Why Solo Scrum Masters Get Fired — The Coalition Of The Willing | Aimé Flemm

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "Why Solo Scrum Masters Get Fired — The Coalition Of The Willing"

Podcast: Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast
Host: Vasco Duarte
Guest: Aimé Flemm (Organizational Design Coach)
Release Date: June 15, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Vasco Duarte interviews Aimé Flemm, an organizational design coach known for helping organizations address systemic barriers to agility. Aimé shares a candid story from his early days as a Scrum Master, detailing his experiences and lessons learned after being fired for "fighting the system" in a large organization. The conversation centers on the dangers of going solo as a change agent, the critical need for building alliances, and practical steps for forming a "coalition of the willing."

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Aimé's Journey into Agile (01:23–03:40)

• Early Exposure to Agile:
  • Aimé credits his father, himself an "agile coach, maybe even a guru," for introducing him to agile concepts as early as age 8 or 9 through hands-on Lego sessions.
• Initial Projects and Natural Progression:
  • His academic path was influenced by these early experiences, including a master thesis in Agile, which directly led into consulting roles focused solely on Agile.

Notable Quote:
“I really rolled into this scene because of my father, who was also a job coach. I remember when I was younger he was preparing this Lego session to explain Scrum to students ... it planted this little seed in the back of my head.” — Aimé (02:18)

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2. Monday Fail: The Painful Story of Going Solo (04:31–07:24)

• First Major Challenge:
  • As an ambitious new Scrum Master, Aimé was responsible for three component teams (UX, backend, frontend) at a large pension fund.
  • He recognized structural issues: disjointed teams working separately with individual backlogs led to ineffectiveness.
• Attempted Change:
  • Inspired by his father’s advice, Aimé pushed to reorganize teams into cross-functional setups.
  • He "pushed and poked people left and right," attempting systemic change in a deeply entrenched organization.
• Result:
  • After three months, he was fired for being too confrontational and disruptive to the status quo.

Notable Quote:
“I was just pushing and poking people left and right and yeah, after the third month of this gig, I get a call, you're fired.” — Aimé (06:31)

Host Reaction:
“Ouch.” — Vasco (06:31)

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3. Reflection and Lessons Learned (07:24–09:04)

• On Being Sidelined:
  • Vasco notes that many Scrum Masters face similar resistance, whether being fired, sidelined, or ignored.
• Key Learning:
  • “Don’t do it alone.” Aimé would now focus on finding and collaborating with other change agents.
  • The concept of the "coalition of the willing": seeking out volunteers and allies among other Scrum Masters and potential supporters, rather than fighting an entire organization solo.

Notable Quote:
“I would not try to do it all by myself. I’d really focus first on finding the, I would call it, the coalition of the willing ... you really need the help of others.” — Aimé (07:58)

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4. Practical Steps: Building a Coalition (09:04–11:25)

• Community Leverage:
  • Utilize existing platforms such as communities of practice—Agile, architecture, or otherwise—as springboards for gathering like-minded volunteers.
  • If none exist, create a community (even simple initiatives like organizing drinks or pizza events can help).
• Strategic Outreach:
  • Use organizational channels such as Scrum Master sync meetings to share observations and gauge interest.
  • Accept that some in the system will resist, but persist in identifying and connecting with supporters.
• Patience is Essential:
  • Building a supportive network is slow, but it's key for sustainable change.

Notable Quote:
“There will always be people that ... will shoot it down because the system is the status quo and we want to protect it, but there will also be people listening ... and then you can create this oil spill of a wider network.” — Aimé (10:33)

Host Reinforcement:
“You need to be patient. Right?” — Vasco (11:25)
“Yes, yes.” — Aimé (11:27)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Childhood Inspiration:
  “He’s stealing my Legos because he was borrowing for me.” — Aimé (03:50)

• Hard Reality:
  “Is this truly how it goes in the world of agile organizations … a Scrum Master who's really ambitious, who thinks he has the mandate to start changing the system … and then before you know it, you get pulled back and even, yeah, pulled out of the system.” — Aimé (06:33)

• Tip for New Scrum Masters:
  “If there's the platform, like communities, use them or create a community. Often in large organizations you have like communities of practice, communities of architecture, communities of agile. Use these. If not there, set them up, create community.” — Aimé (09:39)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Aimé’s Agile Origin Story: 01:23–03:40
• Monday Fail Story: 04:31–07:24
• Reflections & What Would Be Done Differently: 07:24–09:04
• Practical Advice on Building a Coalition: 09:04–11:25
• Closing Advice on Patience: 11:25–11:28

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Takeaways for Scrum Masters

• Systemic change is a team effort: Trying to shift entrenched organizational structures alone is almost always a losing battle.
• Seek allies ("coalition of the willing"): Connect with fellow change agents to amplify influence and effect sustainable change.
• Leverage and/or create communities: Use existing forums, or create your own, to recruit support and share ideas.
• Patience is key: Meaningful transformation takes time—expect gradual progress.

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Aimed at Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches, Aimé Flemm’s story is equal parts cautionary tale and inspiring call to collaboration. The “coalition of the willing” principle stands out as an essential mindset for anyone leading change in complex organizations.

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Transcript

[A]

Hey there, agile adventurer, just a quick question. What if, for the price of a fancy coffee or half a pizza, you could unlock over 700 hours of the best agile content on the planet? That's audio, video, E courses, books, presentations, all that you can think of. But you can also join live calls with world class practitioners and hang out in a flame warfree and AI slop clean slack with the sharpest minds in the game. Oh, and yes, you get direct access to me, Vasko, your Scrum Master Toolbox podcast. No, this is not a drill. It's the Scrum Master Toolbox membership. And it's your unfair advantage in the agile world. So if you want to know more, go check out scrummastertoolbox.org membership. That's scrummastertoolbox.org Membership. And check out all the goodies we have for you. Do it now. But if you're not doing it now, let's listen to the podcast.

[B]

Hello everybody. Welcome to one more week of the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast. And this week, joining us from beautiful Netherlands is Eme Flemme. Hey Eme. Welcome to the show.

[C]

Morning.

[B]

Good morning to our guest, according to his own words, is an organizational design coach. And that intro already makes this week interesting, but it gets even more interesting. And as, as he says, who starts where most agile transformations stop, that's even more interesting. He works at the structural level, redesigning the incentives, reporting lines and systems that either enable or quietly kill agility. And we're all familiar with those. His belief, you can't coach your way out of a broken organizational design. And that last part makes this conversation so interesting. So I'm really excited to dive into that. But before we get into all of the cool and perhaps juicy stories, do share with us, how did you end up becoming a Scrum Master?

[C]

Wow, that takes me back like many, many, many years. Because I would say so the, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree because I really rolled into this scene because of my father, who was also a job coach. I might even call him a guru at times. And yeah, I remember when I was younger that he was preparing this Lego session to explain Scrum to students. And I was maybe 8 at the time, or 9. And he also tried to explain us, but I, I didn't get it. But I think back then it planted this little seed in the back of my head, like I am going, I'm going to do at some time in my life something with this as well. And then, yeah, I think that it stopped. I Didn't really think about it anymore. And then it naturally progressed from starting in my studies, really looking at more of the, these business studies, but already doing my master thesis in the Agile domain and then it really started rolling. And then after the studies I, I got my first job of course, which was at a consulting firm. And then it somehow just stuck with me and I ended up only doing Agile related gigs. So that's really. Yeah, takes me back.

[B]

I can Only imagine your 8 year old self looking at your father playing with Legos and saying, damn it, I want to play with Legos. And I'm an adult as well.

[C]

I was like, he's stealing my Legos because he was borrowing for me.

[B]

Hey dad, give me my Legos back.

[C]

Right?

[B]

So of course when we get started, even if we start from that kind of young age of 8, learning about agile, when we get started, we stumble sometimes. And many of us would admit in our most frank moments that we stumble even later when we have a lot of experience collected. So today's Monday Fail Monday Here on the podcast. We want to explore one of those stories. Ame. So share with us the story of that difficult moment that you had as a Scrum Master. We'll dive into the takeaways later, but share that story first.

[C]

Yeah, cool. So I landed this consultancy job and I was full of ambition and with this bright ideas of what the world should look like, I got my first gig at this big pension fund and it was actually in the first month of me starting at this consultancy gig and I remember getting there and I became the Scrum master of three teams and these were component teams, so really a UX team, a backend team and a front end team. And I was like, I remember walking to a, how do you call it, a meetup that my, that my father actually organized and I was talking like, yeah, we have these component teams and it doesn't, just doesn't make sense because they all have their own backlog and we are trying to get stuff done but it never gets done. And I was just confused and explained to him, doesn't it make sense if there's one from each, at least from each person in each team so that you have more of an end to end capable team. And he was like, yeah, yeah, you should do this. If you're able to do this, go for it. So I was like full of ambition with these ideas, going to this huge organization that had this enormous legacy set up with, yeah, just deeply in great safe structure. And I wanted to this, this guy who Just came looking around the corner telling these people, well guys, this doesn't make sense. We need to, we need to restructure these teams and at least have one of each specialism in each team because then we can really start building stuff. And I was just pushing and poking people left and right and yeah, after the third month of this gig, I get a call, you're fired.

[B]

Ouch.

[C]

Ouch. That was really painful because they decided to not extend or continue the contract because I was poking and fighting the system way too much that they had built. And it really, it really struck me like, oh wow, this is so, this is, this, is this truly how it goes the, the world of agile organizations that in these large organizations you have people who call themselves that, they're saying, yeah, we're working Scrum. And then there comes a Scrum master who's really ambitious, who thinks he has the mandate to start changing the system to improve stuff and then really starts fighting it. And then before you know it you get pulled back and even, yeah, pulled out of the system. And I think that was really painful and it.

[B]

Tell me a little bit more because of course I'm sure many of our listeners can relate to that. If not getting fired, at least getting sidelined or ignored or whatever. There are many versions of this type of story. But when you look back at that story, like what was happening at the time, if you had the opportunity to just jump into a time machine and go back to that beginning moment when you were at that meetup and you heard that idea, how would you act differently today?

[C]

Yeah, I think I would not try to do it all by myself. I really focus more first on finding the, I would call it the coalition of the willing. I sit down with, find these other change agents who share these ideas and where we can really plan such a change. Because it doesn't make sense to try and change a system of 2,000 people on your own. You really need the help of others. And this collaboration, especially with other Scrum Masters, because it wasn't the only Scrum Master. There were way more. You have all these change agents that you could use as this social network within the organization and create this is this web and really do together. I think that was, that might have changed things. I think that's, that's the thing that I would have done differently if I could go back.

[B]

Let's make that practical. I'm sure there's many of our listeners out there really facing that because we are most people that end up being Scrum Masters, they're motivated and energized to act on a change that is needed like you were at that time and they heard you, they're intrigued. Okay, I really want to do that. Emma's idea sounds really good that I think I could make it work. How would you help somebody get started with that? Finding and forming the coalition of the willing.

[C]

So often you have these communities that you could use as a platform to share your ideas. And I think the most important thing is to find these volunteers. Right, because it doesn't make sense to get an assigned change team. Then you have demotivated people or people who are not interested that need to do this next to their job and you really want to find these volunteers that help you with with the change. So if there's the platform, like communities, use them or create a community. Often in large organizations you have like communities of practice, communities of architecture, communities of agile. Use these. If not there, set them up, create community. Really see if you can get like some budget for drinks, some food and make some marketing posts on your teams, slack, whatever and get it going. Pizzas also work really good by the way. Or use the meetings that are there. If you're in a larger organization and what we had was the Scrum Master sync and you sit there with 15 other scrum masters and this is a great opportunity to signal your observations and there will always be people that, well, they will shoot it down because the system is the status quo and we want to protect it, but there will also be people listening and try and see to find those people and start talking to them and they also might know people and then you can create this oil spill of wider network within the organization. But it takes time, doesn't happen overnight.

[B]

You need to be patient. Right?

[C]

Yes, yes.

[B]

That's a great story and a great set of tips. So thank you for sharing that. Eme.

[C]

Oh, welcome.

[A]

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[B]

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