“I wanted to change the organization overnight with my eagerness and passion. Instead of helping the system to evolve, I created resistance. I became the problem myself.” – Viktor Glinka
Viktor shares one of the most honest failure stories we’ve heard on the show. Early in his Scrum Master career, he joined a finance organization as a Scrum Master for a newly created department — his first experience in a scaled setup. Each team owned a particular part of the user journey, organized around components.
After getting exposed to Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) through a colleague, Viktor became overexcited. He started pushing for structural changes daily, telling the head of department that the current team composition was wrong and they needed cross-functional feature teams. But he was disconnected from reality.
For this particular organization, even having partially cross-functional teams was already a big stretch. Worse, the head of department wasn’t even authorized to make the changes Viktor was pushing for. Instead of helping the system evolve, he created resistance.
What proved his approach wrong? That same department later received a European Award for being the best mortgage department. It took Viktor a few more years and similar cases to fully absorb the lesson: read the room, develop sensitivity to the system’s pace, and stimulate reflection in decision makers rather than pushing your own agenda.
In this episode, we refer to organizational development, LeSS (Large-Scale Scrum), and systems analysis. Viktor also mentions the interview with Bas Vodde on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast.
Self-reflection Question: When was the last time you pushed for a change because you believed it was right, without checking whether the system was ready for it? What would happen if you started by asking decision makers what they think would be a good next step?
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About Viktor Glinka
Viktor is an organisational consultant and Professional Scrum Master who helps teams and leaders find simpler ways to deliver value while keeping the human side of work at the center. He’s practical, curious, and focused on real outcomes rather than buzzwords. His true passion is adaptability – both in business and in personal life.
You can link with Viktor Glinka on LinkedIn.
