Martin Fišer

Joanna Płaskonka contributed a powerful section on how Psychological Safety enables high-performance in #scrum for the Scrum Guide Expansion Pack. Visit https://lnkd.in/dM39Xabx to understand Psychological Safety in the context of Scrum. #scrumexpansion #scrumguide

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💥Better Learn Immersive! Working in the very creative and inspiring 4RESULTS environment and delivering our clients the highly engaging and technologically advanced MissionOne simulation, a year ago we decided, together with Grzegorz Mucha, to create a new project in a completely new environment. We named it KNOWITBROKER.com | Better Learn Immersive and chose the Middle East as our area of operation. Why? Because from a trainer’s perspective, it’s an exciting place: very rapid regional development, technologically advanced organizations, and, in addition, incredible cultural diversity. Our goal is to build smart projects supported by the most advanced technology available. After a year, we already have a wealth of experience, established relationships, and our position is slowly stabilizing. We’re seeing a real shift in how immersive learning is delivered. Right now:   - There’s a clear move away from old-fashioned, classroom-based trainings. Participants want more than theory—they want to *experience* real-world situations, not just hear about them. - VR is becoming the new standard. More companies are using virtual reality to drop people into realistic scenarios where they can practice, collaborate, and problem-solve as a team, fully “fenced” from distractions. - AI is making roleplays less awkward. A lot of trainees hate scripted roleplay exercises, but AI-driven avatars are changing the experience. People can now practice feedback or difficult conversations with realistic, responsive avatars, without the embarrassment of acting in front of others. - Distributed teams benefit, too. Immersive tools let remote or spread-out teams join simulations together—everyone gets the same experience, no matter where they are in the world. - The focus isn’t on replacing human-led training, but on enhancing it. The real value comes from mixing modern tech with proven psychological methods, facilitation, and group processes. - Cultural diversity is today’s normal, and it cannot be ignored. It must absolutely be considered when planning development activities   We’re constantly scanning the globe for new training tech—everything that works, we test and implement. If you’re curious about how immersive learning can work for your organization, let’s talk. Exciting times ahead. Subscribe for the regular updates and stay connected https://lnkd.in/d3S_FZa8

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The typical 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗳𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝟭𝟱-𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿-𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗿🚗 For International Women’s Day, we at Ominimo Insurance 🇵🇱 looked into our portfolio data to understand what Polish women actually drive. A few interesting insights: 📊 Average car age: ~15 years ⛽ Engine: most commonly petrol ⚙️ Transmission: manual dominates 🔋 Power: typically under 100 HP Most common models include: 🚘 VW Golf 🚘 Opel Astra 🚘 Toyota Yaris 🚘 Opel Corsa 🚘 Ford Focus The takeaway? Polish drivers, and especially Polish women, approach car ownership very pragmatically: reliability, affordability and practicality often matter more than having the newest model from the showroom. Great to see our analysis picked up by multiple Polish media outlets (one of them below) 👇 https://lnkd.in/dykwndPh #Ominimo #insurtech #insurance #mobility #datainsights #InternationalWomensDay #automotive #unicorninthemaking

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🚀 Yesterday, the 7th cohort of managers delivered their Pecha Kucha (6-minute) presentations as part of the #Agile for #Managers course I run at LU Profesionālās pilnveides akadēmija. I designed the course around a motto I’ve adopted from Albert Einstein: “All learning is experience. Everything else is just information.” Every module blends simulations and hands-on group exercises - because learning sticks when you do the work. 🧪 Between modules, participants experiment at work - applying agile #kata, #Scrum, #Lean, #Kanban, and more. There’s no exam on memorisation (or what you can prompt with AI). Instead, the final “exam” is a 6-minute Pecha Kucha on real workplace experiments, layered with personal reflection. Often, the most powerful stories come from failed experiments - they create the richest learning for everyone. 🤝 This format turns participants into case studies for each other. We learn collectively, fast. Hearing peers share what worked - and what didn’t - proves that experiential learning scales. Several participants said the course exceeded their expectations and praised the practical focus and facilitation style. That feedback means a lot. 🙏 I feel deep gratitude, too. After intense workdays, I still choose to run these evening cohorts. Why? My own student experiences were often traumatic - and I want to prove it can be done differently. That’s why the course is deliberately practical, interactive, and humane: visual content, frequent breaks, Liberating Structures, TBR practices, and space to think and breathe. 📅 What’s next? The 8th cohort is sold out and starts next week. A few spots remain for cohorts starting 4 March and 1 April 👉 https://lnkd.in/dccQ_Jgg Use EU study financing. Invest in yourself - #agility isn’t optional anymore.

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"We need better requirements" is almost always the wrong diagnosis. You don't need better documents. You need better examples. Specification by Example transforms fuzzy requirements into concrete, testable scenarios. Not through more meetings or longer specification documents. Through examples that everyone (business, development, testing) can read, understand, and verify. "The system should handle invalid inputs gracefully" tells you nothing. "When a user enters a date in the future, the system displays 'Appointment date cannot be in the future' and keeps the form open" tells you exactly what to build and exactly how to verify it. The difference isn't just clarity. It's executable documentation. Those examples become automated tests. The tests become the single source of truth for what the system does. When the code changes, the examples either pass or fail. No interpretation required. AI accelerates this even further. Voice-driven SBE sessions can turn refinement conversations into crisp specifications in real-time. AI can check whether slices meet INVEST criteria. Expand examples with edge cases. Highlight hidden assumptions. Challenge vague statements. But AI doesn't replace the conversation. It amplifies it. The organizations that consistently deliver what customers actually want aren't better at writing requirements. They're better at discovering concrete examples through conversation. What percentage of your bugs come from requirements misunderstandings versus coding errors? #SpecificationByExample #ATDD #Requirements

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AI is forcing a useful reckoning in the world, and the field of coaching is not exempt. Information is definitely not scarce, but quality sense-making under pressure still is. Alignment, trust, conflict, accountability, and decision-making in real time can’t be outsourced to an algorithm. When organisations ask for “team coaching,” they may not even be sure what it is, but they're often signalling less about performance techniques and more about their struggle to work relationally in complexity. If your particularly interested in the recurring patterns we as team coaches are seeing that may help explain the need for sustained investment in team coaching and what that means for how we position ourselves, contract, and intervene, join the conversation. Looking forward to a rich, practitioner-level conversation with Damian Goldvarg, Ph.D., MCC, CSP, ESIA, ACTC, Inga Bielinska, MCC, ESIA, EIA, ITCA, ACTC, MA and colleagues.

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…a clip from our video: Lead the Room: Essential Facilitation Skills for Managers - if you want the full video just DM, thanks Alan

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BPMN is like giving directions to a friend Imagine this: You’re giving your friend directions to your house. Option A: You send a long text full of steps, turns, landmarks, and “oh, and don’t miss the part where the road splits.” Option B: You send a simple map (Share Location) Which one helps them get there faster and without calling you five times? Exactly. BPMN 2.0 is the map. Traditional explanations are the long text messages. When teams don’t use BPMN, instructions get misunderstood, extra steps appear out of nowhere, and responsibilities get lost. But with BPMN 2.0, everyone sees the same map, follows the same path, and reaches the same destination. https://lnkd.in/gDQ-d2Zm

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🐘 The Elephant and the Rider: A Powerful Analogy for Agile Transformation In the world of Agile transformations, we often talk about frameworks, tools, sprints, and metrics. But behind every successful Agile journey lies something deeper—human behavior and mindset. That’s where the Elephant and the Rider analogy, popularized by psychologist Jonathan Haidt, becomes incredibly relevant. --- 🧠 The Rider = Rational Mind The Rider represents our logical, planning self. It’s the part of us that sets goals, reads books, and makes roadmaps. In Agile, the Rider is the team member who understands the Scrum Guide, builds Jira dashboards, and attends retrospectives with a list of ideas. But there’s a catch: the Rider has limited strength. If there’s a conflict between logic and emotion, emotion usually wins. --- 🐘 The Elephant = Emotional Mind The Elephant is our emotional, instinctive self—our habits, fear of change, comfort zones, and resistance to ambiguity. In Agile, the Elephant shows up as: “We’ve always done it this way.” “Daily standups feel pointless.” “Why do we need retros every two weeks?” “This Agile thing is just more meetings.” No matter how smart or experienced the Rider is, if the Elephant isn't on board, change won’t stick. --- 🌴 The Path = The Environment Even if the Rider has a vision and the Elephant is willing, the journey will still be tough without a clear Path. The Path includes your organizational culture, leadership support, tooling, onboarding, and psychological safety. A messy path can frustrate both the Rider and the Elephant. --- 🧭 So, What Does This Mean for Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, and Leaders? 1. Speak to both minds. Appeal to the Rider with logic: show metrics, explain why Agile works. But engage the Elephant with emotion: celebrate wins, show empathy, share stories of positive change. 2. Shape the path. Remove friction. Make it easier to do the right thing. Provide training, create visibility, and encourage peer support. Environment matters. 3. Lead with empathy. Resistance to Agile is often fear in disguise. Listen first. Understand where the Elephant is scared—and reassure it. --- 💡 Final Thought Agile isn’t just about delivering value faster—it’s about changing how people think, feel, and act in complex environments. That’s not a process change; it’s a human one. So the next time your team struggles with adoption, ask yourself: > “Am I just talking to the Rider? Or am I guiding the Elephant too?” Because when both move together—change becomes not only possible, but inevitable. #Agile #Scrum #AgileTransformation #Leadership #ChangeManagement #MindsetShift

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Most collaboration still depends on people, not models. Busy calendars. Personal preferences. Memory. Gut feeling. That’s not a system. That’s roulette. Design can lead the shift — by turning chaos into clarity, people-driven noise into model-driven logic. 🧩 One structured model for design production → invites other departments to align. → exposes how decisions are made. → shows how work gets done. This isn’t about claiming ownership. It’s about maturing the org — one model at a time. Start with design. Make your process visible. Let others follow.

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The richest ideas grow offline. At Palianka, we believe inspiration lives in the real world. Last week, I visited the poster exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and it reminded me of the power of analog input. Dozens of posters, each exploring a different idea in a unique visual language. As a Product Designer, I left seeing things from fresh perspectives. Sure, there are Behance, Awwwards, and Dribbble (though it’s an eye candy these days). But they don’t replace texture, scale, silence, conversation, or history. Here’s where I often find my spark: • Exhibitions & museums • Nature & travel • Paper books • Talks & meetups • Sleep & long walks ✨ But here’s the key: don’t look at it – observe. To truly absorb something beautiful – a poster, a shape, a shadow on the wall – pause and reflect. Ask: Why does this work? What makes it bold, emotional, and alive? Zoom into the details: colors, textures, type choices, proportions, contrast. Don’t just label them as “nice,” but notice what makes them meaningful. That’s how your internal design library evolves, and that’s what fuels original thinking. Great design isn’t accidental. The best ideas are built on a thousand conscious decisions, and the more you notice, the better you become. #DesignInspiration #ProductDesign #Creativity #UX #PaliankaStudio #DesignMindset #OpenMindedDesign

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After my talk on using peaceful abiding meditation as a self-mastery tool at Badass Agile Coaching Days yesterday, I noticed something interesting in the feedback notes: several of them mentioned or alluded to an existing meditation practice. I know I'm certainly not the only agile coach who uses some kind of meditation practice, but the LinkedIn groups for that sort of thing are retirement homes for crickets and tumbleweeds. I'm also on a leadership coaching mailing list that, in my mind, clearly builds on meditative awareness. Frankly, anybody whose job performance requires leading people with wisdom and judgement moment by moment will perform better by cultivating mindfulness-awareness! So why is there so little explicit talking about how to meditate and exactly how the fruits of the practice are helpful in the workplace? It seems to be a bit hidden and out of sight, as another note said: meditation can seem out of reach. I have a guess: it's that the practice comes from a religion, which creates concern about creating awkward situations in the workplace and/or questions about what it means to pick up a religious practice. The secular mindfulness movement is one response, of course. But as many critics like Ron Purser have pointed out, the corporate "mindfulness movement" can in practice become less transformational and more coping mechanism for a toxic environment, and it is often unclear what technique is being taught (and so also whether it has been tested). And even then, I've seen MBSR critiqued as religious because to become an MBSR teacher you have to have attended Buddhist training. I decided to give my talk 'straight' - as I would to someone seeking meditation instruction at a Buddhist meditation center - because it's honest, clear, and agile coaches are actively seeking transformation both internal and external. For agile coaches, the ethical view required for peaceful abiding to arise if you practice the technique is already professional orthodoxy (Theory Y), and we are in the change-making business. We don't aim to merely band-aid our personal stress - we aim to thoroughly make workplaces function better. There is a natural alignment between what agile coaches do and the Buddhist theory of mind that requires no modification of the view or the meditation instructions. Does that make all agile coaches secretly Buddhists? Of course not. To become a Buddhist, you must take refuge. If you have not taken refuge, you are not a Buddhist, no matter how many Buddhist books you have read or whether you use Buddhist meditation techniques. You cannot accidentally become a Buddhist. (Full disclosure: I am one.) As long as you start from Theory Y and practice the technique consistently, your mind will change in predictable ways no matter what religions you practice or don't practice. If you also have a meditation practice, I'd love to talk out loud about using it professionally in the comments! 🧘

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IKIGAI PODCAST: "How Ikigai Leads to a Life of Personal Excellence" I’m thrilled to share the latest episode of The Ikigai Podcast, featuring an intimate and insightful conversation with Andriana Ubunuki - Kalfa Ubunuki‑Kalfa. Andriana is an Executive & High-Performance Coach for Leaders and Athletes—a coach to sports coaches, helping amateurs turn professional and even guiding an Olympian to achieve gold. In this episode, Andriana brings a unique blend of Japanese and Greek heritage to her coaching philosophy and shares how her cultural background shapes her approach to personal and professional development. Discover how her time studying in Japan informed her mindset, and how she now supports individuals and businesses in tourism, exports, trade, and investment through her consulting services. Podcast Highlights: - Several touching stories of her personal ikigai - The interplay of her Japanese and Greek roots—and how that fusion enriches her perspective - Key learnings from studying in Japan, and how they translate to coaching - Navigating cross-cultural dynamics in consulting for businesses operating between Japan and beyond - The spark that ignited her fascination with ikigai, and how it fuels her work today This episode is full of ikigai, one truly worth listening to.  https://lnkd.in/gGcgHeU7

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A question that naturally came up when we were working with UNIQA was: “Where did this number come from?” It sounds simple, right? But answering that question meant talking to five different people, checking three systems, and digging through outdated documentation. When people can't easily trace where their data comes from, they stop trusting it. It becomes a black box, and if the answer doesn't feel right, there's no easy way to verify it. So they stop using it. Or they build their own versions. That was part of the challenge at UNIQA. Data flowed through multiple systems, transformations happened at different stages, and there wasn’t a clear way for business users to understand the journey from source to dashboard. One of the most impactful things we did was implement Microsoft Purview to make metadata and lineage visible across the organization. Not just for data engineers, but for everyone. Business users could see where their metrics came from, what transformations had been applied, and who owned each step. The impact was deeply human - it rebuilt confidence. People started asking better questions. Instead of “Can we trust this?” they asked “Why did this change?” and could actually find the answer. That shift from avoidance to curiosity unlocked the 70% increase in business engagement we saw. Lineage and metadata are often treated as nice-to-haves. But they're foundational. You can have perfect data quality, but if people don't understand where it came from, they won't trust it. And without trust, none of the rest matters. 

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Scrum is more than a framework. It’s an adaptable methodology inspired by nature itself, guiding projects in dynamic environments. #TheScrumWhisperer #ScrumMaster #Sustainability https://lnkd.in/dvCeqVYj

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Whenever I start working with a new client helping them to build trust on their global team, I always do this thing. I ask them one question. It may seem simple and maybe even too basic to make any difference. And people may feel surprised when they hear it. The question is: ‘What do you know about that person?’ It means they have to reflect on what they know about their new business partner, colleague, or teammate. Any idea what they may answer? If they work in tech, they’re very likely to start with the job title and their technical expertise. They may remember how long they’ve been on this team or with this company. This information matters. There’s no doubt. Yet it’s all about the professional life of the person in question. And we take the next step and try to learn about them as people, beyond their roles. Why? Because you can’t build trust without this. You need to lay a solid foundation for trust across different cultures. You just have to know the person if their trust matters to you. If you want it to last, you have to work on it. 🔔Follow me for more insights. __________ I’m Oksana. I help tech leaders become trusted global partners by strengthening their cultural intelligence and the way they collaborate across cultures.

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