Mladen Marković
I’m Mladen. I’m a father of two and a huge fan of sports, especially football and running. I love cold beer and a hot coffee, especially when shared in good company.
I’ve spent my entire professional career developing digital products. I graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering (ETF) and started my career as a QA Engineer at Nordeus. After three years, I tried my hand as a Game Designer in the same company and eventually took on the role of User Researcher. Most of my time there was spent working on a live product, but I also worked with a smaller team on a completely new game that launched but was quickly discontinued.
During my seven years at Nordeus, I learned a lot, and with that knowledge, I transitioned into a Product Owner role at United Cloud. I worked with a team to launch a new product, EON Connect, while also working on EON TV. I enjoyed the product role and continued my journey at FishingBooker, where I am currently working. I’m working on a two-sided marketplace product, focusing on the user side (that is, the anglers, not the captains).
One of the things I’ve learned at FishingBooker that I find particularly interesting is the Shape Up methodology and its approach to work. It’s somewhat similar to Scrum but with a flipped perspective. I’m excited to participate in RSG24 in Belgrade, where I’ll try to share my insights from three years of working with the Shape Up method practically.
#RSGBelgrade2024
Workshop on ORANGE stage
Topic: Shake up the Scrum with Shape Up
Description: Shape Up is a methodology for getting work done for product teams. It was created by the company 37 Signals because it was the approach that suited them best. After a few years, they decided to share their approach with the world, and now the entire book is available for free on their website. Since the methodology can be learned by reading the book, my idea isn’t to lecture about it. In the workshop, we’ll go through a Shape Up cycle of improving a product that we will come up with together. Our time is limited. As you’ll see, time is a crucial factor in this methodology. Therefore, we will use “appetites” (time constraints) for each workshop part.
You can also expect a comparison with Scrum but don’t expect a debate on which methodology is better because there’s no definitive answer. We will focus on understanding when Shape Up is appropriate and when Scrum might be more appropriate. Nothing in the world is perfect, but knowing more approaches and techniques gives us better chances for success. My goal is for all participants to learn something new they can apply at some point in their careers and have a good time along the way.
#AGILE
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