Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches

From Requirements Chaos to Story Mapping Success—How Planning Transforms Agile Teams | Carmela Then

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Jan 7, 2026

Carmela Then, a seasoned Business Analyst and Certified ScrumMaster with over 15 years in the financial and mining sectors, shares her insights on transforming Agile teams from chaos to clarity. She recounts her experience with teams diving into requirements without understanding, leading to confusion and burnout. Carmela highlights the power of structured workshops and story mapping to visualize processes, validate understanding through feedback loops, and prioritize effectively. Learn how a simple shift in planning can revolutionize team dynamics!

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ANECDOTE

Chaos From Jumping Into Requirements

Carmela Then joined a company where teams wrote requirements without understanding the end goal, causing massive rework and burnout.
The product owner repeatedly had to explain missed expectations until she said, "We can't continue to do this."

ADVICE

Run Pre-Kickoff Workshops And Playbacks

Run workshops that gather business stakeholders and SMEs to walk the end-to-end business process before writing stories.
Use playback sessions to validate the team's understanding with stakeholders before committing to development.

ADVICE

Use Story Mapping To Prioritize Work

Introduce story mapping to visualize the user journey and break major steps into smaller stories.
Distinguish well-understood stories to build now and allocate sprint time to investigate the 'hairy' ones.

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Carmela Then: From Requirements Chaos to Story Mapping Success—How Planning Transforms Agile Teams

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.

"We can't continue to do this. Something has to change." - Carmela Then

Carmela shares a story of organizational chaos that will resonate with many Agile practitioners. She joined a company where teams would jump straight into writing requirements without pausing to understand what they were trying to achieve. Vendor deliverables were thrown "over the fence" to internal technology teams with the assumption that everyone would magically know what to do. For almost a year, this pattern continued: teams writing stories on the fly while building, creating massive rework, confusion, and burnout.

The Product Owner faced constant stakeholder disappointment, having to explain what wasn't delivered and why. Then came the breakthrough moment—the PO reached out and said, "We can't continue to do this." Carmela introduced a structured approach: workshops that brought business stakeholders and subject matter experts together to walk through end-to-end business processes. She implemented story mapping—visualizing the journey from beginning to end, with each major step broken into smaller, actionable stories.

Critically, she built in feedback loops: playback sessions where the team validated their understanding with stakeholders before committing to development. The result? Teams could now distinguish between well-understood work they could start immediately and the "hairy" items that needed more investigation. The Product Owner could make informed prioritization decisions, and the entire team gained visibility into the bigger picture.

Self-reflection Question: How often does your team pause to map the full end-to-end journey before diving into requirements, and what might you be missing by skipping this step?

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About Carmela Then

Carmela is a Senior Business Analyst with 15+ years in financial and mining sectors. A Certified and Advanced ScrumMaster, she excels in leading agile initiatives, delivering business value, and aligning technical outcomes with strategic goals.

You can link with Carmela Then on LinkedIn.