Exclusive Trusted Magazine Q&A with Agnė Kelminskienė, CEO
How could you describe your career path in a few words?
My career has been mostly driven by my curiosity. As a generalist, I’ve sought to expose myself to a variety of fields - communications, finance, and technology. While my journey hasn’t followed a straight line, looking back, every step seems to connect in a meaningful way.
During my time at Nasdaq on the product management team, I discovered my passion for product development. I was always on the lookout for ways to add more value, even when it didn’t quite fit my job description. This realization led me to make a (scary at the time) career shift to become a scrum master.
My focus on value helped me progress quickly from a junior role to a senior position, and then to management in just one year. I loved the impact I was making, so I broadened my impact area and skillset to become an agile coach.
Eventually, I felt ready to explore even more diverse contexts. Not just within organizations, but across different industries, locations, and cultures. So, I left a stable in-house role for a consulting career. This journey ultimately led me to co-found a consultancy firm Fragile Consultants focused on increasing value delivery at tech product companies.
How do you think agile practices have transformed companies over the past two years?
Agile’s been a game-changer for a lot of companies. For some, it’s still this eye-opening experience, while for others, it’s just how they operate now.
One big shift I’ve noticed is that companies are leaning more into systemic thinking. It’s not just about self-managing teams anymore. It’s about being adaptable at all levels. Teams are more fluid, and dynamic reteaming is becoming more common. Companies are experimenting with virtual teams and new ways of working to meet market needs, prioritizing systemic adjustments over structural changes.
It’s also pretty exciting to see agile practices breaking out of the tech bubble and into areas like human resources, sales, and marketing. It’s helping everyone speak the same language and work towards the same goals, which is a huge win for efficiency.
What successful cases of agile transformations have you had the opportunity to observe that have particularly stood out to you?
I saw a great transformation where we brought together a bunch of product teams that were originally operating in their own silos. We united them into one big, aligned system, with shared practices and a single source of truth.
I think it worked out, because we didn’t try to change everything overnight. We took it one product at a time, which helped us see quick results and get other teams on board. Trust was a big part of it as well. We set up feedback loops to manage risks without killing the teams’ sense of ownership. We focused on changing the way people thought about things, not just how they did them. That way, even when the main drivers of the change moved on, the improvements stuck around.
Of course, the journey wasn’t without its challenges. Some team members were skeptical about the need for change, while others were hesitant to invest time in learning new things. There were also fears around increased transparency and the potential loss of informal advantages.
What really helped was our commitment to keep everyone involved, and normalizing the fact that change is hard. If it doesn’t feel tough, we might not be pushing the boundaries enough.
Will agile practices continue to generate interest? What challenges do you see in the context of deploying these practices?
There’s always going to be interest in practices that help companies make more money by keeping customers happy. It’s all about having teams that are well-aligned, organized, and quick on their feet. Agile isn’t the only way to do that, but it’s definitely a popular option because it helps companies stay on top of changing market needs.
The real challenge though, is how much we, as leaders, are willing to challenge the status quo ourselves, instead of waiting for somebody else to do that for us. Are we committed to continuous improvement and innovation. Aren’t we relying too heavily on ready-made solutions?
As long as we’re ready to adapt to the ever-changing market needs and consistently deliver value, we’ll find the right practices, agile or otherwise, that fit our goals.