The Power of Constructive Feedback in Building Trust in Agile Teams | Carmen Jurado

Summary

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile Storytelling from the Trenches

Episode: The Power of Constructive Feedback in Building Trust in Agile Teams | Carmen Jurado

Release Date: May 1, 2025
Host: Vasco Duarte, Agile Coach, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Product Owner

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, host Vasco Duarte engages in a deep and insightful conversation with Carmen Guerra Jurado, an experienced Scrum Master and Agile Coach. The discussion centers around the pivotal role of constructive feedback in fostering trust within Agile teams, highlighting practical strategies and real-world experiences that Scrum Masters can employ to enhance team dynamics and performance.

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Favorite Retrospective Formats

Carmen begins by sharing her innovative approach to retrospectives, emphasizing the importance of making these sessions engaging and effective. She introduces her personalized retrospective format, Golden Apples, which she developed based on her passion for gamification and inspired by Greek mythology during her time in Crete.

Golden Apples Retro Highlights:

• Interactive Gameplay: Incorporates elements like quizzes, Lego building, and rock-paper-scissors to make retrospectives more engaging.
• Team Dynamics: Utilizes pawns that can be played individually or in pairs, fostering collaboration and open communication.
• Thematic Inspiration: Encourages creativity by aligning retrospectives with themes from popular culture, such as the Disney movie Encanto, where team members reflect on their strengths and contributions using character analogies.

"You could do it in such a fun way. So I would say, like, just gamify your retro."
— Carmen Guerra Jurado [03:51]

Carmen also acknowledges the effectiveness of themed retrospectives pioneered by peers like Chris Stone, underscoring the value of varying retrospective formats to maintain team interest and engagement.

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Defining Success as a Scrum Master

The conversation shifts to understanding what success means for Scrum Masters. Carmen articulates her perspective, emphasizing the creation of an environment where team members feel safe to express vulnerabilities and provide honest feedback.

"Success for me as a Scrum Master is when your team allows itself to be vulnerable. It's feeling safe enough to talk to each other when things went wrong."
— Carmen Guerra Jurado [04:36]

She elaborates that true success involves more than just positive reinforcement; it requires fostering a culture where constructive criticism is welcomed and utilized to drive continuous improvement.

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Building Trust Through Constructive Feedback

Carmen recounts a pivotal experience with a previous team member, Mike, whose mistake led to significant project delays. Instead of defaulting to traditional conflict resolution methods, Carmen opted for an open team discussion, facilitating a space where Mike could acknowledge his error and the team could collaboratively address the issue.

Key Takeaways from the Mike Incident:

• Encouraging Accountability: The team's collective responsibility was highlighted, shifting the focus from individual blame to team collaboration.
• Fostering Open Communication: Allowing Mike to admit his mistake without fear of retribution paved the way for honest dialogue.
• Strengthening Team Trust: This approach not only resolved the immediate issue but also reinforced trust and accountability within the team.

"With some probing and some tiny little pushes, Mike did feel safe enough to admit to his mistake. And the team provided constructive feedback, which they hadn't really done before."
— Carmen Guerra Jurado [06:48]

Fran, another co-host, underscores the importance of facilitating such conversations carefully to ensure they lead to positive outcomes rather than escalating conflicts.

"Don't go into these conversations unless you are ready to facilitate a difficult conversation. Because this, of course, can turn ugly as well."
— Fran [07:57]

Carmen agrees, stressing the necessity of establishing clear agreements within the team to maintain a respectful and productive dialogue.

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Challenges in Hybrid Work Environments

The discussion also touches upon the evolving challenges Scrum Masters face in hybrid or remote work settings. Carmen observes that building trust and facilitating open communication has become more complex without the ease of in-person interactions.

"With the whole hybrid working, it does take longer for new teams to like, bond and like, feel safe to have those kind of conversations."
— Carmen Guerra Jurado [09:05]

She highlights the need for intentional efforts to build connections virtually, such as setting clear agreements and fostering a safe environment for honest discussions.

"Once you get that bond, you can really feel this freedom and safety of having those tough but honest conversations."
— Carmen Guerra Jurado [09:05]

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Final Thoughts

Carmen concludes by reaffirming the critical role of Scrum Masters in nurturing a culture of trust and constructive feedback. She emphasizes that while the transition to hybrid work poses new challenges, the foundational principles of Agile—communication, accountability, and continuous improvement—remain more important than ever.

"That's when you know you've created this successful team."
— Carmen Guerra Jurado [10:45]

Fran echoes this sentiment, highlighting the enduring responsibility of Scrum Masters to foster strong team bonds regardless of the working environment.

"We need to be there helping the team create those bonds, whether it's hybrid or remote or in, in person, it doesn't matter."
— Fran [10:46]

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Conclusion

This episode serves as a valuable resource for Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches aiming to enhance team trust and effectiveness through constructive feedback. Carmen Jurado's experiences and strategies provide actionable insights into creating an environment where teams can thrive, communicate openly, and continuously improve. By embracing innovative retrospective formats and prioritizing trust-building, Scrum Masters can significantly impact their team's success and Agile journey.

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Notable Quotes:

• "Gamify your retro." — Carmen Guerra Jurado [03:54]
• "Success for me as a Scrum Master is when your team allows itself to be vulnerable." — Carmen Guerra Jurado [04:36]
• "Once you get that bond, you can really feel this freedom and safety of having those tough but honest conversations." — Carmen Guerra Jurado [09:05]

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Stay tuned to the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast for more inspiring conversations and actionable advice to elevate your Agile practices.

Transcript

[Vasco]

Have you ever wondered what it really takes to make Agile work well? At the Global Agile Summit, we're bringing you real life first person stories of Agile succeeding out there in the real world that will inspire you to take action. Whether you're a leader, a product innovator, a developer, you'll hear practical insights from those who've done it. They'll be telling their own stories from the stage. I'll tell you more about this at the end of this episode. So stay back and listen to the full detailed description of what we have in store for you at the Global Agile Summit. But if you can't wait, you can go right now to globalagilesummit.com and check out our full schedule for now onto the episode. But I'll see you at the end of this episode with more details on the Global Agile Summit. Talk to you soon. Hello everybody.

[Fran]

Welcome to our Thursday success. Thursday that is. And this week we have with us Carmen Guerra Jurado. Hey Carmen, welcome back.

[Carmen Guerra Jurado]

Hi Vasco. Thank you for having me.

[Fran]

So Thursday is of course Thursday Success Thursday, but it is also Retro Thursday. So before we talk about success for us as Scrum Masters, Carmen, share with us your favorite retrospective format and why that is.

[Carmen Guerra Jurado]

I feel that's such a difficult question. It's like asking my favorite book or my favorite movie and I'm just gonna do some little, just a little bit of self promotion and I would have to say like I the the retro I developed which is it's a board game and I called it Golden Apples and it's kind of basically based on Greek mythology and I was inspired when I was in Holiday in Crete and you have the pawns and they can be played individually or in pairs and it kind of incorporates feedback questions about the team members and the team as well as questions about recently completed sprints. I like gamifications so it also includes like quizzes and building something out of Lego and Rock paper scissors and I've played it a couple of times with, with the team and, and they've really enjoyed it. Takes up to like an hour, hour and a half because it is like a board game but so I usually reserve it for the more festive times of the year. But yeah, I would say that one I also really enjoy like creating retrospectives based on existing concepts like movies or themes. And for example you can see so many cool ones like Chris Stone, he really shares awesome retros on LinkedIn. And I had the same thing. I saw the Disney movie Encanto and I was obsessed with It And I kind of created a retro based on the characters and their abilities. So, like, what was it again? It was Luisa, which was the strong one. And you know what's something that really gave us strength during this last sprint? Like, something like that. I really feel that you can be so creative when making the retros. And just by changing it up, it really helps maintain this engagement and interest with the team. And obviously, you still focus on the core concept of retrospectives, which is like reviewing what went well, identifying learning opportunities, determining actionable steps to enhance the next sprint. But you could do it in such a fun way. So I would say, like, just gamify your retro.

[Fran]

Yeah, Invest in fun.

[Vasco]

Gamify your retro.

[Fran]

And do you have that Golden Apples retro described somewhere that we could link to?

[Carmen Guerra Jurado]

Oh, I think. I think I might have it because I developed it when I was working as a consultant and I think I wrote a blog about it. I'll look into it. Okay, I'll let you know the link.

[Fran]

Yeah, everybody check out the show notes. The link will be there should it exist for you to learn more about the Golden Apples retrospective. Talking about Golden Apples, of course. We want to understand what you think think success means for us as Scrum Masters. So, Carmen, what is success for you as a Scrum Master?

[Carmen Guerra Jurado]

Yeah, so I think success for me as a Scrum Master is when you're. I think it's when your team allows itself to be vulnerable. Right. It's. It's not about just giving, like, positive feedbacks, although that in and of itself is quite rare in a lot of companies. But it's also feeling safe enough to talk to each other when things went wrong or when a team member was disappointed with someone else. And just to give you an example, in one of my previous teams, we had a situation where a team member, let's just call him Mike, just to think of a name. He made a mistake, which caused quite a big delay in our project, and he said he was going to do something, and then in the end, he didn't. And I had other team members come to me and complain about Mike and kind of looking to me or at me to fix it, which I'm sure a lot of Scrum Masters will recognize. Right. It's a familiar happening to Scrum Masters. Like, you're the Scrum Master. You go fix it. But instead of either ignoring it or me swooping in as the hero of the day and talking to Mike and fixing it, we kind of had an open discussion with the whole team. And with some probing and some probing and some tiny little pushes. For me, Mike did feel safe enough to admit to his mistake. And the team, like, provided constructive feedback, which, honestly, they hadn't really done before that. And the moment they started doing that, I can distinctly remember, I got, like, goosebumps. Like, the hairs on my arms went up because it was a very vulnerable moment. But, yeah, that. That really, like, opened the floodgates, and it helped us not only address that issue, but it kind of strengthened our trust in each other. And after that, I didn't get any more team members coming to me complaining about other team members, so they just went to each other, and that really made such a big difference.

[Fran]

So I think this story is a great example of how slowly introducing these ideas of being open with each other can then have a huge impact. And I'm thinking about this specific kind of situation that you described that the team members came to you to complain about Mike, and instead of saying, yeah, okay, I'll fix it, you said, no, let's have a conversation.

[Carmen Guerra Jurado]

Yeah.

[Fran]

And of course, it takes effort and it takes facilitation to have this conversation without having Mike explode or hide under the table or whatever their reaction might be, because it's not easy to be in that position, that Mike was right because you are responsible for what just happened. But if we facilitate it properly, then it's possible for the whole team to grow, not only Mike. Mike learned a lot, I'm sure, and will never make the same mistake again. But the whole team learned also how to address that, how to contribute something back to Mike, despite the problems that they were facing at the time.

[Carmen Guerra Jurado]

Definitely. And I think they all realized that it was in the end, yes, it was something that Mike, you know, neglected to do and that had effect on our project. But it's a team effort. So by also just, you know, holding each other accountable for any agreements you made or the work you made, it was not, in the end, technically, it was Mike's fault, but I feel physically, like, in theory, theoretically, it was Mike's fault, but I don't feel it was actually Mike's fault. I feel it was a team effort that we had a delay in that project because the team could have, you know, discussed it with each other before that. And just having those hard and uncomfortable conversations, I feel are really the success in good performing teams or high performance.

[Fran]

I do want to say, I do want to give everybody, with a caveat, that don't go into these conversations unless you are ready to facilitate a difficult conversation. Because this, of course, can turn ugly as well.

[Carmen Guerra Jurado]

Absolutely, absolutely. I think you need to set some really good. I don't want to say boundaries, but more like agreements up with the team. Like things we're discussing here. Stay inside the room. We are not going to blab it to other people outside of the room. You know, basically the prime directive of every retrospective. Right. We feel that the knowledge and the, and like we acted with the knowledge that we had at the time. We're not going to point any fingers toward each other. And I do feel like it feels like it's been 20 years. But before COVID which has only been like five years, it was easier to build that kind of connection because everyone went to the office and you saw each other face to face. And now this is my opinion. I don't know if you have the same experience, but I feel like with the whole hybrid working, it does take longer for new teams to like, bond and like, feel safe to have those kind of conversations. Because, you know, we're having this conversation online. But in the meantime, I could, I could be writing an email or, you know, someone is chatting me and I, I look away because of the. It's, it's, it takes longer and it takes also more active work to build that bond in this hybrid world that we live in now. But I do feel that once you get that bond, you can really feel, you can really feel this freedom and safety of having those tough but honest conversations. And that's when you know you've created this successful team.

[Vasco]

And I think you said it right.

[Fran]

Like we need to be there helping the team create those bonds, whether it's hybrid or remote or in, in person, it doesn't matter. That's what we need to do and that's what we need to get really good at. Thank you for sharing that, Carmen.

[Carmen Guerra Jurado]

You're welcome.

[Vasco]

Hey Fran, thank you for staying here. Is all you need to know about the Global Agile Summit. If you've ever suffered or know people who are suffering from Agile fatigue, this event is for you. Agile fatigue is that feeling that settles in when we can't really see a light at the end of the tunnel. We get discouraged. Especially when conversations revolve around the same old frameworks, the same old buzzwords and theories. We don't feel that energy anymore. Well, the Global Agile Summit is a different kind of event. We're bringing you real life first person stories of agile succeeding out there in the real world that will inspire you to take action and transform the way you work. The Global Agile Summit will happen In Tallinn, Estonia. May 18th, that's the workshop day. Then 19th and 20th, the conference day. And Tallin Estonia is one of the most innovative tech hubs in Europe. The Global Agile Summit is hosted together with Latitude 59, which is kind of a citywide celebration of software startup, startups and groundbreaking ideas. And we'll have a shared ticket for you to attend those events as well. So who will be speaking? Well, we've got an incredible lineup of thought leaders in software and agile. For example, Clinton Keith, the person who wrote literally wrote the book on game development with Scrum and is busy bringing agile to the world of game development. You must check his session. The very famous and well known Jurgen Apello, author of Management 3.0, will be talking and exploring about AI's impact on leadership. We also have Goiko Adsic, who's taking an unconventional look at product growth with his Lizard Optimization keynote. Other speakers include, for example Sixven Dietz, who's challenging everything we know about software development by ditching, literally ditching contracts and estimates. Can you imagine his teams deliver software before their competitors are even done with the contract negotiation? How agile is that? But there's more. We'll cover engineering practices in our developer track with talks on, for example, AI assisted test driven development, developing products in minutes with a different approach to how we develop, configure, deploy platforms, and much more. We also have a product track where we cover cutting edge ideas around product discovery, delighting customers with product delight frameworks. We'll have a talk about that. And we also have an agile business track where we will talk about, for example, open strategy, a very agile approach to managing organizations and delivering software faster to clients faster than you can even write a contract. Literally. I mean, I already told you about Svendeet's story is amazing. It definitely is a must see. I'm sure you'll be inspired and get a lot of ideas for your own software projects and software delivery. Now, whether you're a business leader, a product innovator or a developer, you'll definitely find value in our three focused tracks. That's Agile Business for those working with businesses and organizations, Agile Product for product managers, product owners and innovators, and Agile developer for the builders making Agile work in practice. The coders, the testers, the designers, the producers, the Scrum masters, you name it. If you join, you will meet over 200 agile professionals from all over the world. People who just like you, want to grow, want to share and want to learn by challenging the ideas that don't work anymore. At the Global Agile Summit, you'll get new connections, fresh ideas and the energy to take your own Agile to the next level. And who knows, maybe even find your next career opportunity. So don't miss out. Check out the full program and grab your ticket [e-mail] I'm really looking forward to seeing you all in Tallinn, Estonia in May.

[Fran]

I'll see you.