The Pressure Conduit, aka The Tornado Product Owner | Chrissy Fleming

Marina Lazovic: How to Introduce Data-driven Decision Making to Skeptical Agile Teams 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. Marina describes her experience introducing data-driven decision making to help teams improve their processes. Starting with basic metrics like velocity, she gradually expanded to more sophisticated data points such as how long items remain in specific workflow states. She emphasizes the importance of introducing these concepts naturally into daily work and using the data to spark meaningful conversations with both the team and Product Owner. By examining why items were stuck and for how long, the team uncovered underlying issues they could address. Marina also explains how she used historical data to inform sprint planning, making estimates more realistic. Her approach focused on simplicity—introducing one data point at a time, avoiding jargon, encouraging teams to discover problems themselves, and empowering them to develop their own solutions rather than imposing answers. Self-reflection Question: What single data point could you start tracking that might reveal the most important improvement opportunity for your team? About Marina Lazovic Marina is a Scrum Master and Kanban Trainer from Belgrade, Serbia, with nearly a decade in the IT industry. Though not from a technical background, she is passionate about helping development teams and organizations optimize processes and build great products using Agile. She thrives on driving efficiency and fostering collaboration. You can link with Marina Lazovic on LinkedIn.

26 Mars 19min

Marina Lazovic: How Limiting Work-in-Progress Saved a Struggling 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. Marina shares the story of a small team of three developers who were struggling with multiple challenges. The team was primarily working on front-end fixes but faced persistent environment issues that kept breaking their work. Under pressure from a Product Owner pushing for delivery, the team fell into the trap of working on too many things simultaneously, resulting in items staying perpetually "in progress" and never reaching "done." As the situation deteriorated, the PO began micromanaging the team in attempts to unblock work. Marina explains how she helped the team understand the value of limiting work-in-progress (WIP), even when initially both developers and the PO were resistant to the idea. Through experimentation over several sprints, they discovered that limiting WIP actually increased their completion rate rather than reducing it. Self-reflection Question: What work-in-progress limits might benefit your current team, and how could you experiment with implementing them in a way that addresses stakeholder concerns? Featured Book of the Week: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Marina recommends "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team" as an essential read for Scrum Masters. She describes it as a book filled with valuable lessons and examples that she could easily identify in her workplace. Marina finds particular value in sharing the concepts with her teams and using the book as a framework to discuss dysfunction patterns they might be experiencing. The practical examples provided in the book serve as excellent conversation starters to help teams recognize and address their own challenges. About Marina Lazovic Marina is a Scrum Master and Kanban Trainer from Belgrade, Serbia, with nearly a decade in the IT industry. Though not from a technical background, she is passionate about helping development teams and organizations optimize processes and build great products using Agile. She thrives on driving efficiency and fostering collaboration. You can link with Marina Lazovic on LinkedIn.

25 Mars 17min

Marina Lazovic: When Nobody Expects the Scrum Master, Overcoming a Rocky Start in a Team New to Agile 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. Marina shares her challenging experience of being the first Scrum Master to join a company new to Agile. She describes the awkward moment of joining a team via Zoom, only to discover that no one knew she was coming or fully understood her role. Marina explains how she navigated this uncomfortable situation by being patient, transparent, and not taking people's defensive reactions personally. She emphasizes that when people face unexpected change, their fear can manifest as resistance, making it crucial for Scrum Masters to remain calm, open, and focused on building understanding rather than reacting with frustration. Self-reflection Question: How might you prepare yourself emotionally and strategically for joining a team that isn't expecting you or doesn't understand the Scrum Master role? About Marina Lazovic Marina is a Scrum Master and Kanban Trainer from Belgrade, Serbia, with nearly a decade in the IT industry. Though not from a technical background, she is passionate about helping development teams and organizations optimize processes and build great products using Agile. She thrives on driving efficiency and fostering collaboration. You can link with Marina Lazovic on LinkedIn.

24 Mars 17min

BONUS: Why Your Teams Really Resist Change, The Neuroscience of Leadership That Nobody Taught You With Andra Stefanescu In this BONUS episode, we explore the challenges leaders face during transformations with leadership coach Andra Stefanescu. Drawing from her extensive research and coaching experience, Andra shares powerful insights on fostering psychological safety, understanding brain-based responses to change, and developing the emotional intelligence needed to lead effectively. She reveals practical frameworks and techniques that help leaders navigate resistance and build meaningful connections with their teams. The Leadership Challenge of Transformation "People are giving resistance... and in general, leaders are feeling overwhelmed in times of changes, whatever those changes are." Resistance and overwhelm are the two biggest challenges leaders face during transformations. Through her research and coaching work across different industries, Andra has found that leaders often feel powerless when their teams resist change. This resistance stems from basic psychological needs not being met. Leaders can overcome these challenges by understanding the different psychological needs of their team members and adapting their communication accordingly. By using specific frameworks, leaders can address resistance more effectively and rediscover their passion for leadership. Understanding the Brain's Response to Change "When something is changed, whatever that is... what your brain perceives is like a threat because the one question that we put all day long in our brains is: is this safe for me?" The brain naturally resists change because it prefers routine and automation. When facing transformation, people instinctively question whether the change is safe, which triggers resistance. This creates a challenging dynamic where leaders experiencing their own fear and resistance become less able to empathize with their team's concerns. Andra emphasizes the importance of leaders "putting their own mask on first" by acknowledging their own feelings and ensuring they're in the right state of mind before attempting to lead others through change. The Middle Manager's Dilemma "Middle managers are in the middle, they have high pressure from above, high pressure from down... And this is where they arrive in this powerless situation, where they ask themselves, how can I make this work?" One common scenario Andra encounters is middle managers feeling trapped between conflicting demands. They face pressure from upper management to implement changes quickly while experiencing resistance from their teams below. This position often leads to feelings of powerlessness and diminished job satisfaction. Andra notes that despite the depth of this challenge, it can be addressed through techniques that help leaders recalibrate themselves and improve communication with others. Fostering Psychological Safety Through Emotional Intelligence "Employees who report to have a leader with low emotional intelligence are four times more likely to leave the company within one year." Emotional intelligence is increasingly recognized as a critical leadership skill. Andra's research shows that 31% of employees who experience burnout report lacking support or recognition from leadership. She approaches developing emotional intelligence through guided self-reflection rather than external assessment, helping leaders gain insights about their communication patterns and relationships. Psychological safety doesn't happen by default—it requires active work and maintenance from leaders. The SCARF Model for Better Leadership "There are specific buttons that you press positively or negatively, and when you press them positively, you are most probably meeting also the psychological needs of the people." Andra recommends the SCARF model developed by Dr. David Rock as a practical framework for leadership communication. This model identifies five key domains that affect how people collaborate: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, and Fairness. By understanding and addressing these domains positively, leaders can better meet their team members' psychological needs. Additionally, she recommends the Process Communication Model (PCM), which helps leaders identify different personality types and adapt their communication accordingly. Connect Before Collaborate "Put the relationship above your agenda because it's more important to have a long-term relationship than to achieve whatever you wanted to go through with." One powerful principle Andra teaches is to connect before attempting to collaborate. Too often, leaders jump straight into tasks or discussions without first establishing a connection, failing to consider the other person's current state of mind. By asking simple questions like "What's on your mind today?" or "What is your intention for this meeting?", leaders can build psychological safety and maintain relationships that endure beyond immediate goals. This approach recognizes that workplace relationships should be viewed as long-term investments rather than transactional encounters. Sustainable Leadership Development "Ask: why do I get resistance? How can I communicate in a way that I get followers instead of resistance?" For sustainable growth, Andra encourages leaders to reflect on why they encounter resistance and how they might communicate differently to inspire followers instead. Self-awareness is crucial—leaders need to understand their own communication patterns and leadership styles before they can effectively influence others. By learning frameworks based on neuroscience and practicing new communication techniques, leaders can create environments where both they and their teams thrive during transformations. Recommended Resources To better understand how change affects our brain, Andra recommends Your Brain at Work by Dr. David Rock.   About Andra Stefanescu Andra is a leadership coach and facilitator specializing in brain-based ways to foster psychological safety and team collaboration. She helps leaders navigate transformation challenges with playful, neuroscience-driven techniques. Passionate about creating healthy workplace relationships, Andra empowers teams to resolve conflicts, make better decisions, and experience meaningful growth through customized training experiences. You can link with Andra Stefanescu on LinkedIn and follow Andra Stefanescu on Substack.

22 Mars 33min

Karen Suarez: Decision Authority, The Make-or-Break Factor for Product Owners 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: Clear Vision That Inspires Action Karen describes an exemplary Product Owner who deeply understood both their product and market. This PO maintained a perfect balance of being firm in their vision while remaining open and curious to input. What made this PO particularly effective was their ability to communicate a clear, compelling vision that motivated the team. They defined key results in ways that were easily understood and actionable for team members. Most importantly, they trusted the development team with solution design rather than prescribing how features should be implemented, creating an environment where the team felt both guided and empowered. The Bad Product Owner: Committee Decisions and Never-Ending Backlogs Karen identifies two common anti-patterns in the Product Owner role. The first is when the PO isn't truly empowered to make decisions because the company hesitates to give this responsibility to a single person. In these cases, the PO becomes merely a proxy for a committee, with solutions predetermined elsewhere. The second anti-pattern is the PO who cannot say "no," allowing backlogs to grow unmanageably large. Karen once worked with a team that had accumulated 5,000 backlog items! Her solution was to use data to demonstrate why such expansive backlogs are counterproductive, create filtered views showing only the highest-priority items, and eventually make it acceptable to delete irrelevant backlog items altogether. Self-reflection Question: In your organization, does the Product Owner have true decision-making authority, or are they operating as a proxy for committee decisions? About Karen Suarez  Karen is a dedicated Scrum Master with a long experience driving agile transformations and fostering high-performing teams. She is passionate about continuous learning, and excels in aligning agile practices with organizational innovation. You can link with Karen Suarez on LinkedIn.

21 Mars 18min

Karen Suarez: Beyond Process Compliance, True Indicators of Agile Team Maturity 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. For Karen, success as a Scrum Master is measured by how well the team functions autonomously. She evaluates this through several key indicators: the team's ability to tackle tough topics, including when someone isn't carrying their weight; their willingness to embrace and resolve conflicts; the product's flexibility in responding to market and customer feedback; and most importantly, whether team members proactively suggest solutions themselves. Karen emphasizes that her ultimate goal is to help the team reach a state where they no longer need her guidance, as this represents true maturity and self-organization. Self-reflection Question: How comfortable is your team with addressing conflict directly, and what could you do to create psychological safety around difficult conversations? Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: Start/Stop/Continue Karen prefers simple retrospective formats like Start/Stop/Continue that create space for meaningful dialogue rather than complex activities. Her focus is on developing team members' ability to share their real challenges. She prepares participants to discuss truly critical issues by modeling empathy and vulnerability herself. Karen encourages team members to bring up difficult topics by sharing how these issues affect them personally and acknowledging how others have helped. This approach creates psychological safety while ensuring retrospectives address substantive concerns rather than just surface-level issues. About Karen Suarez  Karen is a dedicated Scrum Master with a long experience driving agile transformations and fostering high-performing teams. She is passionate about continuous learning, and excels in aligning agile practices with organizational innovation. You can link with Karen Suarez on LinkedIn.

20 Mars 18min

Karen Suarez: When a Scrum Master Needs to Hire a Manager, An Organizational Design Story 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. Karen shares her experience as the first Scrum Master in a company where development, QA, product, and deployment were all separate departments, resulting in a cycle time exceeding six weeks. She strategically approached transformation by first identifying interested individuals in other departments who were already collaborating with the development team. Karen formalized the Product Owner role by cultivating a relationship with someone from the product department who showed interest in working closely with the team. She created regular collaboration routines between QA and development, and gradually involved the deployment team by inviting them to demos and having developers learn deployment skills. When faced with trust issues between deployment and development teams, Karen recognized the need for leadership support and built a case for hiring a manager who could help bridge these departments, acknowledging that some organizational challenges require sponsorship beyond the Scrum Master role. Self-reflection Question: In your organization, what departmental silos might be increasing cycle time, and who could be your allies in breaking down these barriers? About Karen Suarez  Karen is a dedicated Scrum Master with a long experience driving agile transformations and fostering high-performing teams. She is passionate about continuous learning, and excels in aligning agile practices with organizational innovation. You can link with Karen Suarez on LinkedIn.

19 Mars 20min

Karen Suarez: How to Design Communication Channels to Protect Agile Team Focus, and Avoid Interruptions 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. As a first-time Scrum Master managing a team of 15-20 people, Karen focused primarily on protecting them from constant interruptions in their open office space. However, she soon realized this approach was creating barriers between the team and stakeholders. Karen developed strategies to balance protection with accessibility by establishing "office hours" when the team could be interrupted, creating dedicated communication channels (like Slack) to collect stakeholder questions, and always including the Product Owner when change requests came in. This balanced approach maintained team focus while keeping communication lines open. In this segment, we refer to the Coach Your Product Owner e-course, available to all who need to support their product owners with understanding, and adopting an Agile way of working. Self-reflection Question: How might creating structured interruption times help your team maintain focus while still remaining accessible to stakeholders? Featured Book of the Week: The Scrum Guide Karen recommends repeatedly reading The Scrum Guide throughout your Agile journey. She finds she learns something new with each reading as her interpretation evolves with experience. Karen also highlights "Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love" by Marty Cagan, which helped her better understand the Product Owner role and gave her practical tools to support POs in their responsibilities. About Karen Suarez  Karen is a dedicated Scrum Master with a long experience driving agile transformations and fostering high-performing teams. She is passionate about continuous learning, and excels in aligning agile practices with organizational innovation. You can link with Karen Suarez on LinkedIn.

18 Mars 17min