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Building a Coaching Service Where Survey Scores Become Living Improvement | Scott Smith

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches

Release Date: 12/03/2025

Coaching Product Owners to Be the Voice of the Customer | Steve Martin show art Coaching Product Owners to Be the Voice of the Customer | Steve Martin

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches

Steve Martin: Coaching Product Owners to Be the Voice of the Customer In this episode, we refer to video and . The Great Product Owner: Rob Gard's Customer Obsession 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: .   "The role of the PO really is to help the team empathize with the user, the customer of the product, because that's how they can develop great solutions." - Steve Martin   Rob Gard worked at a fintech firm and is now CPO of a major fintech company. Steve...

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Making Scrum Master Success Visible with OKRs That Actually Work | Steve Martin show art Making Scrum Master Success Visible with OKRs That Actually Work | Steve Martin

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches

Steve Martin: Making Scrum Master Success Visible with OKRs That Actually Work 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: .   "It is not the retrospective that is the success of the retrospective. It is the ownership and accountability where you take improvements after the session." - Steve Martin   The biggest problem for Scrum Masters isn't just defining success—it's being able to shout it from the rooftops with tangible evidence. Steve champions OKRs as an amazing...

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Why Agile Fatigue Means We Need to Change Our Approach | Steve Martin show art Why Agile Fatigue Means We Need to Change Our Approach | Steve Martin

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches

Steve Martin: Why Agile Fatigue Means We Need to Change Our Approach 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: .   "We teach transformation, we support transformation, we help change, but we don't really understand what they're changing from." - Steve Martin   Steve believes Agile as a whole is on the back foot, possibly regressing. There's palpable fatigue in the industry, and transformation in its current form hasn't been the success we hoped. Organizations still...

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Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches

Steve Martin: When a Distributed Team's Energy Vanishes into the Virtual Void 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: .   "They weren't a team, they were a group of individuals working on multiple different projects." - Vasco Duarte (describing Steve's team situation)   The infrastructure team looked promising on paper: Product Owner in Italy, hardware engineers in Budapest, software engineers in Bucharest, designers in the UK. The team started with energy and...

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When the Gospel of Agile Becomes a Barrier to Change | Steve Martin show art When the Gospel of Agile Becomes a Barrier to Change | Steve Martin

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches

Steve Martin: When the Gospel of Agile Becomes a Barrier to Change 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: .   "It took me a while to realize that that's what I was doing. I felt the reason wasn't working was them, it wasn't me." - Steve Martin   Steve carried the Scrum Guide like a Bible in his early days as an Agile coach. He was a purist—convinced he had an army of Agile practitioners behind him, ready to transform every team he encountered. When teams...

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BONUS The Operating System for Software-Native Organizations - The Five Core Principles With Vasco Duarte show art BONUS The Operating System for Software-Native Organizations - The Five Core Principles With Vasco Duarte

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches

BONUS: The Operating System for Software-Native Organizations - The Five Core Principles In this BONUS episode, the final installment of our Special Xmas 2025 reflection on Software-native businesses, we explore the five fundamental principles that form the operating system for software-native organizations. Building on the previous four episodes, this conversation provides the blueprint for building organizations that can adapt at the speed of modern business demands, where the average company lifespan on the S&P 500 has dropped from 33 years in the 1960s to a projected 12 years by...

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Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches

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Xmas Special: Recovering the Essence of Agile - What's Already Working in Software-Native Organizations In this BONUS Xmas Special episode, we explore what happens when we strip away the certifications and branded frameworks to recover the essential practices that make software development work. Building on Episode 2's exploration of the Project Management Trap, Vasco reveals how the core insights that sparked the Agile revolution remain valid - and how real organizations like Spotify, Amazon, and Etsy embody these principles to thrive in today's software-driven world. The answer isn't to...

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Scott Smith: Building a Coaching Service Where Survey Scores Become Living Improvement

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: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes.

 

"Success is about feedback from coaching clients." - Scott Smith

 

Scott is tackling one of the most challenging aspects of organizational transformation: turning annual survey results into continuous improvement. Working with a domain of about 30 people, Scott is exploring how to create a coaching service that doesn't just react to once-a-year data but actively drives ongoing growth. The typical pattern in many organizations is familiar—conduct an annual survey, review the scores, maybe have a few discussions, and then wait another year. Scott is experimenting with a different approach. 

He's setting up a coaching service that focuses on real-time feedback from the people being coached, making improvement a living practice rather than an annual event. The strategy starts with a pilot, testing the concept before scaling across the entire domain. Scott's measure of success is pragmatic and human-centered: feedback from coaching clients. Not abstract metrics or theoretical frameworks, but whether the people receiving coaching find value in what's being offered. 

This approach reflects a fundamental principle of Agile coaching—start small, experiment, gather feedback, and iterate based on what actually works for the people involved. Scott is building improvement infrastructure that puts continuous learning at the center, transforming how organizations think about growth from an annual checkbox into an ongoing conversation.

 

Self-reflection Question: If you were to implement a coaching service in your organization, how would you measure its success beyond traditional survey scores?

 

[The Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast Recommends]

🔥In the ruthless world of fintech, success isn't just about innovation—it's about coaching!🔥

Angela thought she was just there to coach a team. But now, she's caught in the middle of a corporate espionage drama that could make or break the future of digital banking. Can she help the team regain their mojo and outwit their rivals, or will the competition crush their ambitions? As alliances shift and the pressure builds, one thing becomes clear: this isn't just about the product—it's about the people.

 

🚨 Will Angela's coaching be enough? Find out in Shift: From Product to People—the gripping story of high-stakes innovation and corporate intrigue.

 

Buy Now on Amazon

 

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About Scott Smith

 

Scott Smith is a 53-year-old professional based in Perth, Australia. He balances a successful career with a strong focus on health and fitness, currently preparing for bodybuilding competitions in 2026. With a background in leadership and coaching, Scott values growth, discipline, and staying relevant in a rapidly changing world.

 

You can link with Scott Smith on LinkedIn.