Agile Coach and Leadership Trainer Chris Nyroos firmly believes that happy individuals and teams consistently outperform their less content counterparts. With this philosophy at the heart of his work, Nyroos has spent the past 15 years championing Agile principles, leading transformative initiatives, and cultivating high-performing teams across various sectors, including insurance, telecommunications, wholesaling, and government administration. His mission is to foster healthier, more effective workplaces through the power of Agile. Another way to describe his work is: he creates the conditions for happiness, allowing high performance to emerge as the natural outcome.
In this interview with TechTalents Insights, Nyroos addresses a common misconception about Agile: that managers lose control during the transformation process. In reality, he explains, Agile often leads to greater transparency and deeper involvement, providing leaders with a clearer view of what is truly happening within their teams and organization. They often realize that before adopting Agile, they were under a mere illusion of control.
Nyroos also shares practical guidance for fostering collaboration in remote settings, emphasizing that Agile processes are equally effective in distributed teams — while expressing a preference for fully digital meetings over hybrid ones, where attention can too easily skew toward those gathered in person. Additionally, he highlights how building trust is key to inspiring innovation, even more during times of uncertainty.
TechTalents Insights: Can you briefly share your journey into Agile leadership?
Chris Nyroos: I can still remember — and almost feel — the frustration of working on waterfall projects with never-ending reporting and replanning due to changes. Of course, development teams and IT departments adapted to Scrum and other Agile frameworks, but this was suboptimal, because managers and the rest of the organization still worked in the traditional way. This is where my Agile journey begins: figuring out how to get the company to work and think Agile at all levels.
TechTalents Insights: What are some common misconceptions businesses have about Agile?
Chris Nyroos: One major misconception is that you as a manager lose control of what is happening in the organization, but it is quite the opposite, and to quote one manager I interviewed: “I thought I had control with all traffic lights on all projects, but that was an illusion. Now, when we are on the Agile transformation journey, I have much more control and involvement in what is really happening. You must experience the Agile journey to fully understand it.”
TechTalents Insights: How have Agile processes adapted to the rise of remote and distributed tech teams? What practices are most effective in maintaining collaboration without co-location?
Chris Nyroos: Of course, sitting together in a development team is optimal, but in my experience, Agile processes work very well in distributed teams. Be consistent in having a framed set of events: Daily Standup, Planning, Review, etc. Today, there are plenty of collaboration tools, such as Miro, that create a sense of working together on something. I prefer fully digital meetings over hybrid meetings, as the focus tends to shift to those sitting physically together in a room.
TechTalents Insights: How do you approach Agile transformation in organizations deeply rooted in traditional structures or heavyweight methods?
Chris Nyroos: By listening and getting an understanding of the organization’s challenges and where to start. From there, invest in teaching the Agile mindset at all levels and specifically ensure that managers understand they must walk the walk and lead by example. Collaborate over organization boundaries and set clear goals. One thing to remember is that change takes a lot of time and patience, so in order to see progress, highlight the findings and good examples along the way.
TechTalents Insights: What advice would you give to tech leaders aiming to lead Agile transformations in their organizations?
Chris Nyroos: Be consistent, collaborate, set clear goals and outcomes, learn from mistakes, and adapt changes accordingly. Have fun, and never give up. It is an infinite game, and you need to enjoy the ride.
TechTalents Insights: How would you describe your leadership style? And how do you inspire innovation and dedication in your team?
Chris Nyroos: First and foremost, my leadership style is inclusive. It builds on trust and on creating a safe environment where everyone is involved. Building on trust and having a team that has a high level of psychological safety is crucial for innovation and dedication.
TechTalents Insights: What kind of team culture do you try to foster, and most importantly, how do you maintain it under pressure or during times of uncertainty?
Chris Nyroos: I want to foster an open environment where we work as a team, where we succeed as a team, or we fail as a team. When things get tough, let the team focus on the right things and on what they can affect. The most important thing is to listen to team members, their concerns, and how they feel about the situation and then coach them accordingly.
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