Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: BONUS — Building High-Performing Engineering Teams with Jochen Ising

Podcast: Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast
Host: Vasco Duarte
Guest: Jochen Ising (Engineering Leader)
Original Air Date: September 20, 2025

Episode Overview

This bonus episode features Jochen Ising, an engineering leader from Germany with a background in handball and music, sharing his insights on building high-performing engineering teams. The discussion centers on the importance of team dynamics, psychological safety, moving beyond hero culture, and practical tools for fostering trust and collaboration. Jochen weaves together lessons from sports, music, and leadership, offering actionable advice for leaders and teams striving for excellence in engineering environments.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Origins: Lessons from Handball and Band Experience

• Team over Individual: Jochen recounts that in both handball and music, success is not about individual brilliance but about optimizing for the team’s output.

  “As soon as you start to complain about each other, you're starting to lose.”
  — Jochen Ising, [03:15]

• Building Culture: Sports taught him the dangers of internal blame and the importance of psychological safety (ability to share concerns without fear).
• 10x Engineer Myth:

  “You can be as good as you want. If the team doesn't play well with you… you're not really getting the most out of your company and your team.”
  — Jochen Ising, [05:15]

The Hero Culture: Recognizing and Redirecting

• Problem with Celebrating “Heroes”
  • Companies often reward individuals who step in to resolve crises (the "firefighters"). While their efforts should be appreciated, this can hide systemic issues.
• Vasco’s Reflection:

  “Thanking them does not mean celebrating them. Thanking them means, I'm really sorry you had to do this. This should not happen.”
  — Vasco Duarte, [11:36]

• Team Failure, Not Individual Success: The need for a hero is a symptom that the team and system failed to support continuous, sustainable progress.

Psychological Safety and Non-Authoritarian Leadership

• Creating Space for Ideas & Questions:
  Jochen stresses the need to “read the team” and break down barriers for open discussion, especially for junior members who may fear embarrassment.
  • Leading by Example: He sometimes purposely asks “ignorant” questions to model vulnerability and normalize not knowing ([15:50]).
  • Ritualized Dissent: Assigning someone to deliberately challenge group decisions to counteract groupthink ([20:53]).
  • Value of Disagreement:

    “You should always start with the simpler, faster, and less risky solution … if it isn’t enough, you will have so much more information and then you can build on it.”
    — Vasco Duarte, [22:19]

  • Harmony vs. Challenge: Too much harmony can lead to unchallenged, risky decisions. Teams should deliberately seek input and critique.

Tools & Techniques for Trust and Alignment

• Expectation Sheet
  • A transparent, living document clarifying mutual expectations and communication norms. Jochen uses this tool to foster personal relationships with direct reports and encourage openness:

    “I want to offer that I share my thoughts, my observations as open and honest, but at the same time, of course, respectful as possible, always with the intention that we help each other.”
    — Jochen Ising, [25:17]

  • Manager as Supporter, Not Commander:

    “You present yourself and you're like a supporter of the other person. You're like their coach, like you're helping them, right?”
    — Jochen Ising, [28:32]

  • Openness about leaving:

    “If the person eventually says, ‘Hey, I'm done with this company…’, I would also help them to get out and I would help them to find a new job because I think this is the balance you have to strike as a manager.”
    — Jochen Ising, [30:42]

Aligning Around Team vs. Individual Goals

• Tailoring to Individual Needs: Recognize different motivations—some want to prove themselves individually, others excel in collaborative efforts.

• High-Level Engineers as Multipliers: The role of a senior engineer is to “form tribes”—share knowledge across boundaries and ensure no single point of failure ([37:30]).

• Embedding Shared Responsibility:
  Techniques include:

  • Planning Poker: Building shared understanding ([42:10])
  • On-Call Rotations: Uncovering skill silos and encouraging cross-training
  • Pair/Mob Programming: Ensuring multiple contributors and perspectives on every decision and implementation

• Detaching Ego from Ideas:

  “It’s just an idea … not putting your ego so much into the equation, but much more thinking about the product itself or the solution itself.”
  — Jochen Ising, [45:15]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On psychological safety:

  “If there is a lack of psychological safety, I sometimes make, I try to make rather ignorant questions. I try to expose myself as being the least skilled person in the room.”
  — Jochen Ising, [15:47]

• On team decision-making:

  “We agreed in five minutes to implement something and it completely blew up.… I knew there was one person in the room who already did something very similar … I asked him, ‘Can you try for us to destroy our idea?’”
  — Jochen Ising, [17:40]

• On culture & leadership:

  “The culture is a combination of how you as a manager communicate your values and what you want from the teams; that you really consider the team as the unit of delivery and not the individual.”
  — Jochen Ising, [36:35]

• On humility and openness:

  “Even if the person says, … ‘I'm done with this company, I can't stand to stay here anymore,’ I would also help them to get out and I would help them to find a new job.”
  — Jochen Ising, [30:42]

Recommended Resources

• The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle
  On building high-performing teams and the role of leadership ([46:29])
• The Product Development Flow by Donald G. Reinertsen
  A fundamental book on the science behind Agile and Lean approaches ([47:19])
• The Culture Map
  On understanding and combining different cultural perspectives in a team ([48:06])
• Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins
  Key concepts in agile coaching ([48:31])
• Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast
  As endorsed by Jochen: “They’re extremely good source and I don’t just make a joke here … I actually really enjoyed listening to your podcasts in the past.” ([49:28])

Important Segment Timestamps

• 01:20: Introduction of Jochen Ising and his team-building philosophy
• 02:20 – 06:58: Lessons from sports and music; 10x engineers and team dynamics
• 07:37 – 14:31: The dangers of hero/fighter culture; celebrating teams over individuals
• 15:20 – 23:25: Building psychological safety; ritualized dissent; simplicity over complexity
• 24:44 – 35:02: The “expectation sheet” for trust and openness; manager’s role as a supporter
• 35:51 – 41:31: Aligning individual and team goals; cultivating shared responsibility among senior engineers
• 42:03 – 46:05: Practical tools for alignment: planning poker, on-call rotations, pair programming, detaching ego
• 46:29 – 49:58: Jochen’s recommended reading/resources

Flow and Tone

The conversation is earnest, practical, and sprinkled with humor and warmth, especially as Jochen ties together analogies from his varied background. Insights are grounded in lived experience, failures as well as successes, with an emphasis on humility, experimentation, and continuous learning. The language is direct and conversational, making the episode accessible and relatable to listeners at all levels of engineering leadership.

Connect with Jochen Ising

• LinkedIn: Jochen Ising

  “There are no other Jochen Isings yet on LinkedIn, so it should be fairly easy to find me.” ([50:24])

This episode is a comprehensive guide for anyone interested in creating environments where engineering teams can truly thrive—beyond individual performance, with a focus on sustainable growth, psychological safety, and authentic collaboration.