global teams Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Deborah Colombari: Coordinating Global Agile Teams Around One MVP

“The scope is clear. How we are going to deliver it is not clear.” – Deborah Colombari

Deborah brings a live challenge from a new global project. Her team carries the deadline, but three other teams must contribute, and those teams do not share the same priority or urgency. The question becomes: how do you align teams when only one of them feels the pressure? Deborah has already tried management alignment meetings, but they have not worked as well as needed. Her next experiment is a one-week workshop inspired by Lean Inception, where managers and teams can write down what is needed, when it is needed, and what each team can realistically contribute.

Vasco and Deborah explore three practical moves: define the MVP as a real vertical slice, ask whether a person from each dependent team can join for a Sprint or a few days per week, and reduce dependencies by moving ownership closer to the team that holds the deadline. The coaching conversation ends with a useful image: even vertical slices contain thinner vertical slices. When the deadline is fixed, scope must become flexible.

In this episode, we refer to Lean Inception and Minimum Viable Product.

Self-reflection Question: When your team depends on others, are you managing the dependency or trying to reduce it?

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About Deborah Colombari

Deborah is an Enterprise Agile Coach with a decade of experience championing Agile principles across organizations. Passionate about collaboration and continuous improvement, Deborah genuinely loves what she does—empowering others to work smarter, deliver value, and thrive in dynamic environments.

You can link with Deborah Colombari on LinkedIn.

Mike Salogub: How to help a team go from waterfall to Scrum in 3 sprints, the challenges to expect

In this episode, Mike talks about his experience with change leadership when his team transitioned from waterfall to Agile. The transition happened overnight, and Mike had to learn a new role quickly. After attending Scrum workshops, the team began working on their first sprint, but developers were eager to work on future projects and underestimated the amount of work to be done in the current sprint. This led to a pile-up of work and failure to meet sprint goals in the second sprint.

However, by the third sprint, team members started to understand the benefits of Agile, and by the fifth sprint, they were delivering more than expected. Mike shared three tips for successful change leadership: involve the boss in meetings, regularly remind team members of the mission, and have a leader who is committed to making the project a success. In this case, Mike’s boss acted as a Release Train Engineer (RTE), helping to steer the team towards success.

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About Mike Salogub

Mike’s an accomplished, committed and creative Scrum Master with over 10+ years of expanding horizons in the healthcare technology industry. Focused on continuous improvement using data to inform business decisions, and driving innovation to meet the needs of patients.

You can link with Mike Salogub on LinkedIn and connect with Mike Salogub on Twitter.

Caterina Palmiotto: Lessons from an Agile Transformation in a Manufacturing Company

In this episode, Caterina discusses a large-scale Agile transformation she was involved in at a manufacturing company. The transformation was initiated after a successful pilot with a few software development teams. The company adopted a top-down approach, hiring many Agile coaches and implementing a model that combined the Spotify Model and a big-bang change. Despite its success, the transformation was risky due to its size, and Caterina suggests starting the Agile adoption with a single Value Stream and measuring the impact on the business. In this case, the company’s culture was also key in integrating the many different backgrounds and expectations from the different regional offices.

The success factors Caterina identified were: team coaching, focus on effective communication, and constant respect for each other.

About Caterina Palmiotto

Caterina started as a software developer but soon realized that she was passionate about team dynamics and communication, and embraced agility from the moment she saw it.

Caterina believes a team can be more than the sum of its parts and that growing the right culture is essential. When people are surrounded by good examples they will be motivated to do their best. So the first step is doing your best to be a good example of the culture you want to nurture.

You can link with Caterina Palmiotto on LinkedIn.