CTO Series: Bridging Innovation and Strategy as CTO of CrateDB With Sergey Gerasimenko

Stuart Tipples: Silent Teams, Explosive Outcomes—Learning to Normalize Disagreement Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. Stuart tells the story of a team he was brought in to coach that appeared functional on the surface but was struggling beneath. Despite being behind on critical work, the team maintained a facade of happiness while abandoning retrospectives and falling into hero culture patterns. The team had developed "toxic positivity" where members stayed silent about real issues, creating an environment without psychological safety. When problems finally surfaced, the team exploded into unpleasant disagreements. Stuart's key learning: teams usually stay silent until it's too late, making it crucial to foster psychological safety by normalizing disagreement and creating space for honest dialogue. Self-reflection Question: Is your team comfortable with healthy disagreement, or are you maintaining a facade of toxic positivity that prevents real issues from being addressed? Featured Book of the Week: Trust Based Leadership by Mike Ettore Trust Based Leadership by Mike Ettore stands out because it's devoid of corporate fluff and delivers a clear message from a former marine turned executive. Stuart recommends it because it focuses on the fundamental truth that if you don't build trust, you're just managing compliance. The book emphasizes leading with consistency, clarity, and courage, and encourages leaders not to wait for permission to make positive changes. It's a practical guide that moves beyond typical corporate leadership advice to address real-world leadership challenges. [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] 🚀 Global Agile Summit 2025 Join us in Tallinn, Estonia, from May 18th – 20th, 2025, for an event that will inspire, challenge, and equip you with real-world Agile success stories. 🌍 Connect with global Agile leaders. 💡 Learn practical strategies for impact. 🔥 Break free from Agile fatigue and become a Pragmatic Innovator Check Full Program [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] About Stuart Tipples  Stuart is an Agilista, a coach, Scrum Master, agile delivery. A husband, Dog Dad, and as Star Wars nerd. Positive disruptor. Passionate about helping teams and individuals build and ship awesome products to their customers. Stuart also blogs at www.yourebelscrum.com You can link with Stuart Tipples on LinkedIn.

10 Juni 17min

Stuart Tipples: From Zombie Scrum to Agile Thinking—Learning from a Failed Transformation Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. Stuart shares a powerful story about joining a team that appeared to be thriving with Scrum ceremonies in place, only to discover they were performing "zombie scrum" - going through the motions without embracing agile thinking. The team functioned as a feature factory, never questioning requirements or truly collaborating. Stuart learned that agile isn't about what you do, but how you and the team think. He emphasizes that frameworks are just guardrails; the real focus must be on coaching people in agile values and principles. His key insight: know the rules before you break them, and remember that no amount of ceremony can rescue a team that lacks the agile mindset. Self-reflection Question: Are your team's agile ceremonies creating real value and fostering collaboration, or are you simply going through the motions of "performative theatre"? [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] 🚀 Global Agile Summit 2025 Join us in Tallinn, Estonia, from May 18th – 20th, 2025, for an event that will inspire, challenge, and equip you with real-world Agile success stories. 🌍 Connect with global Agile leaders. 💡 Learn practical strategies for impact. 🔥 Break free from Agile fatigue and become a Pragmatic Innovator Check Full Program [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] About Stuart Tipples  Stuart is an Agilista, a coach, Scrum Master, agile delivery. A husband, Dog Dad, and as Star Wars nerd. Positive disruptor. Passionate about helping teams and individuals build and ship awesome products to their customers. Stuart also blogs at www.yourebelscrum.com You can link with Stuart Tipples on LinkedIn.

9 Juni 15min

Joel Bancroft-Connors: The No-Scroll Bar Rule—Empowering PO’s Through Constraints Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. The Great Product Owner: The Collaborative Innovator Joel describes an exceptional Product Owner scenario at a large insurance organization where complementary skills created magic. Working with two different people - a business expert who understood insurance but lacked development knowledge, and a designer with user experience expertise - Joel suggested the designer take on the Product Owner role while collaborating closely with the business person.  This collaboration between complementary skills produced outstanding results. The great Product Owner understood that their role wasn't to control every detail but to unleash developer creativity by providing problems and context rather than prescriptive solutions. Joel's approach of "give the developers a problem and a canvas" allowed the team to innovate while staying focused on customer needs. This Product Owner fostered innovation rather than preventing it, demonstrating how effective collaboration can transform product development. The Bad Product Owner: The Business Analyst That Couldn’t Let Go Joel identifies a problematic anti-pattern: the Business Analyst who transitions to Product Owner but can't abandon their documentation-heavy approach. While Business Analysts can make excellent Product Owners with proper support, those who insist on documenting everything create communication bottlenecks and slow down delivery. This creates a "telephone game" effect between the BA/PO and developers. Joel encountered one such individual who would declare "the developers can't do that" without giving them the opportunity to explore solutions. Following his "no-scroll bar rule" for documentation, Joel emphasizes that Product Owners should provide just enough information to enable developer creativity, not overwhelming detail that stifles innovation. When the problematic BA was replaced with someone who understood customers and trusted developers, the team's innovation flourished. In this segment, we refer to the book Liftoff, by Larsen and Nies. Self-reflection Question: Are you enabling developer innovation by providing problems and context, or are you stifling creativity with excessive documentation and control? [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] 🚀 Global Agile Summit 2025 Join us in Tallinn, Estonia, from May 18th – 20th, 2025, for an event that will inspire, challenge, and equip you with real-world Agile success stories. 🌍 Connect with global Agile leaders. 💡 Learn practical strategies for impact. 🔥 Break free from Agile fatigue and become a Pragmatic Innovator Check Full Program [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] About Joel Bancroft-Connors Joel Bancroft-Connors is The Gorilla Coach — a Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile disruptor focused on sustainable value and effectiveness. With a background in product, project, and coaching, Joel blends sharp insights with practical tools to help teams thrive. He is a Miro power user and rocks curated classroom playlists. You can link with Joel Bancroft-Connors on LinkedIn.

6 Juni 19min

Joel Bancroft-Connors: Sustainable Value—Redefining Success Beyond Profit Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. Joel has evolved his definition of Scrum Master success over time, moving beyond traditional metrics to focus on what truly matters: sustainable value delivery. While Agile principles clearly state the goal of delivering value continuously, Joel emphasizes that success isn't just about making profit - it's about creating sustainable profit through sustainable processes and people practices. He challenges Scrum Masters to consider their "people sustainability metric" and asks whether their approach supports long-term team health and organizational resilience. Joel's definition encompasses three pillars: delivering sustainable value, maintaining sustainable processes, and ensuring sustainability for people. This holistic view of success requires Scrum Masters to think beyond immediate outcomes and consider the long-term impact of their practices. In this segment, we refer to the book Turn the ship around! by David Marquet.  Self-reflection Question: What is your people sustainability metric, and how are you measuring whether your Scrum practices support long-term team and organizational health? Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Back to Basics Joel advocates for returning to the foundational retrospective format outlined in "Agile Retrospectives" by Derby and Larsen. Rather than getting caught up in complex or creative retrospective techniques, he emphasizes the power of following the basic steps: set the stage, gather data, generate insights, decide what to do, and close the retrospective. Joel stresses that there's an important arc to retrospectives that shouldn't be overlooked. By taking time to properly gather data and following the structured approach from the agile retrospectives book, teams can achieve more meaningful and actionable outcomes. Sometimes the most effective approach is simply executing the fundamentals exceptionally well. In this segment, we refer to the book Agile retrospectives, by Derby and Larsen.  [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] 🚀 Global Agile Summit 2025 Join us in Tallinn, Estonia, from May 18th – 20th, 2025, for an event that will inspire, challenge, and equip you with real-world Agile success stories. 🌍 Connect with global Agile leaders. 💡 Learn practical strategies for impact. 🔥 Break free from Agile fatigue and become a Pragmatic Innovator Check Full Program [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] About Joel Bancroft-Connors Joel Bancroft-Connors is The Gorilla Coach — a Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile disruptor focused on sustainable value and effectiveness. With a background in product, project, and coaching, Joel blends sharp insights with practical tools to help teams thrive. He is a Miro power user and rocks curated classroom playlists. You can link with Joel Bancroft-Connors on LinkedIn.

5 Juni 17min

Joel Bancroft-Connors: The 90-Day Rule—Building Trust Before Disrupting the Status Quo Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. Joel shares his first experience as a CSM at a traditional hard drive manufacturing company, where he learned the art of patient change management. Tasked with bridging the gap between a rigid mothership company and their agile startup division, Joel discovered the power of focusing on principles rather than processes. For six months, he concentrated on creating transparency and shifting focus from status reporting to "getting to done" without ever mentioning Scrum or Agile.  His approach followed what he calls the 90-day rule: "In the first 90 days - do no harm, but then have a plan to do something." By listening first and building trust, Joel helped the team deliver a product in just three months. He emphasizes the importance of making people feel valued and using "future perfect thinking" to envision desired outcomes before introducing change. In this episode we refer to Luke Hohmann’s Innovation Games, the website and resource Manager-Tools.com, and Daniel Pink’s book Drive. Self-reflection Question: Are you rushing to implement changes, or are you taking time to build trust and understand the current state before introducing new practices? [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] 🚀 Global Agile Summit 2025 Join us in Tallinn, Estonia, from May 18th – 20th, 2025, for an event that will inspire, challenge, and equip you with real-world Agile success stories. 🌍 Connect with global Agile leaders. 💡 Learn practical strategies for impact. 🔥 Break free from Agile fatigue and become a Pragmatic Innovator Check Full Program [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] About Joel Bancroft-Connors Joel Bancroft-Connors is The Gorilla Coach — a Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile disruptor focused on sustainable value and effectiveness. With a background in product, project, and coaching, Joel blends sharp insights with practical tools to help teams thrive. He is a Miro power user and rocks curated classroom playlists. You can link with Joel Bancroft-Connors on LinkedIn.

4 Juni 14min

Joel Bancroft-Connors: How Performance Reviews Killed a Great Agile Team Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. Joel tells the story of a team caught in the crossfire of a poorly executed large-scale agile transformation. While the CTO championed going agile, they quickly checked out, leaving the organization without clear direction or understanding of why they were adopting agile practices. The company measured success through output metrics like "number of teams trained" rather than meaningful outcomes. Joel worked with an exceptional team that had built their own collaborative workspace and was performing well, but external forces kept pulling them out of flow. Performance reviews created internal conflict, leading team members to focus on individual success rather than collective achievement. The team ultimately fell into their own traps, with everyone "focusing on themselves and throwing others under the bus." Joel recommends balancing performance evaluations with 50% team-based and 50% individual metrics to prevent this destructive pattern. Self-reflection Question: Does your team truly understand why they are using Scrum, or are they just going through the motions of the framework? Featured Book of the Week: Start with Why by Simon Sinek Joel credits Simon Sinek's "Start with Why" as a transformational influence on his coaching approach. The book's central principle that "people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it" fundamentally changed how Joel teaches Scrum. He realized he had been teaching Scrum incorrectly by focusing on the mechanics rather than the purpose. Now Joel listens to this book annually and has shifted his focus to helping teams and organizations understand why Scrum matters and why it's important. This shift from teaching the "what" to emphasizing the "why" has made his coaching significantly more effective and meaningful. Joel also mentions the book Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins. [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] 🚀 Global Agile Summit 2025 Join us in Tallinn, Estonia, from May 18th – 20th, 2025, for an event that will inspire, challenge, and equip you with real-world Agile success stories. 🌍 Connect with global Agile leaders. 💡 Learn practical strategies for impact. 🔥 Break free from Agile fatigue and become a Pragmatic Innovator Check Full Program [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] About Joel Bancroft-Connors Joel Bancroft-Connors is The Gorilla Coach — a Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile disruptor focused on sustainable value and effectiveness. With a background in product, project, and coaching, Joel blends sharp insights with practical tools to help teams thrive. He is a Miro power user and rocks curated classroom playlists. You can link with Joel Bancroft-Connors on LinkedIn.

3 Juni 12min

Joel Bancroft-Connors: When Great Scrum Masters Fail—The Hidden Cost of Poor Value Communication Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. Joel shares a powerful lesson about the critical importance of communicating value beyond team performance. Despite achieving remarkable success with multiple teams as an agile coach, Joel and his colleagues ultimately failed because they couldn't effectively demonstrate their value to leadership. The teams were thriving, but when budget cuts came, the coaching support was eliminated first. Without ongoing support, these successful teams began to deteriorate. Joel emphasizes that as Scrum Masters and agile coaches, we must actively communicate our impact and connect team success to business outcomes. Simply assuming that good team performance speaks for itself is not enough - we need to interact more with stakeholders and clearly articulate the value we create. In this episode, we refer to the TV series Ted Lasso, and the books Start with Why by Simon Sinek, and Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins.  Self-reflection Question: How effectively are you communicating the business value of your Scrum Master activities to leadership, and what specific metrics or stories could better demonstrate your impact? [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] 🚀 Global Agile Summit 2025 Join us in Tallinn, Estonia, from May 18th – 20th, 2025, for an event that will inspire, challenge, and equip you with real-world Agile success stories. 🌍 Connect with global Agile leaders. 💡 Learn practical strategies for impact. 🔥 Break free from Agile fatigue and become a Pragmatic Innovator Check Full Program [Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends] About Joel Bancroft-Connors Joel Bancroft-Connors is The Gorilla Coach — a Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile disruptor focused on sustainable value and effectiveness. With a background in product, project, and coaching, Joel blends sharp insights with practical tools to help teams thrive. He is a Miro power user and rocks curated classroom playlists. You can link with Joel Bancroft-Connors on LinkedIn.

2 Juni 15min

BONUS: Martti Kuldma shares how to transform century-old organizations through product-driven agile transformation In this BONUS episode we explore the remarkable transformation journey at Omniva with CEO Martti Kuldma. From traditional postal services to innovative logistics solutions, we explore how a 100+ year old company embraced product thinking, DevOps practices, and agile transformation to become a competitive force in modern logistics. Omniva's Digital Evolution—IT as a Revenue Center "We innovated the parcel machine business for a few years, and software has been an area of investment for us - software as a separate vertical in our business." Omniva represents a fascinating case study in organizational transformation. While many know it as Estonia's post office, the company has evolved into an international logistics powerhouse with significant revenue streams beyond traditional postal services. Under Martti's leadership, the organization has reimagined software not as a support function but as a core revenue driver, positioning itself for the dramatic shifts expected in logistics delivery over the next five years. The Vision: Physical Mailing as the Next IP Network "The Vision: physical mailing as the next IP network - this will give us a lot more freedom to adapt to changes in delivery demand." Martti's strategic vision extends far beyond conventional logistics thinking. By conceptualizing physical delivery networks similar to internet protocols, Omniva is preparing for a future where logistics companies leverage their physical infrastructure advantages. This approach addresses the fundamental challenge of fluctuating demand in e-commerce and traditional logistics, creating opportunities for crowd delivery solutions and gig economy integration that capitalize on existing network effects. Breaking Down Waterfall Barriers "When I came we had waterfall processes - annual budgeting, procurement for software development. It took a couple of weeks to do the first rounds, and understand what could be improved." The transformation from traditional procurement-based software development to agile product teams required dismantling entrenched processes. Martti discovered that the contractor model, while seemingly cost-effective, created expensive knowledge transfer cycles and left the organization vulnerable when external teams departed. His engineering background enabled him to recruit talent and build sustainable development capabilities that keep critical knowledge within the organization. Creating Cross-Functional Product Teams "We started to create cross-functional product area teams. We are not going to tell you what you need to build. You are accountable for the logistics efficiency." The shift from eleven distinct roles in software development to autonomous product teams represents more than organizational restructuring. By empowering teams with accountability for business outcomes rather than just deliverables, Omniva transformed how work gets planned and executed. This approach eliminates traditional handoffs and role silos, creating teams that own both the problem and the solution. The Product Manager Evolution "For me, the PM is directly accountable for the business results. The final step of the transformation started when I took the CEO role." Martti identifies a critical challenge in agile transformations: the misunderstanding of Product Manager responsibilities. Rather than falling into delivery or project management patterns, effective PMs at Omniva own business results directly. This shift required company-wide transformation because technical changes alone cannot sustain organizational evolution without corresponding changes in mindset and accountability structures. Leadership Through Storytelling "My main tool is just talking. All I do is story-telling internally and externally. I needed to become the best salesman in the company." The transition from technical leadership to CEO revealed that transformation leadership requires different skills than technical management. Martti discovered that his primary value comes through narrative construction and communication rather than direct technical contribution. This realization highlights how senior leaders must evolve their impact methods as organizations scale and transform. Real-Time Feedback Philosophy "The feedback needs to be given immediately. ‘Last year, in May your performance was not the best’ - this is completely useless feedback." Martti's rejection of annual reviews stems from practical experience with feedback effectiveness. Immediate, personal feedback creates learning opportunities and course corrections that annual cycles cannot provide. Anonymous 360 feedback systems often dilute accountability and actionability, whereas direct, timely conversations enable meaningful professional development and relationship building. Essential Transformation Practices "You need to tell the story - and convince people that this transformation is essential and needed. You need to trust and let them make their own decisions." Drawing from experiences at both Pipedrive and Omniva, Martti identifies three critical elements for leading complex organizational change: Compelling narrative: People need to understand why transformation is necessary and how it benefits both the organization and their individual growth Distributed decision-making: Trust enables teams to solve problems creatively rather than waiting for hierarchical approval Business accountability for engineers: When technical teams understand and own business outcomes, they innovate more effectively toward meaningful goals The dynamic team formation model used at Pipedrive, where engineers and PMs pitched ideas and assembled mission-focused teams, demonstrates how organizational structure can enable rather than constrain innovation. About Martti Kuldma Martti Kuldma is CEO of Omniva, leading its transformation into a product-driven logistics company. A former engineering leader at Pipedrive and CTO at Omniva, he brings deep expertise in scaling teams, agile transformation, and digital innovation. Martti is also a startup founder and passionate advocate for high-impact product organizations. You can link with Martti Kuldma on LinkedIn.

31 Maj 44min