Integrating AI into Scrum Teams: Insights with Claudio Lassala

Discover how AI can be seamlessly incorporated into Scrum teams to enhance productivity, storytelling, and problem-solving. Claudio Lassala shares real-world experiences of leveraging AI to fill skill gaps, automate tasks, and scale solutions, challenging traditional notions of team roles and developer identities.

Key Insights:

• The importance of teaching AI your principles for better, personalized outcomes

• AI's role in automating routine tasks allows developers to focus on high-value stakeholder engagement

• Emphasizing a solution-oriented mindset rather than coding as an identity

• Managing resistance by framing AI as a problem-solving partner, not a threat

• Continuous re-skilling and mindset shifts needed for teams to thrive with AI

• Leaders should focus on enabling their teams to leverage AI ethically and effectively

 

drunkenpmradio · How AI is Transforming Scrum Teams - Practical Strategies from Claudio Lassala

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction and Claudio's background in IT and agile coaching

02:21 - How AI is integrated into Scrum teams

03:45 - Using AI to write user stories and acceptance criteria

05:24 - The importance of conversations and stories in Agile

07:01 - Teaching AI to reflect team principles and critique solutions

08:15 - Addressing fears of losing roles with AI integration

09:42 - Resistance from team members and how to approach it

11:08 - Demonstrating productivity gains with AI-driven planning

12:13 - Balancing automation with the human touch in problem-solving

15:03 - Clarifying misconceptions about AI automating all tasks

16:38 - Managing detailed task decomposition with AI

18:04 - The evolution of developer roles and knowledge retention

20:17 - Using analogies like cars with carburetors to explain technological shifts

21:34 - Passion projects and opportunities AI unlocks

23:29 - How AI might change the identity of developers

26:38 - The need for continuous retraining and knowledge updating

29:43 - Supporting team members in adapting to AI tools

33:01 - Leadership strategies for leveraging AI ethically and effectively

36:16 - Personal storytelling: AI in content creation and blogging

37:04 - Claudio’s favorite guitar solo and closing thoughts

Contact Claudio

• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/claudiolassala/

• Web / Blog https://lassala.net/

• Improving https://www.improving.com/profile/claudio-lassala/

The AI Engagement Lifecycle with Endava, Dava.X.AI, and Miro

Endava set out to reinvent how IT services get delivered in an AI-native world. Dava.X.AI is the group inside Endava driving that shift. Miro is the workspace they're building it on. Together they've shipped Davaflow — an AI engagement lifecycle that runs from signal to explore to govern to evolve, with humans and agents working alongside each other the whole way.

Takeaways

Reframe from value capture to value creation — don't use AI to make existing processes 10–15% better, reimagine the work entirely from an AI-first perspective.

IT services hit its "ChatGPT moment" two years ago when clients and analysts started asking Endava why they were needed if AI could just write the code.

AI is becoming a method, not a tool — just as Agile organized humans to do work, this new method organizes agents and the people working alongside them.

The technology question is largely settled; the change management question isn't — quality has hit the inflection point, and what remains is the human shift, much like Waterfall-to-Agile.

DavaFlow runs in four phases — Signal, Explore, Govern, and Evolve — moving from identifying the right problem, through virtual personas and prototypes, to governing agent output, to evolving in production.

Chat is the wrong interface for most of this work — humans are visual creatures, and tools like Miro give LLMs context that a chat box never could.

AI-driven work can produce better traceability than humans ever did — every decision and prototype connects back through the chain of thought, what Joe called "traceability on steroids."

Anyone can buy the tools — what separates enterprise work from vibe-coding chaos is policy-as-code, defined skills, and human-in-the-loop checkpoints.

Adoption happens in baby steps, not the full vision — showing people the end of the journey overwhelms them, so start at signal and layer in each next step.

The hardest part is the identity question — engineers liked writing code and designers liked crafting prototypes, and the shift is a growth-mindset problem, not a skills problem.

Links from the Podcast

• 
  Endava: https://www.endava.com/
• Dava.X.AI https://www.endava.com/dava-x/dava-x-ai
• Miro: https://miro.com/index/

Upcoming Miro Canvas Events

• Main Canvas 2026 landing page: https://canvas.miro.com/
• Register for the streaming event on May 19 where Joe will be speaking:  https://canvas.miro.com/sanfrancisco/virtual-keynote
• Register for the in-person event on May 19th in San Francisco where Joe is speaking live:  https://canvas.miro.com/sanfrancisco
• Register for the in-person event on June 2nd in London where Matt will be speaking live: https://canvas.miro.com/london
• Register for the in-person event on June 16th in Sydney where Wesley Fagan the APAC SVP for Strategy and Chief Design Officer at Endava will be speaking live: https://canvas.miro.com/sydney

Contacting the Guests

• Matt Cloke https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattcloke/
• Joe Dunleavy https://www.linkedin.com/in/joedunleavy/
• Dave Ross https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmross/
• Dave Prior https://linktr.ee/mrsungo

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Endava and AI Transformation

08:54 Navigating the AI Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities

17:52 The Evolution of Miro and AI Integration

24:00 Dava Flow: The AI Engagement Lifecycle

25:49 The Power of Visual Context in AI

27:03 Enhancing Contextual Understanding with AI

29:12 Temporal Dimensions in Decision Making

31:27 Navigating Change in Organizational Mindsets

35:40 Demonstrating Value to the C-Suite

38:13 Embracing the Future of Work

41:09 Amplifying Human Creativity with AI

The Art of Giving Feedback with Lonnie Weaver-Johnson

In this episode of the Reluctant Agilist, Dave Prior and Lonnie Weaver-Johnson delve into the intricacies of giving and receiving feedback. They explore personal experiences, the importance of empathy, and various models for effective feedback. The conversation emphasizes the need for clarity, intent, and kindness in feedback delivery, while also addressing the challenges of navigating feedback in professional settings. Lonnie shares her insights from years of experience in performance reviews and coaching, highlighting the significance of understanding individual differences in feedback reception.

Watch the video version here.

Listen to the audio version here.

Revolutionizing Team Coordination with Steady featuring Henry Poydar

In this conversation, Henry Poydar joins Dave on the podcast to discuss the innovative platform Steady, which aims to enhance team coordination and communication in the workplace. Henry shares his extensive background in engineering and web development, emphasizing the importance of context and intentions in project management. They explore the challenges of cross-team coordination, especially in the wake of the pandemic, and how Steady seeks to unburden teams from the coordination crisis. The discussion also highlights the concept of 'echoes' as a new way to provide contextual insights and the significance of celebrating individual contributions within teams. Overall, the conversation sheds light on the future of work and the role of technology in fostering collaboration and productivity.

You can find the podcast here.

The PMI Agile Alliance

Today PMI announced that The Agile Alliance was joining PMI to form the PMI Agile Alliance. This is obviously going to cause a great deal of debate in the Agile and project management communities. I am very excited about what this could mean for the future of Project Management and Agile - and here is why.

Louder Than Ten Goes Full CoOp!

Louder Than Ten is a Vancouver-based Project Management Training and Consulting company. L>10 was founded by Rachel and Travis Gertz, and for the past 14 years, everything they have done has been centered around fostering healthy and humane ways of working together and managing projects. There aren’t many organizations in the digital agency space that have taken the time to develop their own project management manifesto. It is truly a unique place and now, as they do, Rachel and Travis have cranked up the volume just a scosche higher by converting their company into a Worker Owned Cooperative. This means that new employees who join Louder than Ten will have an option to purchase a stake in the company and become an equal partner. This is a far cry from the sweatshop grind-it-out approach that many agencies take and it is definitely unique in the context of what is happening in the field of project management today. 

In this episode, Rachel and Travis join me to explain why they took this step to completely transform their company and how they went about doing it. 

You can find the video version of the interview here.

You can find the audio version of the interview here.

Also, as you can see from the picture above, they have some totally badass merch. If there is a project manager in your life, remember, the holidays are right around the corner.

Value Stream Management with Derek Huether

Derek Huether is back for this episode and we’re focusing on Value Stream Management. Value Stream Mapping is about understanding all the steps from the inception of an idea to putting something valuable in a customer's hands, and using that information to optimize the flow of value through the system. But, within a business, you will have many value streams and we need to understand how best to coordinate those streams to optimize the overall value generated by the company across multiple value streams. If your brain is wired for traditional project management, you could think of this as creating a system that optimizes a portfolio management level view of all the value streams in the org.

• Video version: https://youtu.be/nxGvpnWgoIM
• Audio version: https://on.soundcloud.com/dAVHR

Distributed Teams and the Five Lenses with Mark Kilby

Distributed Teams are always tough - even for seasoned pros. In this episode of the podcast, Mark Kilby joins me to utilize the Five Lenses of Humane Management to explore some of the wins and challenges from working on a distributed team we are both a part of. 

You can find the podcast here: https://bit.ly/3x7xvY8

The Five Lenses of Humane Management with Jim Benson

Jim Benson is back to explain The Five Lenses of Humane Management and how to use them to understand and design cultures and systems that support human collaboration.

I asked Jim to join me for this podcast because I’ve been studying the lenses and incorporating them into my work for about a year now. They have had a deep impact on me, the way I engage with teams, and the way I show up to collaborate with others. If you are interested in understanding how and why the groups you are working with are high-performing (or perhaps the opposite), you will find valuable insights in this interview.

You can find the interview here.

Knowing How to Measure Progress in Agile Transformation w/ Ross Beurmann

Ross Beurmann and I explore how to make sure you measure the right things to gain insights into how to improve your Agile Transformation. (And the impact measuring the wrong things can have on your agility to create lasting organizational change and deliver value for the company and your customer.)

The interview can be found here.

New Disciplined Agile Certifications from PMI with Scott Ambler

My interview with Disciplined Agile co-founder, Scott Ambler, on the new Agile Certifications being offered by the Project Management Institute.  We also discussed how things with Agile have evolved at PMI since it acquired Disciplined Agile and Alan Shalloway's FLEX in 2019.

You can find the interview here.

Agile Coaching Ethics with Shane Hastie

If you’ve been working as a coach or a consultant for any length of time you have run into situations where you have to make a decision about what the “right” thing to do actually is. Sometimes, it is pretty obvious, sometimes, not so much. Some professional organizations have established standards that credentialed professionals promise to adhere to. The International Coaching Federation has the ICF Code of Ethics and the Project Management Institute has a Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct. In January of 2020 the Agile Alliance launched the Agile Coaching Ethics Initiative. In January of 2021, they launched a draft of their Code of Ethical Conduct for Agile Coaching along with a set of scenarios to help clarify what is, and is not an appropriate response in a variety of complicated situations.

You can find the interview and more on this topic here: https://bit.ly/2Q1zWbI

The Agile Virtual Summit - Adam Weisbart Takes Over

This is a completely unique version of the podcast. For the first time since 2008, I’m giving up control of the show and in this episode, Adam Weisbart interviews me about the session I’ll be leading at the Agile Virtual Summit, some of the changes in the new Scrum Guide, and iocane powder.

You can check out the podcast here

The Agile Virtual Summit [Bite-Size!] takes place on March 31st. The event is Bite Size! because it is only 3 hours long (12 PM - 3 PM Eastern). I will be giving a presentation along with Tricia Broderick, Richard Lawrence, Nicole Spence-Goon, Dr. Dave Cornelius, and Heather Dunning. And the Keynote is being given by Lyssa Adkins, who you definitely do not want to miss. 

Also, it’s free!

You can register for the event here: https://AgileVirtualSummit.com/Dave

The Art of Coaching with Christine Converse and Ross Beurmann

Two of my colleagues from LeadingAgile, Christine Converse and Ross Beurmann join me for a conversation on the Art of Coaching. During the interview we discuss how paired coaching strengthens their ability to foster organizational change and help companies move towards business agility. We also explore the differences between coaching executives and coaching team members, how paired coaching works, and why it has become such a powerful approach for them. Along the way, they both offer lots of tips and techniques you can employ whether you are working as an Agile Coach or serving on a team trying to help them, and your organization raise its game with Agile. 

You can find the podcast here. 

ALSO, this podcast features a brand new theme song for the podcast that was created by Chris DeMakes. If the music or Chris’s voice sounds familiar, that’s because Chris is in the band Less Than Jake. He also has a podcast of his own where he interviews songwriters and producers about the art of creating great music. The podcast is called Chris DeMakes a Podcast and it is definitely worth checking out. 

Discussion on Changes to the 2020 Scrum Guide with Eric Tucker

The 2020 Scrum Guide is here. It's got changes which are subtle, but impactful. In this episode of the podcast, I am joined by Certified Scrum Trainer, Eric Tucker. During the interview we explore some of the changes to the guide and try to offer insight into how these may help teams adopt Scrum and also some things to watch out for. 

You can find the podcast here.

Disciplined Agile Training Event Recap with Tony Johnson

In part two of my interview with Crosswind PM's Tony Johnson,  Tony and I discuss his recent experience attending a PMI training on Disciplined Agile, PMI's overall approach with Agile and what that means for the larger PM and Agile communities.

You can find the interview here.

If you'd like to check out the first part of the interview, which explores some of the upcoming changes to the PMBOK and how that will impact the PMP Exam, you can find that here.

Agile Virtual Summit w/ Adam Weisbart

The Agile Virtual Summit is taking place on June 1-5. It's being run by Adam Weisbart and he's put together an amazing line up of though leaders from the Agile community (and beyond).  In this interview Adam and I talked about the podcast, why he put it together and why it is happening sooner than originally planned.  The list of speakers includes Diana Larsen, Lyssa Adkins, Jim Benson, Clinton Keith, Ronica Roth, and more.

During the conversation Adam and I also discussed some of the challenges we've both been working through as we transition to providing training 100% online. So, if you are struggling with getting your folks to engage (and keeping their attention), this interview should provide some help.

CLICK HERE FOR THE PODCAST

CLICK HERE FOR THE AGILE VIRTUAL SUMMIT

Remote Faciitation Best Practices and Anitpatterns with Mark Kilby

The impact of Covid-19 and the Corona Virus on how we interact with co-workers and teams is unlike anything we've seen before. Yes, you might have had some remote team members or been part of a distributed team, but we've never had a global situation where everyone had to work from home.

And it has made the easy things difficult and some of the difficult things easy.

Mark Kilby, is the co-author of the book From Chaos to Successfully Distributed Agile Teams, which he pair wrote with Johanna Rothman. In this episode of the podcast, Mark and talk about some of the things we've been learning about how to successfully engage in this new way and also, some of the things we've done, and seen others do, that bring on the sound of the sad trombone.

You can find the interview here.

Updates to the PMBOK with Tony Johnson

This is the first part of a two-part interview with Tony Johnson from Crosswind Learning. In this part of the interview Tony and I discuss the upcoming 7th edition of the PMBOK, the changes it will introduce, how the material has been reorganized and the inclusion of Agile. The changes to the standard are significant, and this is also going to have a big impact on the PMP exam, which we also discuss in the interview.
 
You can find the interview here.

(And make sure to check back for Part 2 where Tony and I discuss the recent Disciplined Agile training sessions he went through.)

Working in Quarantine - What We Learned - Week 1

Jessica Wolfe, Derek Huether and I recorded a Zoom call talking about what we learned after our first week of working under quarantine. This was recorded on 3/29 and we're going to try to make it a semi-regular thing. We're posting it on Derek's YouTube channel.