Joanna Płaskonka, Ph.D.

Many teams turn to Scrum hoping for faster delivery, clearer priorities and better collaboration. What they often discover instead are overloaded backlogs, misunderstood roles, events that feel like pointless meetings rather than valuable conversations, and organizational structures that quietly pull them back into old ineffective patterns.

I help teams and leaders bridge that gap between Scrum-as-intended and Scrum-as-experienced.

I have a Ph.D. in Control Engineering & Robotics and over 15 years of experience across IT, telecommunications, banking, academia and robotics. I combine scientific thinking with a deeply human-centered approach to learning, leadership and product development. I’m a Professional Scrum Trainer, an Agile Kata trainer, Certified Action Learning Coach, OKR Coach, and a Team Psychological Safety expert.

The problems I help you solve

Organizations usually invite me when:

• You have Scrum in place, but priorities constantly shift and focus is impossible.
• The backlog is big, busy and overwhelming, with no clear Product Goal or strategy.
• People attend Scrum events but don’t understand their purpose — everything feels like a pointless ceremony, not a catalyst for value.
• Product Owners face competing stakeholders, unclear requirements and pressure to deliver everything.
• Leadership wants agility but operates with waterfall structures, functional silos and command-and-control habits.
• Teams don’t feel safe to speak up, challenge decisions or experiment, so improvement stalls.
• OKRs exist on slides, but don’t guide daily work or Sprint Goals.

How I help

My work is practical, experiential and rooted in real challenges — not theoretical exercises.

• Scrum that delivers
  I help teams achieve consistent increments of value through clearer goals, smaller bets, and strong Done practices.
• Teams that learn
  Using Agile Kata and Action Learning, teams develop the habits of continuous improvement, real inspection and thoughtful adaptation.
• Outcomes that matter
  I connect OKRs to product thinking and day-to-day decisions so teams know what matters, why it matters and how to measure progress.
• Psychological safety as a foundation
  I help organizations build environments where people can raise concerns early, explore ideas openly and collaborate honestly.
• Hypothesis-driven & scientific thinking
  Inspired by my engineering background, I help teams reduce risk by running experiments instead of relying on assumptions.
• Modern skills, including AI literacy
  I teach Scrum Masters, Product Owners and leaders how to use AI as a thinking partner, accelerating clarity, learning and decision-making.

My mission is to help organizations create systems where good results become repeatable — because when teams understand their goals, feel safe to collaborate, and work in short learning cycles, everything changes.

If your Scrum feels heavy, misunderstood or stuck, I’d be glad to support you in turning it into a way of working that is focused, human and truly effective.