Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: CTO Series

Episode: Scaling Engineering Teams and Aligning Tech with Business Goals with Toni Sallanmaa
Host: Vasco Duarte
Guest: Toni Sallanmaa, CTO at Funidata
Date: September 6, 2025

Overview

This episode of the CTO Series features an in-depth conversation between agile coach Vasco Duarte and Toni Sallanmaa, CTO at Funidata, which develops SISU—a major student information system for Finnish universities. They explore the practical realities and evolving strategies behind scaling engineering teams, aligning technology with business objectives, adopting domain-driven design, building shared language, and navigating the transformative rise of AI. Toni shares candid lessons learned from rapid organizational growth and provides actionable insights for CTOs, engineering leaders, and agile practitioners alike.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Leadership Journey & Pivotal Moments

• Influence of Early Senior Roles
  • Toni attributes much of his leadership perspective to transitioning into roles with real technical decision-making power:
    • “That was the thing where it became really concrete that as an agile team, we are responsible for our product, its life cycle, its users, its data security—everything.” (02:33–03:40)
• The Need for Infinite Curiosity
  • Success in engineering leadership, according to Toni, hinges on an “infinite curiosity” for both technical and business domains:
    • “Technology is fine on its own, but still it's not fulfilling enough without the actual users in it.” (03:58–04:57)

2. Aligning Tech with Business Strategy

• Integration, Not Silos
  • At Funidata, deliberate steps are taken to avoid separating tech, engineering, and product functions:
    • “The most critical thing is to have on all levels of your organization that you do not have a strict separation of technology and engineering and the product development or product related functions.” (05:40–08:17)
• Evolving Roadmaps with Agility
  • Roadmaps are designed to be adaptable: “You do not set your roadmaps so that it chains you...you need to stay agile.” (05:40–08:17)

3. Building a Shared Language: Domain-Driven Design

• Establishing Common Understanding
  • Funidata adopted a domain-driven design (DDD) approach to resolve confusion between tech staff and domain experts:
    • “We have established a common language...We spent a lot of time making sure that we use the common terms.” (08:51–10:29)
    • Banning ambiguous terms from discussions fosters clarity and consistency.
  • Continuous Evolution
    • “Workshopping and having entities that do not have a name...we keep it intentionally vague until it clicks.” (11:14–12:07)
  • Reflecting the Shared Language in Code
    • “Our software is using the same terms as well. So the code speaks the same language as well.” (11:14–12:07)
• Recommended Resource
  • “Domain Driven Design by Martin Fowler is the book that I started with this.” (13:13)

4. Organization-Wide Collaboration: Transparency & Planning

• Transparency Over Top-Down Control
  • Clear, open communication is prioritized: “We try to make it so that everyone here knows on surface level what everyone else is.” (14:39–16:51)
• Big Room Planning & Marketplace of Goals
  • Each quarter, the entire product development organization (approx. 60 people) participates in planning sessions modeled after SAFe Increment Planning, but designed to remain flexible and avoid waterfall rigidity:
    • “There's a marketplace of goals...Every team goes through the goals, they need to see everything...” (17:12–19:12)
    • Teams select and negotiate goals, report high-level plans to each other—not just to leadership, emphasizing a “community” mentality: “We are in this together, where we are either succeeding together or we are not.” (19:54–21:12)
• Leadership’s Role
  • Focus on aligning goals with strategy; stay out of implementation details:
    • “We make sure that the goals...align with what we need to get done and we try to stay out of the way on how it gets done.” (20:40)

5. Balancing Long-Term Vision and Short-Term Agility

• Continuous Dialog on Technology Trends
  • Ongoing conversations about the future (e.g., AI innovations) inform evolving goals:
    • “We do, of course, have an internal roadmap of higher level things.” (22:36–23:58)
  • Hackathons as Exploratory Mechanism
    • Funidata hosts internal hackathons to experiment with new ideas and surface priorities for the roadmap. (22:36–24:17)

6. Scaling Pains: Lessons from Rapid Growth

• Maintaining Culture During Expansion
  • Rapid headcount growth nearly doubled the team size for two years running, forcing major process and cultural adjustments:
    • “The biggest challenge is not technological in nature. It's probably the rapid scaling of organizations or teams.” (24:46–25:23)
    • “We tried to keep our company culture in the center...Strengthening your company culture is one thing.” (26:05–28:38)
• Involving the Community
  • “Open discussions with the people and going through the things that, why we are doing this change, what's the goal here and what do you think?” (26:05–28:38)
  • Process improvements were often directed by those closest to the day-to-day work.

7. Navigating the Rise of AI in Software Development

• Opportunities and Cautions
  • AI aids productivity (e.g., generating test data), but robust code review and security remain essential:
    • “Productivity is on the rise, of course...But then of course we have strict requirements for our cybersecurity and data safety.” (29:37–31:26)
    • On developer satisfaction: “At least my personal satisfaction goes down a bit when I can't go code the ingenious solution I've dreamed up when I use these things. But that's a personal problem, not exactly a business problem.” (29:37–31:26)
• AI Policy
  • Toni stresses the need for a clear AI policy to ensure safe development practices:
    • “Every company doing development where there's AI involved, comprehensive AI policy should be something you need to work on if you do not already have that.” (32:52–33:20)

8. Measuring Success: KPIs & Team Wellbeing

• DORA and SPACE Frameworks
  • “We do use DORA and Space framework. So we measure how often we deploy, how much problems do we have, and all those things from Space.” (33:39–35:16)
• Prioritizing Team Health
  • “The wellbeing of people in those software teams is a key factor for us as well.” (33:39–35:16)
• Tracking “Keeping the Lights On” vs. Elective Work
  • JIRA labels and data warehousing inform leadership and teams about time spent on maintenance vs. value-adding work:
    • “We try to use our JIRA data to find out these numbers...we mine up quite a lot of things from that data to help our organization, but also help our teams and product owners see where the time is being used.” (35:47–36:24)

9. Influential Books

• On Organization & Leadership:
  • Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais: “One book that really influenced my thinking on how to organize our teams and how to organize a product development organization was Team Topologies.” (36:33–37:16)
  • Radical Candor by Kim Scott: “The other is on leadership...and how to give honest feedback and get results through that.” (36:33–37:16)
• On Technical Foundations:
  • Domain Driven Design by Martin Fowler (13:13)

Memorable Quotes

• “If I would need to pick one attribute to having a person in a position like this, I would pick out infinite curiosity. Since there is so much to learn.”
  — Toni Sallanmaa (04:01)

• “We all speak the same language and we try to make sure that we have really, really open communications...we discourage using DMs to do stuff like product development decisions. So it's opt-in transparency.”
  — Toni Sallanmaa (09:30–09:56)

• “Everyone is in this together and we try to solve our problems together.”
  — Toni Sallanmaa (19:54–20:30)

• “Changes that come out of nowhere and do not have a basis on strategy or whatever, those are the worst kind of things you can do.”
  — Toni Sallanmaa (28:58)

• “Comprehensive AI policy should be something you need to work on if you do not already have that. Lay the ground rules on what you can do, what you can't do. It's easier for everyone when there are actual guidelines.”
  — Toni Sallanmaa (32:52–33:20)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Topic/Quote | |-------------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | 02:33 | Toni on pivotal leadership moment | | 03:58 | “Infinite curiosity” as essential attribute | | 05:40 | Integration of tech, product, and business | | 08:51 | Establishing common language, DDD approach | | 14:39 | Transparency and agile collaboration | | 17:12 | Marketplace of goals & big room planning | | 19:54 | “Everyone is in this together...” teamwork ethos | | 22:36 | Balancing long-term direction with day-to-day agility | | 24:46 | Scaling challenges in growth phases | | 29:37 | Perspective on AI in development | | 32:52 | Importance of a comprehensive AI policy | | 33:39 | Measuring success: DORA, SPACE, and team well-being | | 36:33 | Most influential organizational/leadership books |

Conclusion

This episode is a rich, practical exploration of what it takes to scale engineering teams, foster collaboration across business and tech, and cultivate a culture where agility, transparency, and clarity thrive—even amidst rapid growth and technological change. Toni Sallanmaa’s actionable insights and candid reflections make this a must-listen for CTOs, agile practitioners, and anyone navigating the intersection of technology and business in today’s organizations.

Learn More:

• Funidata on LinkedIn
• Connect with Toni on LinkedIn