Scrum is frequently described in terms of its elements: 3 pillars, 5 events, 3 artefacts, 3 accountabilities (aka roles) and 5 values. Interesting how wrong that is—not now, but always. Here’s a different way of understanding Scrum. More down-to-earth, and jargon-free.

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Scrum is an iterative, incremental and highly focused approach for managing complex work. It has the following elements.

• 3 principles: Focus, Transparency, Continual Improvement

• 3 commitments: Outcome, Incremental Value, Quality

• 3 alignment meetings: Sprint Planning, Review & Retrospective

• 1 role: The Scrum Team

Where are the Artefacts?

The artefacts are secondary, not primary. Keeping Backlogs of work is optional. It is the principle of Transparency that matters. Do the people that matter know what is going on, at the appropriate level? That may result in the publishing of a list, but not necessarily. The Increment is implied by the sprint goal (a commitment to deliver finished work incrementally). No need to over-state it.

Surely 5 Events?

No. No ‘events’. It is a silly term. We have meetings. Scrum teams meet, with one another and with their stakeholders. The Sprint itself is just an arbitrary name for the container that allows an ‘iterative, incremental and highly focused approach’ to take place.

Update (1st September): I removed the Daily Scrum as a necessary meeting, following my short discussion with Paul Grew (see comments). Members of a development team need to find their own way to stay in alignment with one another towards their sprint goal, remembering that “the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.” The principle of Continual Improvement will allow developers to experiment to find the best way for their team.

Why 3 Principles—and where are the Pillars?

The empirical process, characterised by Transparency and Learning is meaningless without clear Focus. None of these are ‘pillars’ as they don’t hold anything up. All three are principles: commit, make visible, adjust as needed.

What about the Values?

Values that are imposed are not values at all. Aside from the obvious values, embedded in the very structure (e.g. commitment) all team and work values need to come from the people doing the work and be sensitive to their context.

And Accountabilities?

The sooner we drop that term the better. A Scrum team is responsible for all the work. Full stop. Providing the team understand what needs to be done (clear goals) then they will make sure it is done. That is their collective job. That is what they are paid for.

The Future of Scrum

The sooner we can describe this way of working in a sensible, meaningful and jargon-free way, the more likely we are to engage new practitioners and actually focus on the work, not the rules.

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Since sharing the news of my cancer diagnosis last month, many of you have reached out to ask, “How can I help?” At first, I didn’t know. Now I do.

It started with Rayna’s step-grandmother saying, “ask for money and prayers”. From there, it grew into a list of different ways people can help—whether near or far, close or distant, rich or poor, busy or free. I have created an online list of options, something akin to a wedding registry, which you can view here: tobiasmayer.uk/help.

Some of the suggestions are meant to lighten the load for us right now, or to help create family memories. Others look further ahead, planning for a time when I may no longer be here and Rayna will be a single parent, managing the family home by herself and perhaps looking for ways to generate an income from it. You can leave comments directly on the list, or write to me privately to engage with any of these suggestions—or, indeed, to offer something different. All ideas welcome.

That’s really all for now. The NHS, as those resident in the UK will know, moves rather slowly. I do have a date for starting immunotherapy—if I decide to go ahead. I will be writing more about my choices, including our investigation into alternative treatments. Much is still unknown, and there is more research to be done.

Thank you to everyone who has written, called, or simply kept us in your thoughts. It is all deeply appreciated. This is entirely new ground for me and my family, and the best we can do right now is make it up as we go along—improvising our shared life one day at a time.

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“To die will be an awfully big adventure.”
— Peter Pan

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Software product managers give us deadlines for release which if missed (as they generally are) can result in the loss of tens of thousands of pounds. Imaginary money, of course, as you can’t lose what you don’t have. But when our deadlines are met we have bonuses, parties and plenty of mutual back-slapping.

So, next time you get a product deadline, don’t be annoyed, be grateful. There is nothing to lose and much to be thankful for. Maybe we should call them Thanklines.

Doctors, on the other hand, give us real deadlines. Those are the ones we want to miss, because when met, they result in actual death. I was given one such deadline last week: two years. I wrote a long letter about it to my family, friends and colleagues. That includes you, so I invite you to read it here: tobiasmayer.uk/news/health2026. Read it, please, and then return here to continue.

—

I don’t mean to trivialise my situation—our family’s situation, by playing with words, and dancing on the surface of immense pain. I’m struggling here to find suitable words and tone, to strike a meaningful balance between truth and imagination, reality and story. That the-rest-of-my-life has been reduced to a stretch I can count in weeks, is quite shocking, extraordinarily sad, and altogether serious. It is also hopeful, indeed it is rivered with hope—it must be, because such an environment is the only place where hope can grow: hope requires a dearth of possibility.

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Recent News — because life goes on

Asrai celebrated her thirteenth birthday on the thirteenth of May. We now officially have a teenager in the house—although, informally, that teenager has been here for several years already! No big party though, instead a rather laid-back affair with homemade strawberry cake. The spring birthdays of my womenfolk are the three remaining occasions on which I bake—except for the occasional savoury pie.

The past two months have seen us car-free and once again learning to navigate the Sheffield bus and tram system, which is surprisingly good. The pace of life changes without a car. Everything takes longer, but the advantages outweigh the disadvantages: i) I am always on time, ii) I read more, and/or have many more conversations with my daughters, growing ever closer as the weeks pass, iii) I notice more in my surroundings, and I talk more to strangers, iv) we save money, and v) everything takes longer. Do you see what I did there?

Life is still very much hand-to-mouth, with work gradually thinning out—but a delightful event happened in May. I accidentally destroyed my one and only notebook computer, reached out to my newsletter community to ask for help, and within 24 hours I had raised the full cost of its replacement. I felt very cared for. We too often hear how mean and selfish everyone is becoming, but it seems sometimes that this is mere illusion, and the great majority of humans are kind, caring and generous. With nothing promised in return this was a lovely example of relational over transactional. So thank you again, to you kind souls who stepped in to help.

I’d like to end this newsletter on a high note, with these wonderful, warming words from my friend Seth Pollins, writer, chef, and man of healthy habits.

So yes, the projections may say “two years,” but they haven’t accounted for you. They haven’t accounted for Toby Mayer. And the question may not be the time left in life but the life left in the time.

See you soon. Remember, I have promised three more newsletters.
Tobias

—

Postscript: All my newsletters and posts are free again, to anyone. This includes the Faithful Leadership collection and the Simplicity series. You are welcome to upgrade to a paid subscription, to support my work, but no perks beyond knowing you are helping to feed my family :)

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Upcoming events

Please note the new dates, and book places soon, as both are likely to sell out. It is the last ever Scrum Exchange, and the one-time only in-person SWT workshop. Be curious.

• 3rd September: Scrum Without Tears, London — A rare in-person workshop, a prelude to the Scrum Exchange. Limited to just 12 people. 4 places remaining.

• 4th September: The Scrum Exchange, London — A much-loved gathering of Agile practitioners for self-organised learning and camaraderie. This one will be the last.

Something feels fractured in the UK right now. There is a new hardness in the air. You can feel it on the streets, hear it in conversations, see it in our politics…

We are becoming a people who shout before we listen. Politics has become performance. Outrage has become its own religion. We need something better.

It is rare that I post other people’s work here, but this post called me. Too few writers—too few anybodies really—seem able to take a nuanced view of politics these days.1 Everything has become starkly black/white, right/wrong, us/them. We seem to have lost our ability to listen, to discern, to see the subtle shades of which which the world is actually made. Jon Swales is one of the few who can, and does. I’d like to share one of his recent pieces, a guest post on the wonderful Grace+Truth blog.

Moral excommunication & the progressive left

Please reserve likes and comments for the original piece. Thank you.

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Dear Friends and Colleagues,

If you’ve read any 18th/19th Century novels you may be familiar with the concept of a begging letter. This is one of those.

Sadly, and carelessly, I spilled water on my almost-new MacBook Air, rendering it immediately dysfunctional and essentially worthless. A replacement refurbished model will cost me close to £800, an amount I will struggle to find given our family’s current financial circumstances.

What to do, I wondered, and then thought, in a lightbulb moment, “Ask for help!” This is something I rarely do, but why not? I need help, and that is surely the time to ask. So, here goes.

If you’d like to contribute towards a replacement laptop, so I can continue working, that would be most kind of you. Any amount will help, from pennies to pounds. Apart from my heartfelt thanks, I can offer you nothing in return—but perhaps something in our shared past will prompt you to give. But if, like me, you are broke, well, love and prayers are valuable too. The contributions form allows for both :)

Contribute here: New Laptop Appeal

— Tobias

“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.”
— Frank Herbert

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29 April 2026, 3.00 pm

So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.
— Nehemiah 13:11

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The Book of Nehemiah is the story of a man who led from a position of no power.1
It is a familiar tale to those of us engaged in organisational change. Led by the spirit—or in secular terms, perhaps vocation—Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem to effect a transformation. People love the ideas, and while he is around they all support him, and do what is expected. As soon as he goes away though, old habits kick back in and there is a general backsliding to the way things were before. In the last chapter of Nehemiah’s personal account he returns to Jerusalem after some twelve years of absence—he had kept his word to the king and returned to Persia once he felt his work was done. On return he finds most of his cultural improvements to have been undermined, Why is the house of God neglected?

This of course is a pattern throughout the Old Testament. Most of the judges and prophets (though, sadly, very few of the kings) kept a focus on Mosaic law and did their best to guide the people back onto the path God had chosen for them. Each one has only temporary success, and Nehemiah experiences the same thing here: lots of enthusiasm, usually from inspiring speeches at large meetings, an initial burst of energy to change, and then complacency, magnified of course by the leader’s absence. When the cat’s away, and all that.

The Corporate Context

This is a pattern in today’s business world too. We all know business practice and procedures have to change, we even know, in general, but very meaningful ways what they should become. And yet they stay the same. Enlightened leaders and skilled change agents have temporary success waking up ossified or sleepwalking cultures, but on their departure the sleep habit kicks right back in. Such change is rarely sustainable. Until the majority of a group not just embrace but actually embody the change it cannot be permanent. No prophet yet has been able to hold God’s people to God’s laws, and very few corporations are able to hold themselves to basic humanitarian laws today. The glorious thing in all this is that we never stop trying. There is always a new prophet, a new voice of reason crying out in the wilderness. Let’s listen.

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In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before
— Nehemiah 2:1

The quality of leadership can arise in the most unexpected people, and from the most unexpected places. Nehemiah, a captive Jew who had stayed in Babylon after the first remnant had departed with Zerubbabel, was the wine bearer to the king, an important job requiring a great deal of trust, but a servant nonetheless. The wine bearer’s job was to taste the wine before serving to ensure it was not poisoned. There was a risk of death every day for the wine bearer, but the close proximity to the king, and the trusted position meant a relationship could develop between unequals. It is this relationship that Nehemiah draws on when requesting leave of the king to return to Jerusalem in order to support the building project. Exactly how a wine bearer would contribute to this building project was not clear to Nehemiah, he only knew that God was calling him to go.

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Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.”
— Nehemiah 2:17

On arrival in Jerusalem he finds great despondency. Israels enemies were doing all they could to block the rebuilding project, from mockery to outright attack. The Israelites had all but given up. It is not clear why this despondent group should rally around a wine bearer, but rally they do, inspired by Nehemiah’s story of being sent by God. Why else would he have made such a journey, with no authority and no building skills? Nehemiah helps organise the builders into groups, recruiting every man for the work, including the priests, strategises to keep the enemy at bay and generally keeping spirits high.

They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.
— Nehemiah 2:18b

Sometimes it just takes one person to have faith and hope for others to be lifted. But Nehemiah’s faith and hope alone were not enough. He had to get into action. First, showing the courage to negotiate with the king, then making the journey, and finally getting his hands dirty alongside his fellow builders. This was leadership from the bottom up, grassroots leadership of a kind we rarely see in the corporate world, where positional power is the order of the day.

The Corporate Context

Good leaders delegate, we are told. It is common knowledge, and few would disagree with the practice. What we hear less, if at all, is that great Leaders do not delegate. Delegation is the carrying out, by many, of one person’s plan. But the one person is still in charge, and ultimately accountable.

Not delegating of course can mean one of two things, the first being that the leader does everything themself. Not recommended. It is the second meaning that I am interested in. Through the use of radical transparency—allowing workers to choose to know and understand the big picture, the strategy, the Why, and make choices as to what needs to be done, and how they carry out their work—we find that those workers have a greater sense of autonomy, a deeper understanding of the system, and the ability to make wise decisions.

Letting leadership emerge from your workforce is not delegation. It is something altogether riskier, and altogether much more powerful. It is using the collective mind of the workforce to solve problems, rather than the leader having to do such work alone. So not only is the work being done and accounted for by many, but the very ideas behind the work are being generated by those actually doing the work.

Self-organisation, self-management will sometimes seem a step too far in hands-off management, but it has been proven year upon year to be a successful approach when working in the innovation and new product development space.1 As a leader you may choose to assess your own level of trust in your workforce, and if you are holding on too tightly, consider some ways of letting go, or ways of assessing your workers for potential leadership. Do you have a Nehemiah in your organisation?

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Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
— Judges 4:21 (KJV)

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This rather brutal description of Jael's killing of the Canaanite captain, Sisera in the midst of a war, is notable for its domestic setting, the use of a household implement as a weapon, and moreover the emphasis on the word "softly" in the description.1 It is a very womanly moment, reminding me of the power of true femininity, and how much we need that in today's corporate world. I don't mean more women in positions of power, indeed quite the opposite. I mean more feminine energy injected into the corporate genome, and actually a lot less power. Let's look closer at this story, and view it in the context of other women heroes of the Old Testament.

Following Ehud's death2 the Israelites again commit evil in the sight of the Lord and become enslaved and mistreated by the Canaanite king, Jabin of Hazor and his captain, Sisera, whose strength in battle comes from his nine hundred iron chariots. The prophetess Deborah sends the military commander Barak to confront Sisera, but he refuses to go unless she accompanies him. She agrees, but prophesies that due to his weakness it is a woman who will take the glory in the forthcoming battle. After God produces torrential rain that has the chariots disabled in the mud, Sisera escapes and arrives at the tent of Jael the Kenite. The Kenite tribe was friendly with Jabin's kingdom, but Jael herself was an Israelite sympathiser. She draws Sisera in with refreshment and a place to lay his head, then drives a tent peg through his temple, killing him instantly, and taking, as predicted by Deborah3, the glory of victory.

Here we have another Old Testament example of a woman saving Israel. As in the story of Rahab,4 this is not a victory won in the men's territory of the battlefield, but in the women's territory of the home.5 The Hebrew history recognises the importance of women in their struggle, and that the quality of faith they bring to the story is different to that of men. What makes these stories even more interesting is that Rahab and Jael were both gentiles—as were many of the female protagonists in the Old Testament6—and both rose to the occasion exactly through their femininity.

The Corporate Context

Why does this matter? Today we talk a lot about the importance of women in government and in the workplace, but as we push and promote women within the ruling patriarchy we may gain more women in positions of power, but we lose womanhood—we lose femininity. We find ourselves with women rulers and leaders who behave as men. They enter men's spaces and act with male energy, believing that to lead means to be hard, unbending. We all believe that: it is the corporate default.

It takes going back thirty-two centuries or so to be reminded that women can bring—indeed have brought—something very different to the societies in which they dwell. We think of Biblical times as a time of oppression of women, and yes, oppression occurred, but these Old Testament stories are glimpses into a different attitude, one of reverence and respect, one that recognises the essential, and very different, much softer, more gracious power of femininity.7 We'd do well to revive that spirit in our corporate establishments today—indeed, throughout our broader communities.

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He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.
— 2 Kings 18:4-5

These words describe the beginning of the reign of Hezekiah of Judah, one of the few righteous kings of the divided nation. Every once in a while a good leader comes along to remind us of what is important, and inspire us to live better lives, treat one another more kindly, and stay focused on the big picture. Hezekiah was such a leader.1 He cleaned up his kingdom and restored a sense of order and purpose. We get the occasional leader like that in the business world too—but it really is occasional, quite outside the norm.​

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The Corporate Context​

In the business world we have our own ‘sacred stones’ and other idols that distract us from our true purpose. A good, courageous leader removes the wasteful bureaucratic procedures that have petrified an organisation, cuts down silos, breaks up fiefdoms and echo chambers, instills a sense of value and purpose, offers workers more autonomy, creates focus, and lifts engagement to higher levels. Such change rarely lasts though: there is always strong resistance to change.

Hezekiah’s reign was characterised by an ongoing story of strife: he was continually hounded by the Assyrian king, the king’s aides, and indeed the entire army, trying to convince him to sell out and surrender. In one episode Rab-shakeh, a spokesman for the king tells all of Hezekiah’s people not to let their king deceive them, to turn away from him, and away from their God; to surrender to Assyria, where they would be well looked after, and where there were plenty of idols to worship in place of the true God.

Our modern equivalent of the Assyrian army is the army of shareholders, demanding quick profits and pushing back on sustainable change while it conflicts with this more immediate goal. Good leaders almost never last. The effort and time required to make long-term changes that will ultimately treat people with more humanity, increase engagement and productivity and ultimately reap great financial rewards is too long for the quarterly review process, where gains must be shown each quarter or we are considered to be failing. Shareholders are a merciless army, as unforgiving as any from 700 BC. A good leader can only resist for so long, and when they leave, things quickly revert back to the status quo.

Hezekiah was succeeded by his son Manasseh, as evil as his father was good. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them.2 Hezekiah was a brief reprieve in the fall of Judah, but in the end the forces of greed, pride, ego and power won out and Judah went the same way as its sister nation, Israel.

If you find yourself, in your working life, under the wing of a good leader, savour it. Enjoy the reprieve while you can as it’s unlikely to last. As long as there is capitalism there will be idol worship. We, God’s people, have spent generations building a walled world which excludes God. Men like Hezekiah may make a window for us in the wall, but it’s rarely big enough to climb out, and when noticed is quickly boarded up.

You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. Its branches reached as far as the Sea, its shoots as far as the River.
— Psalms 80:8-11

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Throughout the Old Testament Israel is compared to a vine,^​1 and the vine metaphor is continued in the New Testament to describe God’s people more generally.2 The vine was an important part of the Israelite economy, thus a plant all could relate to for its economic value. It is also a plant that needs great care to flourish. Left alone it will run rampage but in terms of fruiting be quite unproductive. As George Horne writes,

“The vine is a plant weak and lowly, and needing support; when supported, wild and luxuriant, unless restrained by the pruning-knife; capable of producing the most valuable fruit, but if barren, the most unprofitable among trees, and fit only for the flames.”3

Of particular interest here is the idea that the vine did not grow in these lands from seed, but was transplanted from Egypt. A transplanted tree needs special care that it may adapt to its new environment, and if not nurtured will likely grow sick and die. The soil we plant into must be compatible with the needs of the plant, and if not it will take even more work to support it. This brings to mind the transplanting of ideas and methods in the corporate world today.

The Corporate Context

Thoughtful companies, those that care about their workers and their customers sometimes come up with innovative methods of production, or systems of work that reduce waste and engage people more fully in what they do. Other companies learn about these new methods and want to copy them. Consultants make a lot of money selling, for example, “the Toyota way” or “the Spotify model” to companies that are not Toyota or Spotify. They attempt to transplant an idea. But often the soil of these receiving organisations is toxic, and there is no one there to act as the gardener. The ideas are expected to just work, by magic or something. Such companies seek the rewards without doing the work. They will always fail. God provides, yes, but man must do the footwork.

People challenge and question the role of ‘scrum master’ in organisations attempting to embrace agility, considering the role to be a rather pointless admin assistant, an engineering lead by another name, or a middle manager, directing the team. All miss the point. The true role of a scrum master, once we look beyond the rather grandiose and somewhat ridiculous name, is that missing gardener, the one to nurture the soil and create a culture of sustainability, even beauty so products and people can grow and thrive.4 Change won’t happen by itself; it needs loving hands, an open heart. It needs hard work.

Israel felt they had a God-given right to be in the land of Canaan, but without nurturing their own soil—the Mosaic law—they were unable to grow as a healthy nation, their fruit cut down before becoming ripe, and disease spreading through its roots and branches. In this psalm David is lamenting the turning away of the gardener, recognising that without the love of God the vine will surely die.

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A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!” But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
— Numbers 11:27-29

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Moses is tired: worn down by the persistent learned-helplessness, low-level murmurings, complaints and loud vocal discontent of the people he is tasked with leading. In response to Moses’ despair, God, in His kindness has momentarily held back some of the spirit of prophesy from Moses and distributed the spirit amongst seventy elders, who collectively participate in the burden of leadership with Moses. This is a one-time event, probably consisting in a show of ecstatic behaviour, a display of priestly solidarity.1

After it ends there are two men, Eldad and Medad, who leave the tent of sanctity and continue to prophesy in the midst of the Israelite camp, apparently without continued blessing from either Moses or God.2 This is what upsets Joshua. Such behaviour in public may rile people up, and new ideas may threaten Moses’ designated leadership.

Moses’ response to this situation is surprising: would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them! In other words, let leadership be distributed among the people, and not be consolidated in a single place, with a single person. The preceding episodes3 indicate that Moses is suffering under the weight of leadership and wishes for relief, but perhaps Moses also sees the folly of the one-leader model, and welcomes the idea that leadership could be distributed, the burden lightened and the wisdom multiplied. In this sense, Moses has an enlightened view.

The Corporate Context

In the corporate world today we put great stock in the single-leader model, holding individuals up as heroes, and often even as saviours. Corporations have, of course, their own murmurings of discontent. While we praise our leader one day, we complain bitterly the next. What we hear described in the book of Numbers is very familiar to those of us who work in the corporate world. It’s all there, the discontent, the resentment, the rising up and taking down of leaders, and as we see in a subsequent episode of this story4 the scheming to get our own share of the power and the glory. In 3,500 years we haven’t learnt much, and continue to play out the same patterns of power, with, inevitably, the same results. The corporate world might benefit from a few rebel prophets, and from a leader like Moses who welcomes the dissenting voice.

But with the advent of agile and other self-managed ways of working these past 2-3 decades, we can ask: What kind of a leader are you? One that holds on to power or one who seeks to distribute it, even dissolve it altogether—to step back, to invite others into leadership. The future of our organisations depends on engagement. Workers are only engaged when they have autonomy over their own work, and can lead themselves, their peers, and even their managers and directors towards collaborative solutions for complex problems. If you cannot trust the people you hire, the fault lies entirely with you, not with them. Effective leaders hire people better than themselves at doing the work, and then they let go. They trust. Leadership happens as and when it needs to, and is usually much lighter than we imagine it needs to be.

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When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham! “Here I am,” he replied.
— Genesis 22:9-11

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A story of child sacrifice (albeit unfulfilled) would seem a strange way to begin a series on leadership lessons from scripture, but please bear with me. In common with many a theologian, ancient and modern, I understand the stories from scripture as teaching stories, not literal fact. Hearing them thus opens up the possibility of applying what is being taught to our own lives, in our own contexts, today, now.

The story of Abraham and Isaac is a story about parenting, love, faith and challenge, but most importantly it is a story about release, about letting go of old ideas. Ancient peoples engaged in human sacrifice, and Abraham’s people were no different. This story though sets them apart, introduces Abraham’s people as God’s chosen. God here is telling Abraham, “this is not what is expected of you—your people will transcend this base practice, you will be set apart.”

Child sacrifice was acceptable, because in those times children were considered—alongside cattle, asses, slaves, tents and furniture—as possessions. The parent (the father, to be precise) owned the child, who was expected to do what he or she was told without question. But people are not meant to be enslaved, either to parents or to anyone else.1

In modern times, in the corporate workplace people are called ‘resources’, considered as possessions of the employer, expected to do what they are told without question. Project managers are taught to ‘level their resources’ to ensure that no employee has slack time, everyone is always busy, with little time to think. This way the corporate entity retains control and remains always in charge.

It is this idea of release, letting go of old ideas, that is relevant to us, to this series. Release is a quality sorely missing in our modern corporate work environments, absorbed as we are by the need to control, to control both people and outcomes. To move forward we must release old ideas and behaviours, cast them aside in favour of the new.

Learning to Love

Parenting is not easy. Indeed raising a child is probably one of the most challenging endeavours a human can undertake. And most of us are ill-prepared for it. We receive no formal parenting education, and are expected to know how to do it because we ourselves have been parented. Just do what your parents did. We do, and all the same dysfunction becomes manifest. Patterns continue. Nothing changes.

Let’s reframe that in a corporate context.

Leadership is not easy. Indeed guiding and nurturing a team is probably one of the most challenging endeavours of the modern workplace. And most of us are ill-prepared for it. We receive little formal leadership training, and are expected to know how to do it because we ourselves have been led—or more often, ‘managed’. Just do what your previous manager did. We do, and all the same dysfunction becomes manifest. Patterns continue. Nothing changes.

Yet we parents do our best. We leaders do our best. Bold and curious we learn what we can from the wisdom and writings of psychologists, philosophers and other parents—other leaders—and we experiment. We try out new ideas, implement new theories. Sometimes, actually quite often, mistakes are made, and when that happens we are encouraged by well-meaning family members or colleagues to retreat back to familiar ground, to what we know, what we often describe as ‘safe’. In both cases, the home and the corporation, exerting control and expecting compliance is the default, ‘safe’ approach.

The story of Abraham and Isaac can be understood as a prelude to the Book of Exodus. God is telling Abraham, Let my people go. You no more own this son than a king owns his subjects. You have no rights over the life of another. Let Isaac go, release him—and thus all future descendants—into my care. Man belongs to God, to the universal life force, not to another man. Each shall be free.

A different kind of control

If we, as leaders and aspiring leaders approached our work with a spirit of release, we would learn to trust, we would see others as the vulnerable human beings they are, allow them to make mistakes, and to create an environment where those mistakes lead to learning and growth. This is not lack of control, it is simply a different kind of control. We look to control outcomes, rather than human beings. We don’t have to bind people to ensure we get what we want. If we release them with love, we may find we get what we actually need.

Abraham found freedom from the bondage of self—yes, he was as much bound as was Isaac. As leaders we create our own bondage, a bondage of fear and; we too can release ourselves, and in doing so can release others, release creativity, and generate loving, nurturing environments where those we care for grow into their full potential.

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1. Event: The Edge of Reason: Beyond AI, Friday 27th February

   This is a one-day (6-hour) online gathering of practising and aspiring facilitators to explore ways to best utilise (the sadly misunderstood and too often underutilised) online space to support teams.

   Please join us for this intimate, open space event this coming Friday.

2. New publication: Faithful Leadership

   This will be an occasional series of articles, some new, some updated versions of pre-released material, all focused on how corporate leadership can be informed by scripture. This series is one part of a reinvention of my work practice, which I’ll write more about at a later date. The first article in this series will be published later today. You can opt out of this series (or any other) by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link below and selecting just the publications you’d like to receive. Before doing so though, I ask that you give it a chance. There is a lot of wisdom in our ancient texts, some of which I hope to tap into with this series.

That’s all for now. I look forward to welcoming some of you to the Edge of Reason on Friday. As always, your messages and questions are always welcome. Stay connected :)

Tobias

Scarcity appears when wealth cannot flow.
— Lewis Hyde

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
— Matthew 6:19-21

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12 February 2026, 7.00 am

Ten years ago today, I was standing on a platform of the Subterráneo de Buenos Aires, waiting for a train to take me into the city centre, when I heard the news: David Bowie died this morning. I penned A small Bowie memory that evening, to commemorate the man in my own small way.

A couple of days later I reflected on my own life, health and ageing through his early song, God Knows I’m Good. I offer these two pieces of writing today, the tenth anniversary of his death.

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Coincidentally, today is also the 163rd anniversary of the London Underground, which opened on 10th January 1963.

So if you live in London, maybe blend these two events into a memorable morning: take the tube and listen to David Bowie on your journey, maybe The London Boys — original version or the live 2000 one.

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You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.
— Kahill Gibran, The Prophet, 1923

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1st January 2026, 11.00 am

Back in 2017 I ended a post with these words:

Scrum: simple, clean, reflective, unrelenting, melodic. The silence of Scrum speaks volumes, but we do need to listen.1

Some may have recognised the words simple, clean, reflective, unrelenting, melodic, in that particular order, as being an acrostic for the word Scrum. It wasn’t important enough to draw attention to, but I liked that it was there, and I liked that it made, and still makes so much sense to me. I chose the five words, but I didn’t choose the five letters that start them. This is an example of limitations inspiring creativity. Scrum itself is packed with limitations, indeed it could be argued that Scrum is nothing but limitations—it is a system constructed of rules, boundaries, directives, and constraints. Embracing rather than railing against these limitations gives us the opportunity to forge novel, edgy, unorthodox solutions to complex problems. How so? Well, consider this statement from 37Signals, a group well known for its creativity and innovation.

Let limitations guide you to creative solutions. There’s never enough to go around. Not enough time. Not enough money. Not enough people. That’s a good thing. Instead of freaking out about these constraints, embrace them. Let them guide you. Constraints drive innovation and force focus. Instead of trying to remove them, use them to your advantage.2

Yes, that’s a good thing. Focus is a good thing, and we don’t have nearly enough of it in the corporate world, pushed to always be working on multiple projects, or as a “resource” being “levelled” by a well-meaning project manager. And all that before our own personal distractions: pinging/buzzing phone and all those people being wrong on the internet.

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When I teach Scrum, I emphasise focus as being a core competency. Small teams of students are given clear direction, a strict time limitation, and the freedom to create a useful, meaningful teaching product. In a recent class one of these creations, a Values Card, caught my attention. The team, self-named Scrum Rockers, already working within Scrum’s limitations, created their own limitation: their products would all fit into a rock music theme. This narrow focus had them create an unusual and innovative way of describing a set of five values the team members agreed would be important for a successful team: collaboration, self-organisation, commitment, adaptability and focus. Their design was clever, and striking, but it is the way they describe these values on the back of the card that struck me.3

When there is too much background noise you can’t hear the music—and Scrum, as I said back in 2017, is melodic. Music is a combination of the notes and the silence between the notes. We need both, but often forget the importance of the latter.

“What we do as musicians is we create a frame around silence.” — Sting, 2006

Software development, done well, is also a blend of sound and silence: activity and rest, make and align. In this way the creative process generates its own music. Work too fast, forget to pause for reflection, drop dialogue or skimp on quality, and you find yourself in a cacophony of noise. Work with rhythm, stillness and focus and you create harmony, which becomes apparent in both in the products you complete and the work environment you foster.

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This article, on first reading, resonated so strongly with me, anmd captured what I see is an essential requirement for someone taking on the role of scrum master that I felt moved to share it with my own followers. I have reproduced the article, with permission, as written. No edits. If you prefer, you can read it on Gareth’s own blog.

Introduction

What does servant leadership in Agile have to do with a monastic blessing from Taizé?

After my mother died in August 2020, I found an old copy of the Fairacres Chronicle among her belongings. In it, Brother Roland Walls reflects on three Gospel-rooted gifts: joy, simplicity and compassion. As I read his words, I was struck by how deeply they resonated – not just with my vocation as a priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church, but also with my role as a Scrum Master in a software development team.

In this reflection, I explore the unexpected but life-giving parallels between Christian discipleship and Agile practice, drawing on years of both pastoral and technical experience. Both vocations, I believe, are about presence, accompaniment and helping people flourish – quietly, faithfully and together.

Discovery

My late mother was an associate of the Sisters of the Love of God, a contemplative Anglican community based at the Convent of the Incarnation in Oxford, also known as Fairacres. She found great joy in writing to their sisters and reading their journal, the Fairacres Chronicle, which she often shared with others.

After Mum died, while I was helping to sort through her belongings, I came across a pile of well-thumbed Chronicles. I brought them home to read in quiet moments of remembrance. It was in one of these volumes that I encountered Brother Roland Walls’ article, Joy, Simplicity, Compassion (Fairacres Chronicle, Summer 1995. Volume 28, Number 2). As I read his reflection on these three inner qualities as signs of authentic Christian life, I was struck by how profoundly they resonated not only with my own spiritual life but also with my professional role as a Scrum Master in a software development team.

For those who don’t know, as well as being a Certified Scrum Master, I am also a non-stipendiary priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church. In both my ordained ministry and my Agile work, I have come to see the importance of walking alongside others as they navigate complexity, seek meaning and grow together. I was touched by Walls’ descriptions of these inner qualities of joy, simplicity and compassion. And I recognised that these are qualities that I believe are also at the heart of being a Scrum Master: walking with a team as they discover who they are and how to be the best team they can be while navigating the usual challenges of being human.

This short paper explores the parallels I see between Brother Roland’s vision of Christian discipleship – rooted in joy, simplicity, and compassion – and the work of an Agile Scrum Master. Though they arise from different traditions – one monastic and theological, the other iterative and technological – both vocations are ultimately about presence, accompaniment and transformation.

Joy: the quiet song of resilience

There are clear parallels for me between creating a space for meaning within worship and creating a psychologically safe space in Scrum ‘events’. In theatre director Peter Brook’s book The Empty Space (1968), he talks about the ‘holy space’ as a place where the invisible becomes visible. It echoes that classic Anglican definition of a sacrament as ‘an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace’. This is central to liturgical worship – helping people encounter the invisible God – and it mirrors in a small way the Agile principle of making work visible. For that to happen, people need to feel safe, valued and seen themselves.

Brother Roland describes joy as a gift of open-hearted gladness, a deep buoyancy that sustains even when “high seas are running”. He distinguishes it from emotional highs – joy may be most evident when we are in the depths, singing alleluias in the dark. It is, he says, “a touch of heaven come down to earth”.

Scrum Masters, too, are called to carry this kind of joy – not as cheerleaders, but as steady presences who help teams remain resilient. When a project stumbles, when tensions arise or when outcomes fall short, it is often the Scrum Master who holds space for quiet hope. In Agile, joy manifests in the sense of purpose and pride that teams feel when their work is meaningful and their contributions are valued. A retrospective that ends with laughter, a sprint review that affirms progress – these are echoes of the joy Brother Roland speaks of.

Like joy at the Eucharist, the Scrum Master’s facilitation of rhythms and rituals (daily standups, reviews, retrospectives) invites the team into shared presence and communal celebration, even in the midst of challenge.

Simplicity: trusting the process, trusting each other

Walls sees simplicity as rooted in God’s own nature: “a lack of fuss and bother.” It is the ability to live amid complexity with “uncomplicated awareness”, open to what is essential. Simplicity brings freedom from anxiety and clarity of purpose.

For Scrum Masters, simplicity is both a guiding principle and a way of being. They help teams navigate the tangled webs of software development or other complex projects by protecting focus, removing distractions and encouraging clarity in goals and communication. A Scrum Master is often the one who says, “Let’s come back to the sprint goal” or “What’s the simplest experiment we could try?”

But simplicity is also relational. Walls notes that the simple person is accessible and unthreatening – a friend to not only neighbours, but birds, trees and even beetles. A Scrum Master fosters psychological safety not by asserting control, but by being radically approachable. This transparency opens up the space for others to bring their whole selves.

Compassion: walking with, not ahead

Compassion connects deeply with my theological training and experience in chaplaincy and pastoral care. As we often said at theological college, “It’s not about me.” Whether in ministry or a Scrum setting, I see my role as creating a trusting, gentle environment that allows people to speak their truth and be fully present. This act of ‘holding space’ is central to how I support both individuals and teams.

Compassion, in Walls’ reflection, is “shared humanity” – the capacity to feel with others in their joy and sorrow. It is a divine gift, enabling us to stand beside another in their pain or triumph without judgment or agenda. It is most needed, he notes, among those we live and work with every day.

This is the beating heart of the Scrum Master’s role. A good Scrum Master does not lead from the front, nor manage from above, but walks with the team. They notice when someone is struggling. They listen to what isn’t being said. They challenge gently and advocate boldly. They hold space for growth, even when that growth is uncomfortable.

Agile frameworks often speak of servant leadership. Brother Roland gives us a fuller picture of what that can look like when shaped by a compassionate awareness of shared vulnerability, dignity and interdependence.

A shared vocation: presence and transformation

My audience for this reflection includes readers of my personal blog and those who may encounter it through LinkedIn. Many of you will already know that I am a priest, but for those who don’t, I offer this context to show how my theological perspective and Agile practice inform one another.

What struck me most about Walls’ article was not just its theological beauty but how deeply it resonated with my experience of working in a team. Priesthood, chaplaincy and Scrum Mastery are different in form but similar in function: all three are vocations of accompaniment. Each requires presence, attentiveness, trust and a commitment to others’ flourishing.

Both the spiritual life and the Agile life are lived in cycles – in prayer and iteration, in liturgy and retrospectives. Both are oriented not toward control but toward transformation, not toward certainty but toward hope. And both, when faithful, bear the fruit of joy, simplicity and compassion.

Conclusion

For me, the role of Scrum Master is a kind of secular ministry – a lived vocation shaped (for myself, at least) by Gospel values. The most effective Scrum Masters I’ve worked alongside are those who serve their teams with compassion and, at times, self-sacrifice. My worldview is a theological one: I see God working in people’s lives. But I would never preach in the workplace. Instead, I try to embody my beliefs through the values I uphold – commitment, focus, openness, respect, and courage – and through the Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection, and adaptation.

Brother Roland’s words remind us that these three gifts – joy, simplicity, and compassion – are not optional extras, but signs of the Spirit at work. Whether in a Christian community or a software development team, they mark the path of those who lead not by command, but by love.

As a Certified Scrum Master, I have found these qualities to be essential. Not because Agile requires them, but because humanity does. And perhaps, in some mysterious way, each sprint becomes a small echo of Pentecost – a place where God’s Spirit moves through collaboration, care and shared creation.

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About the author—in his own words

I’m Gareth J M Saunders, 54 years old, 6′ 4″, father of three (including twins). Enneagram type FOUR and introvert (INFJ), I am a non-stipendiary priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church, I sing with the NYCGB alumni choir, play guitar, play mahjong, write, draw and laugh… Former Scrum master at Safeguard Global, Sky and Vision/Cegedim. Former web architect and agile project manager at the University of St Andrews and previously warden at Agnes Blackadder Hall. View all posts by Gareth Saunders

Season’s greetings!

I recently had a request from an ex-student, asking to buy a CSM voucher for his son’s Christmas present, the idea being that when his son was ready he could trade it in for a CSM place on a date that suited him. What a good idea, I thought. I had no such scheme, but with this prompt I now do, so thought I’d share it more widely.

So if you are still wondering what to buy a family member, good friend, work colleague…or boss (!) consider giving them the gift of Scrum. If you’ve enjoyed my workshops in the past, CSM or otherwise, perhaps your associates would also.

Click the button to read more about my current online CSM offer, and buy a voucher.

Scrum Academy Online CSM

And if you have completed the CSM yourself, either with me or another trainer, you may like to consider a refresher class as a gift to yourself. The refresher cost is much lower to encourage continuous learning. Dates are currently available for Q1, but there is no rush to commit. Once you have the voucher it is good for the next two years.

Thanks for reading, and perhaps giving this some thought.

I wish you a season of joy, intimacy, and goodwill towards all folk, whoever they are, wherever they dwell, whatever they believe.

Tobias