{"podcast":{"title":"Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches","slug":"scrum-master-toolbox-podcast-agile-storytelling-from-the-trenches-445588","podcast_index_feed_id":445588,"rss_url":"https://scrummastertoolbox.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"http://www.scrum-master-toolbox.org/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/e/2/5/e/e25edab2a57e22f8/Scrummaster_toolbox_podcast_logo_v1.png","author":"Vasco Duarte","episode_count":200,"summary":"Every week day, Certified Scrum Master, Agile Coach and business consultant Vasco Duarte interviews Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches from all over the world to get you actionable advice, new tips and tricks, improve your craft as a Scrum Master with daily doses of inspiring conversations with Scrum Masters from the all over the world. Stay tuned for BONUS episodes when we interview Agile gurus and other thought leaders in the business space to bring you the Agile Business perspective you need to succeed as a Scrum Master. Some of the topics we discuss include: Agile Business, Agile Strategy, Retrospectives, Team motivation, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Backlog Refinement, Scaling Scrum, Lean Startup, Test Driven Development (TDD), Behavior Driven Development (BDD), Paper Prototyping, QA in Scrum, the role of agile managers, servant leadership, agile coaching, and more!","last_synced_at":"2026-07-27T20:18:41.285145+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/scrum-master-toolbox-podcast-agile-storytelling-from-the-trenches-445588"},"episode":{"title":"Why Saying Yes to Every Stakeholder Request Is the Fastest Way to Fail as a Product Owner | Njegos Ilic","slug":"why-saying-yes-to-every-stakeholder-request-is-the-fastest-way-to-fail-as-a-product-owner-njegos-ilic","published_at":"2026-05-25T10:05:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/scrum-master-toolbox-podcast-agile-storytelling-from-the-trenches-445588/why-saying-yes-to-every-stakeholder-request-is-the-fastest-way-to-fail-as-a-product-owner-njegos-ilic","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/scrum-master-toolbox-podcast-agile-storytelling-from-the-trenches-445588","url":"https://scrummastertoolbox.libsyn.com/why-saying-yes-to-every-stakeholder-request-is-the-fastest-way-to-fail-as-a-product-owner-njegos-ilic","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/scrummastertoolbox/20260525_Njegos_Ilic_M.mp3?dest-id=246429","summary":"Njegos Ilic: Why Saying Yes to Every Stakeholder Request Is the Fastest Way to Fail as a Product Owner 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 . \"The game is rigged because they are strong personalities, they want to get things done, but you don't have a magic stick — it's really hard to deliver results if you cannot say no.\" - Njegos Ilic Njegos shares a failure from early in his career as a product owner in startup environments, where he found himself saying yes to every stakeholder request. Working with strong-willed founders who expected things done their way, Njegos fell into the trap of trying to please everyone — building everything that was asked without pushing back. The result was predictable: scattered priorities, no room to pivot, and a product backlog driven by the loudest voice in the room rather than real user needs. But Njegos frames this failure with a perspective that product owners at any stage can learn from. He compares the learning process to watching children learn to walk — stumbling and falling is not a sign of weakness, it's a necessary step in the process of growing. His advice to product owners currently stuck in this pattern: don't try to avoid failures too hard, because you might prevent yourself from learning the most important lessons. Instead, treat failure as a feedback loop — something happened, you can measure it, and you can change your approach. The key is doing the actual work of reflection: What did I do? What should have been different? What wasn't possible to change, and why? Self-reflection Question: When was the last time you said yes to a stakeholder request even though your gut told you…","meta_description":"Njegos Ilic: Why Saying Yes to Every Stakeholder Request Is the Fastest Way to Fail as a Product Owner Read the full Show Notes and search through the wor…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":881,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/scrum-master-toolbox-podcast-agile-storytelling-from-the-trenches-445588/episodes/why-saying-yes-to-every-stakeholder-request-is-the-fastest-way-to-fail-as-a-product-owner-njegos-ilic/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/scrum-master-toolbox-podcast-agile-storytelling-from-the-trenches-445588/why-saying-yes-to-every-stakeholder-request-is-the-fastest-way-to-fail-as-a-product-owner-njegos-ilic.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}