When "Agile" Becomes a License to Change Everything, The Cost of No Rules in Backlog Management | Iryna Stelmakh

Iryna Stelmakh: When "Agile" Becomes a License to Change Everything, The Cost of No Rules in Backlog Management

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"For me, it was pretty hard to explain that Agile is about cost reduction, and not about cost increasing." — Iryna Stelmakh

Iryna shares a story from one of her first projects as a Scrum Master, working with a client from Israel who saw Scrum as an open invitation to add anything to the backlog at any time. For this client, agility meant unlimited flexibility — the freedom to extend not just the product backlog but the sprint backlog, multiple times per sprint. As Vasco points out, this is a pattern many teams recognize: when there's no cost to disrupting a sprint, it becomes effortless to keep piling on work, destroying the very predictability that sprints are designed to create.

Iryna struggled to push back. It was one of her first projects, and the client was confident in his approach. But the experience taught her a lasting lesson: the collaboration with external clients must start with an agreement about how the team works. That means explaining the methodology during the pre-sale phase, documenting it in the contract, and teaching the client the benefits of the process before the work begins. As she puts it, when she checked back with the sales and engagement teams, she realized nobody had set those expectations. She relied instead of checking — and paid the price. Once she held sessions with the client to explain how Scrum works and what it delivers, things shifted. New tasks went into the product backlog and were prioritized properly through refinement, not dumped into active sprints.

Self-reflection Question: When was the last time you verified that your client or stakeholders truly understand how your team works — not just the label, but the actual rules and commitments?

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About Iryna Stelmakh

Iryna Stelmakh is a Project & Delivery Leader and Agile Coach who helps leaders turn complexity into clarity. With 10+ years across US, Nordic, and Eastern European environments, she works at the intersection of business transformation and human systems, building resilient organizations and high-performing teams in complex contexts.

You can link with Iryna Stelmakh on LinkedIn.