DORA metrics Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

CTO Series: Toni Sallanmaa on Scaling Engineering Teams and Aligning Tech with Business Goals

In this BONUS episode, we explore the journey of scaling technology teams and maintaining alignment between engineering and business objectives with Toni Sallanmaa, CTO at Funidata. Toni shares invaluable insights from leading the development of Sisu, a cutting-edge student information system serving over 100,000 Finnish university users, and discusses practical strategies for growing engineering organizations while preserving company culture.

The Genesis of Leadership in Technology

“I understood what I was really responsible for. I’m interested in the business we are running—the business adds meaning to the work.”

Toni’s approach to technology leadership was fundamentally shaped by a pivotal moment early in his career when he first gained influence over system development and technology choices. After working with large-scale systems for 20 years, this moment of responsibility revelation transformed his perspective from purely technical to business-focused. He emphasizes that infinite curiosity drives success in tech businesses, and understanding the business context gives meaningful purpose to technical work.

Bridging the Gap Between Tech and Product

“Don’t separate Tech from Product. We established a common language between product and technology people.” Continue reading CTO Series: Toni Sallanmaa on Scaling Engineering Teams and Aligning Tech with Business Goals

CTO Series: Engineering Leadership, Automation, and Trust with Dan Hollinger

In this CTO Series episode, we sit down with Dan Hollinger, an accomplished engineering leader passionate about fostering empathy, transparency, and trust in tech teams. Dan shares pivotal lessons from his career, from building scalable automation systems to navigating complex leadership challenges. We cover key strategies for aligning tech initiatives with business goals, fostering collaboration, and ensuring long-term technical health.

Defining Leadership Through Automation and Empowerment

“Enable your humans to focus on the interesting work—automation should take care of the rest.”

Dan recounts his transformative experience at CCP Games, makers of EVE Online, where a robust test automation system changed his perspective on scaling technical processes. This role introduced him to the power of automation in freeing up engineers to focus on more exploratory and impactful tasks. He emphasizes how empowering self-directed teams with high-level vision statements enables creativity and innovation.

Building Self-Correcting Processes

“Always retro your processes—don’t let them run on autopilot.”

Dan explains the importance of self-correcting processes, using the SEV (Side Event) system as an example. He highlights how retrospectives can improve response times and prevent future crises. For Dan, consistent reviews are the key to maintaining agile, resilient systems that adapt to evolving needs.

Bridging the Gap Between Business and Tech

“There are no enemies—treat your colleagues like allies working toward a common goal.” Continue reading CTO Series: Engineering Leadership, Automation, and Trust with Dan Hollinger

BONUS: From Scrum Master to Engineering Lead, how to prepare the transition with Tim Bourguignon

We start this episode, reflecting on Tim’s journey of realizing the importance of working collaboratively and embracing agile methodologies. Tim noticed early on that he drifted to teaching and providing assistance to others rather than actively developing software. After a while, he moved to consulting in Agile, and in that role, he noticed recurring patterns and struggled with unclogging processes that seemed to be missing something crucial. Over time, frustration set in. He felt like he was fighting an uphill battle and highlighted the disruptive nature of Agile, which aimed to uncover and solve problems but often revealed bigger and deeper underlying issues.

The big problem with Agile adoption, and what we can do to prepare for it

Continue reading BONUS: From Scrum Master to Engineering Lead, how to prepare the transition with Tim Bourguignon

Elly Griffith-Ward: The Toyota Kata, an effective template for Agile Retrospectives

Elly shares with us the impact a “north star” can have on the skill and competence development for Scrum Masters. She refers to the model shared by Kevin Rutherford, which includes 5 points to help us define a significant North Star. In this episode, we also refer to the DORA metrics.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The Toyota Kata, an effective template for Agile Retrospectives

Elly describes for us what she learned from the Toyota Kata, that she applies to the Retrospectives she designs and facilitates. She describes for us how that format helps focus the retrospectives on the steps necessary to create a dynamic of continuous improvement!

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About Elly Griffith-Ward

Elly is an Agile Coach at a major e-commerce company. Previously in user research (and a royal food historian). She aims to 1) improve the experience of work through reducing mental load, improving communication and forming strong teams 2) shift the focus from managing the worker to managing the work by focusing on flow and waste.

You can link with Elly Griffith-Ward on LinkedIn and connect with Elly Griffith-Ward on Twitter.

Nick Nielsen: Creating a success dashboard for yourself as a Scrum Master

Scrum Masters work on many levels of the organization, and sometimes that makes success hard to spot. Nick shares how he starated using metrics for many different aspects of his work, and how he was able to create a perspective on his own success through constant measurements with a holistic view.

In this episode, we talk about the DORA metrics.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The Tournament of Ideas Agile Retrospective

The Sailboat Retrospective is one of Nick’s favourite formats. He explains that the technique can be easily adopted to many different contexts, and helps people think through their context in a visual manner. In this episode, we also talk about the “tournament retrospective”, where improvement ideas are pitched against each other to find the one idea the team wants to focus on.

About Nick Nielsen

Nick completed his education at Aarhus University in Denmark and currently works in the Digital Organisation at Grundfos, the worlds biggest pump manufacturer. He views him self as a pragmatic Agile Handyman.

You can link with Nick Nielsen on LinkedIn and connect with Nick Nielsen on Twitter.