes

Is the Era of the Scrum Master Coming to an End?

Is the Scrum Master role at risk? This post examines three data points suggesting a current decline in the role of Scrum Master.

January 7, 2025

· 6,042 Views · 4 Likes

Can Pure Scrum Actually Work?

Learn about the conditions under which pure Scrum thrives, the organizational DNA required, and how thoughtful adaptation can unlock its true potential.

December 18, 2024

· 4,804 Views · 3 Likes

The Lean Tech Manifesto With Fabrice Bernhard [Video]

Join Fabrice Bernhard on how the “Lean Tech Manifesto” solves the challenge of scaling Agile for large organizations and enhances innovation and team autonomy.

December 11, 2024

· 3,883 Views · 1 Like

Understanding Product Team Empowerment Anti-Patterns

Learn about leadership anti-patterns that undermine a product team's autonomy and effectiveness, from overly rigid constraints to tool turmoil.

December 3, 2024

· 1,810 Views · 3 Likes

The Inverted MoSCoW Framework

Understand the inverted MoSCoW and learn how this framework prioritizes exclusions to reduce scope creep, improve focus, and align teams with Agile principles.

November 27, 2024

· 1,708 Views · 3 Likes

Why Leaders Believe the Product Operating Model Will Succeed Where Agile Initiatives Failed

This article analyzes why leaders might turn to the Product Operating Model (POM) after a previous Agile transformation, such as one based on SAFe, has failed.

November 19, 2024

· 2,158 Views · 1 Like

Product Washing: The Pitfalls of a Superficial Product Operating Model Transformation

Learn about the dangers of "Product Washing" in adopting a Product Operating Model and how superficial changes hinder true organizational transformation.

November 13, 2024

· 2,090 Views · 1 Like

Ditch the Unfinished Action Items

Explore five actionable practices to ensure Retrospective tasks get done, including limiting action items in progress, assigning clear ownership, and more.

October 21, 2024

· 4,084 Views · 3 Likes

Transformation to Agile Primitives

This comprehensive sketch on the Agile Primitives helps organizations reignite the spirit of agility and achieve meaningful, lasting transformation.

October 7, 2024

· 3,130 Views · 3 Likes

Agile Primitives

Are we losing sight of what truly matters in Agile? Return to the fundamental principles and empower teams to adapt, innovate, and deliver real value.

September 30, 2024

· 5,267 Views · 4 Likes

Founder Mode?

Learn the darker aspects of Founder Mode, a critical perspective for agile practitioners, product leaders, startup founders, and managers.

September 17, 2024

· 4,190 Views · 1 Like

The Pre-Mortem: Preventing Product Failure Before It Strikes

Learn why pre-mortems are a brilliant tool for risk mitigation, improving your team’s decision process, and transforming your product development process.

September 9, 2024

· 4,663 Views · 3 Likes

From Transparency to the Perils of Oversharing

In this article, learn that while transparency is often hailed as a pillar of Agile practices, navigating its complexities with care is essential.

September 2, 2024

· 4,283 Views · 3 Likes

You Don’t Get Paid to Practice Scrum

Scrum is just a tool; your job is to solve real customer problems and deliver value. It’s time to reassess what truly drives your success.

August 26, 2024

· 5,203 Views · 6 Likes

Transformed Meets the Scrum Guide

It is worthwhile to compare the principles that help form successful product teams with those of Scrum. Let’s delve into an analysis of “Transformed.”

August 19, 2024

· 3,061 Views · 3 Likes

Quick Scrum Gains

Learn 10 quick Scrum gains to pull off without asking for permission or budget to prove your contribution to your org’s survival in these challenging times.

August 6, 2024

· 3,263 Views · 4 Likes

Comments

You Don’t Get Paid to Practice Scrum

Aug 29, 2024 · Stefan Wolpers

I share your experience, Gerhard!

The Uncomfortable Truth of Scaling ‘Agile’

Jul 08, 2023 · Stefan Wolpers

Thanks for the Kudos! Best, Stefan

The Three Daily Scrum Questions Won’t Die

Mar 08, 2023 · Stefan Wolpers

I agree, Alan. As so often, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

A ChatGPT Job Interview for a Scrum Master Position

Jan 10, 2023 · Stefan Wolpers

I would like to train a support chatbot to help with everyday questions when no other support, for example, from the community is available. Also, I would be interested in a sparring partner to get a better understanding about a specific topic or thought.

20 Sprint Planning Anti-patterns

Apr 27, 2022 · Stefan Wolpers

Explain what?

How to Sabotage a Scrum Master

Dec 16, 2021 · Stefan Wolpers

https://age-of-product.com/scrum-anti-patterns/

Scrum: 16 Stand-up Anti-Patterns

Aug 18, 2020 · Stefan Wolpers

"Valet" — I like the coining!

Scrum: 16 Stand-up Anti-Patterns

Aug 17, 2020 · Stefan Wolpers

I was referring to the moment when people wait in-line to share with others. The newer version of the article can be found here: https://age-of-product.com/stand-up-anti-patterns/

27 Sprint Anti-Patterns Holding Back Scrum Teams

Jun 05, 2017 · Stefan Wolpers

Thanks for the kudos! You might be interested in downloading the Scrum Anti-Patterns Guide (free PDF) as well. Next post in the coming week is the sprint retrospective.

Scrum: 16 Stand-up Anti-Patterns

Apr 13, 2017 · Stefan Wolpers

What makes you believe that? Could you be more elaborate?

Agile Metrics: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Jan 08, 2017 · Stefan Wolpers

I disagree, your opinion contradicts my experience as shared in the post.

Agile Metrics: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Jan 07, 2017 · Stefan Wolpers

And how is that helping the team to get better?

Agile Metrics: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Jan 06, 2017 · Stefan Wolpers

You're referring to these “72% accomplished” metric?

10 Proven Stakeholder Communication Tactics During an Agile Transition

Aug 04, 2016 · Stefan Wolpers

Totally agree, particularly on sprint review part. On some projects, they feel more like an extended version of the daily reporting routine — aka daily scrum –. And I am as well still searching for the golden key… :)

10 Proven Stakeholder Communication Tactics During an Agile Transition

Aug 03, 2016 · Stefan Wolpers

Tobias, I agree. Anything that you would add?

How to Run User Tests Successfully: The ‘Why’ Question

May 10, 2016 · Stefan Wolpers

Ouch! Thanks for pointing at it! #fixed