A True Story of Agile Coaching in Ukrainian Armed Forces
I will share a true story of how a Ukrainian Agile Coach dramatically changed his role and became a military officer in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, a company lead of 150 soldiers. Imagine you are suddenly responsible for the well-being and lives of 150 people. People that you haven’t chosen, you didn’t have interviews with, people that you cannot change or fire, you’ve got what you have got, and you need to lead them into the successful execution of the battle tasks during war.
What leadership style to choose to lead 150 armed men? How to build a strong and cohesive unit? How to make people trust and listen to you? Can you and your officers, sergeants and soldiers benefit from your Agile Coaching experience? It turned out that yes, definitely!
I will share how instead of traditional Command and Control style I have consistently moved To Enable Leadership On Every Level of the Company. Examples of how knowledge of Cynefin, Management 3.0, Daniel Pink’s motivation theory, values of empathy, scrum, trust, and transparency have helped to build a very strong company unit that was an example for others.
My story shows that true belief in Agile values and principles and People first approach can make a huge difference in any industry, if it is an enterprise organisation, start up or military unit in the war.
Dmytro Yarmak is a Certified Facilitator and Coach, and experienced Agile expert. Dmytro has a proven track record of excellence in the management consulting industry, particularly within the frameworks of SAFe, Scrum and OKR. His extensive professional journey spans 14 years in the IT sector, with a solid foundation in software development. Over the past decade, Dmytro demonstrated dynamic leadership across more than 30 teams based in Ukraine, Denmark, Germany, and Italy.
Dmytro has effectively led product development departments comprising over 120 team members and driven Agile and IT Transformations in large enterprises. He has designed, launched, and led comprehensive long-term training programs focusing on leadership, facilitation, product ownership, and scrum mastery topics.
Dmytro served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, where he was entrusted as a company lead for 150 individuals. This experience significantly shaped his leadership style and fortified capacity to handle complex situations and challenges.
Currently, Dmytro is leveraging his diverse professional experience and expertise in expanding consultancy business across Europe, with a primary focus on promoting agility, efficiency, and growth for his clients.