Team Trust Archives - Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Pankaj Kumar: Building Agile Trust One Small Scrum Sprint at a Time

“We are here to learn. Learning is the key.” – Pankaj Kumar

When Pankaj Kumar first moved from QA lead into the Scrum Master role, the organization was also moving from waterfall into Scrum. The team had been used to long project cycles, and suddenly they were being asked to deliver working software every two weeks. The difficult part was not the process language or the events. It was the fear behind the change. Pankaj saw that the team needed trust before it could take the first real step. He started with one-on-one conversations, made the pilot explicit, and kept bringing people back to a shared outcome instead of individual tasks.

The breakthrough came when the team stopped trying to prove that “Scrum works” all at once. Instead, they picked small pieces of work, delivered something tangible, and celebrated the first signs of progress. That sense of accomplishment helped the team replace fear of failure with confidence. For Pankaj, the lesson was simple: a Scrum Master helps the team stretch, but not so far that people stop feeling safe enough to try.

In this episode, we refer to psychological safety and Scrum.

Self-reflection Question: What is the smallest useful increment your team could deliver this sprint to build confidence in itself?

Transform Your Agile Teams with Hard-Earned Lessons from Super-Experienced Scrum Masters

Do you wish you had decades of experience? Learn from the Best Scrum Masters In The World, Today! The Tips from the Trenches – Scrum Master edition audiobook includes hours of audio interviews with SM’s that have decades of experience: from Mike Cohn to Linda Rising, Christopher Avery, and many more. Super-experienced Scrum Masters share their hard-earned lessons with you. Learn those today, make your teams awesome!

About Pankaj Kumar

Pankaj Kumar is an experienced Scrum Master and Agile Coach with over 18 years in IT. He helps teams adopt Agile ways of working, improve collaboration, remove impediments, and deliver value consistently. He facilitates Scrum ceremonies, coaches teams and stakeholders, and supports Agile transformation across organizations.

You can link with Pankaj Kumar on LinkedIn.

Alex Sloley: When Toxic Leadership Creates Teams That Self-Destruct

“They would take notes at every team meeting, so that later on they could argue with team members about what they committed to, and what they said in meetings.” – Alex Sloley

Alex recounts working with a small team where a project manager created such a toxic environment that one new hire quit after just eight hours on the job. This PM would belittle team members publicly, take detailed notes to use as weapons in contract negotiations, and dominate the team through intimidation. The situation became so severe that one team member sent an email that sounded like a suicide note. When the PM criticized Alex’s “slide deck velocity,” comparing four slides per 15 minutes to Alex’s one, he realized the environment was beyond salvaging. Despite coaching the team and attempting to introduce Scrum values, Alex ultimately concluded that management was encouraging this behavior as a control mechanism. The organization lacked trust in the team, creating learned helplessness where team members became submissive and unable to resist. Sometimes, the most important lesson for a Scrum Master is recognizing when a system is too toxic to change and having the courage to walk away. Alex emphasizes that respect—one of the core Scrum values—was completely absent, making any meaningful transformation impossible.

In this segment, we talk about “learned helplessness”.

Self-reflection Question: How do you recognize when a toxic environment is being actively encouraged by the system rather than caused by individual behavior? What are the signs that it’s time to exit rather than continue fighting?

Featured Book of the Week: The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Alex describes his complex relationship with The Goal by Goldratt—it both inspires and worries him. He struggles with the text because the concepts are so deep and meaningful that he’s never quite sure he’s fully understood everything Goldratt was trying to convey. The book was difficult to read, taking him four times longer than other agile-related books, and he had to reread entire sections multiple times. Despite the challenge, the concepts around Theory of Constraints and systems thinking have stayed with him for years. Alex worries late at night that he might have missed something important in the book.

He also mentions reading The Scrum Guide at least once a week, finding new tidbits each time and reflecting on why specific segments say what they say. Both books share a common thread—the text that isn’t in the text—requiring readers to dig deeper into the underlying principles and meanings rather than just the surface content.

Transform Your Agile Teams with Hard-Earned Lessons from Super-Experienced Scrum Masters

About Alex Sloley

Alex believes that a great Scrum Master can have a long and lasting impact on people and teams. He is a global agile and product management evangelist, author of The Agile Community, and frequent international speaker. A former Microsoft leader with 15 years’ experience, he now trains, coaches, and drives transformations worldwide. Certified across Scrum, ICAgile, and Kanban, Alex energizes communities, guides leaders, and—yes—enjoys good beer.

You can link with Alex Sloley on LinkedIn.

Shawn Dsouza: When Scrum Masters Forget to Listen – A Team Trust Crisis in Agile Implementation

Shawn shares a powerful lesson about the importance of listening before implementing. Working with a young, talented team drowning in firefighting, he rolled out Scrum in “full” without taking time to understand the team’s context. Going through the motions of Scrum ceremonies without genuine team ownership led to dropping energy levels and lost trust. The turning point came when Shawn realized the team had lost faith in his approach, prompting him to rebuild the process collaboratively with team ownership at its core. This story highlights how good intentions can backfire when we prioritize frameworks over people.

Self-reflection Question: Before implementing any new process or framework, how do you ensure you truly understand your team’s current challenges and context rather than jumping straight to solutions?

Transform Your Agile Teams with Hard-Earned Lessons from Super-Experienced Scrum Masters

About Shawn Dsouza
Shawn, a Mangalore native and Software Technology postgraduate from AIMIT, brings 8+ years of IT expertise, excelling as a Scrum Master fostering innovation and teamwork. Beyond technology, he leads SPARK, a social service initiative, and pursues his passion as an aquarist, nurturing vibrant aquatic ecosystems with dedication.

You can link with Shawn Dsouza on LinkedIn.

Somya Mehra: Why Collaboration Should Be An Agile Team’s Primary Goal

Unlike technical roles where success is tangible, Scrum Master success can be harder to measure, especially for those transitioning from tech roles. Somya defines successful Scrum Master performance through team behaviors: when teams trust and respect each other, and when collaboration becomes their goal. She emphasizes the importance of observing behaviors and discussing them with team members early enough to foster the right behaviors within the team.

Featured Retrospective Format for the Week: The 2 Pillars Retrospective

Somya recommends the 2 Pillars retrospective format, which she intentionally varies to keep teams engaged and curious. Her core structure focuses on two essential questions: “What went well?” and “How can we improve?” She notices that using the same retrospective format repeatedly leads to team boredom, so she adds variety while maintaining these fundamental pillars. In specific cases, she includes a gratitude section to ensure team members feel appreciated.

Self-reflection Question: How do you measure your success as a Scrum Master when the results aren’t as tangible as in technical roles?

Transform Your Agile Teams with Hard-Earned Lessons from Super-Experienced Scrum Masters

About Somya Mehra

Somya is a Scrum Master at u-blox with nearly 7 years of IT experience across India and Finland. With experience in Waterfall and Agile models, she leads with empathy and a people-first approach. Somya is deeply interested in human behavior and understanding the motivations behind people’s actions.

You can link with Somya Mehra on LinkedIn.

Daniel Westermayr: Trusting Your Agile Team, The Foundation of Great Product Ownership

The Great Product Owner: Trusting Your Team, The Foundation of Great Product Ownership

In this segment, Daniel discusses the importance of the “leap of faith” that great POs take by letting go of control and trusting their team to deliver. By believing in their team, great POs are able to motivate and focus their team’s efforts. Daniel also mentions the NoEstimates movement and the idea that a forecast is a range rather than a single number. Great POs do not second guess their team or the data, and are willing to accept the team’s delivery even if they don’t fully understand it.

The Bad Product Owner: How to Help Your Product Owner Succeed by Saying “No” When Necessary

In this segment, Daniel discusses the tendency Product Owners have to say “yes” to everything in order to appease or please others, even if it means not properly prioritizing tasks. Daniel emphasizes the importance of understanding the PO’s perspective and using forecasting to help the PO say “no” when necessary. He also highlights the crucial role of Scrum Masters in helping the PO prioritize and say “no.” The ability for organizations to hear and accept “no” is also a key factor in mitigating this anti-pattern. Daniel encourages POs to say “no” when necessary and reassures them that it is possible to change their mind later.

The Ultimate Guide to Supporting Product Owners as a Scrum Master

Are you having trouble helping the team work well with their Product Owner? We’ve put together a course to help you work on the collaboration team-product owner. You can find it at bit.ly/coachyourpo. 18 modules, 8+ hours of modules with tools and techniques that you can use to help teams and PO’s collaborate.

About Daniel Westermayr

Daniel is a Kanban Trainer with a knack for all things Lean and Theory of Constraints. He wants to help teams achieve and measure their continuous improvements.

You can link with Daniel Westermayr on LinkedIn.