“Their value is not knowing every ticket status. It is creating the conditions where the team can deliver without friction.” – Joseph Osei-Kusi
Joseph brings a current challenge he calls the middle management squeeze. As Agile teams become more self-organized, some managers experience autonomy as a loss of control, visibility, or even identity. That fear can show up as more status requests, being copied on every conversation, or stepping back into decisions the team should be making. Joseph does not frame those managers as blockers. He starts with empathy, because managers are often accountable for outcomes while being asked to trust a system they did not help design.
The coaching move is to shift the conversation from managing tasks to improving the system. Instead of inspecting every ticket, managers can help with approval delays, conflicting priorities, dependencies, and unclear stakeholder expectations. Vasco and Joseph explore one useful experiment: create intentional contact points where managers can support the team without taking over the backlog or sprint details.
In this episode, we refer to servant leadership and the Scrum Master role in helping managers become enablers of flow, not controllers of tasks.
Self-reflection Question: Which manager around your team may need a clearer, more useful role in the Agile system?
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About Joseph Osei-Kusi
Joseph is an Agile coach and Scrum Master obsessed with the human side of delivery. He has focused on moving teams beyond just “following the process” to delivering value. He champions radical transparency and psychological safety, and believes that when you get the people part right, everything else falls into place.
You can link with Joseph Osei-Kusi on LinkedIn.
