Why Your Process Changes Are Failing—The Stakeholder Alignment Problem | Deniz Ari

Wed May 21 2025

Deniz Ari: Why Your Process Changes Are Failing—The Stakeholder Alignment Problem Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Agile and Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website:...

Summary

Summary of "Why Your Process Changes Are Failing—The Stakeholder Alignment Problem" featuring Deniz Ari

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast
Host: Vasco Duarte
Guest: Deniz Ari
Release Date: May 21, 2025

1. Introduction and Context

In this episode of the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, host Vasco Duarte delves into the intricate challenges of implementing process changes within Agile teams. The focus is on the stakeholder alignment problem, exploring why certain change initiatives falter despite initial enthusiasm. Deniz Ari, an experienced Agile practitioner, shares her firsthand experiences navigating these challenges.

2. The Complexity of Change

Deniz begins by emphasizing the universal difficulty of change, regardless of its nature—be it introducing new tools, technologies, frameworks, or even altering meeting structures.

“Change is always difficult for anyone. It's not like some different personalities. But we need to give it little bits, give some time, and trust the process.”
— Deniz Ari [01:42]

She references the change curve, highlighting the emotional journey individuals undergo, including phases of denial, anger, fear, and eventual integration.

3. Implementing New Tools: JIRA and BigPicture

Deniz discusses her experience with introducing BigPicture, a tool integrated with JIRA Atlassian, to manage multiple projects and dependencies within her Scrum team.

“I introduced BigPicture tools under the Atlassian. It has plenty of functions like Gantt charts, linking dependencies, and tracking people's capacity. It's a very user-friendly and visual tool, which is why everyone initially liked it.”
— Deniz Ari [03:30]

Initially, the adoption was positive due to BigPicture's intuitive interface, facilitating better visualization of project timelines and dependencies.

4. Challenges in Sustaining Change

Despite the initial success, Deniz encountered significant resistance:

“Over time, I found myself the only person updating and using the tool. Others stuck with their existing project plans and often didn't engage with JIRA.”
— Deniz Ari [05:05]

This highlighted a common issue where individual initiative in adopting new processes doesn't translate to team-wide adoption, leading to fragmented workflows.

5. Aligning Product Owners and Team Expectations

A central theme was the misalignment between Product Owners (POs) and the development team. POs often sought high-level milestones and straightforward timelines, while the team required detailed task breakdowns to set realistic sprint goals.

“Product Owners wanted high-level descriptions for milestone dates, but as a Scrum team, we needed to break down tasks to create achievable sprint goals.”
— Deniz Ari [06:26]

This disparity led to conflicts, as the team needed to provide detailed plans for effective sprint planning, while POs were focused on broader deliverables.

6. Bridging the Communication Gap

Deniz attempted to mediate by understanding the PO's perspective and the team's technical constraints. She emphasized the importance of mutual respect and clear communication.

“I tried to understand why the PO was coming from their perspective and explained our technical limitations, even though I'm not a technical person myself.”
— Deniz Ari [07:38]

Her role became that of a translator, ensuring that the PO's strategic goals were aligned with the team's operational capabilities.

7. The Importance of Shared Tools and Documentation

Deniz stressed that relying on disparate tools hampers collaboration and transparency. She advocated for using unified tools to maintain visibility and accountability.

“When everyone uses the same tool, like JIRA, it creates visibility on what each person is working on and ensures alignment across the board.”
— Deniz Ari [09:57]

She also highlighted the pitfalls of depending solely on human memory, especially in complex software projects with numerous tasks and acronyms.

8. Continuous Adaptation and Learning

Embracing Scrum's iterative nature, Deniz acknowledged that change is ongoing and requires constant adaptation. She pointed out that both external client demands and internal team dynamics necessitate flexibility.

“Scrum allows us to keep adapting because everything can change easily, and our ceremonies help us navigate these changes continuously.”
— Deniz Ari [08:39]

9. Overcoming Resistance to Change

Deniz shared strategies to mitigate resistance, such as demonstrating the benefits of new practices and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. She noted that even small changes require patience and persistence.

“No matter how small or big the change is, human reactions are the first obstacle. We need to keep explaining and reinforcing the benefits for upcoming sprints.”
— Deniz Ari [10:15]

10. Conclusion

The episode concludes with a reaffirmation of the Scrum Master's role in facilitating change and ensuring stakeholder alignment. Deniz's insights underscore the necessity of empathy, clear communication, and strategic tool implementation to navigate the complexities of process changes within Agile frameworks.

Bonus Segment: Global Agile Summit Promotion

In the closing segments, Vasco Duarte promotes the upcoming Global Agile Summit in Tallinn, Estonia, highlighting its relevance for those experiencing Agile fatigue. The summit promises real-life success stories, workshops, and conferences featuring renowned Agile thought leaders.

“The Global Agile Summit is a different kind of event. We're bringing you real life first person stories of Agile succeeding in the real world to inspire you to take action.”
— Host [11:42]

Key Details:

Dates: May 18-20, 2025
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Highlights: Workshops, keynote sessions by industry leaders like Clinton Keith and Jurgen Apelo, and tracks focused on Agile Business, Product, and Development.

Participants are encouraged to join to gain fresh ideas, network with over 200 Agile professionals, and rejuvenate their Agile practices.

This detailed summary encapsulates the core discussions and insights from the podcast episode, providing valuable takeaways for Scrum Masters and Agile practitioners seeking to understand and overcome the challenges of process changes and stakeholder alignment.

Transcript

Host (0:06)

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.

Podcast Host (1:04)

Welcome to our Wednesday the Leading Change episode here on the Scrum Master Toolbox podcast. And this week we have with us Denise Ari. Hey Denise. Welcome back.

Denise Ari (1:15)

Hi. Hello.

Podcast Host (1:16)

So change is the topic of today's conversation, Denise. And we really want you to focus on a specific change process you were part of. And how did that happen over time, right? Like what were the steps that you took, what were the strategies, the approach, the tools, the tips, the tricks and the techniques that you learned during that process that you still apply today?

Denise Ari (1:42)

The change subject is. It's quite interesting and I'm really into it, you know, because this is very difficult. At the same time it's a very long process. The it doesn't matter which change it is for. Is it like in work environment, tools, technology, even meetings, you know, even the framework you're implementing or creating something from scratch. Is the. It's the change change always difficult for anyone. It's not like a. Some. Someone's only, you know, some different personalities. But what I know about the change we need to little bits give some time and we need to trust the process which is maybe you heard about this the change curve, you know the. It's not happening in one line. You know there is a phase of the change, you know the denial. There is a. Some sometimes anger, blame, fear and burgeoning and there is sometimes quiet and depression. You know the. Or maybe when you go down about the curve exploration, decision integration and. And this is like a kind of process. Doesn't matter which kind of change the time can be, you know, the time milestones can be changed. But yeah it will, it will definitely gonna take phase phases because this is the new thing you as a human you're reacting doesn't matter we change or who's introducing as a human because you need to protect what you have in know the. That's why change always difficult and interesting subjects. I just want to carry on what are with my change story. You know that I involved and what happened or what I learned. As a SCRUM team we use JIRA Atlassian tools and of course we had some way of workings. You know the you know the creating backlog, Sprint planning, you know the refinements. We are following this kind of things. But there was some and generally we have more than 10 in flight project. It's not like a one huge project and some of them related to each other and there is a ton of dependency. That's why I introduced big picture tools under the Atlassian. It's kind of. You have plenty you know that you have plenty functional under the big picture like a Gantt chart. You know link it and people's capacity. You know the storage and filters. It's amazing tool. I don't know if I I. I like a lot and I introduce. I did like some tidy up on my JIRA backlogs. You know the I'd introduce the management. But yeah it just. It was a big reaction. You know I mean like oh everyone like it. It looks nice because the you know the it's very user friendly. It's not like a JIRA or you know the it's very. Because visual. It's very catchy. That's why people like it. But. But what happened time to time I found myself the only person updating using the tool and the people still sticking with their project plan. You know even not looking the jira. This is my only. Not only but biggest headache in this environment. What I am where I'm working and where did the.