2025-06-13 –, Backup
Agility isn’t optional in cybersecurity. Engineering teams have to respond to emerging threats, shifting requirements, and constant technical change — often all at once. Many turn to Scrum to manage the chaos, drawn by its promise of speed, predictability, and team cohesion. But over time, that promise can wear thin: Teams suffer meeting overload, sprint fatigue, and a persistent tug-of-war between urgent fixes and long-term investment.
At Graylog, we’re experimented with something different: Shape Up, a cycle-based framework designed to give teams high autonomy in a healthier cadence and with clearer boundaries. It’s not a cure-all, but it’s helped us rethink ownership, improve planning, and better balance new feature work with technical debt.
This talk is part story, part strategy, and part invitation. I’ll give a quick method overview and share what’s worked (and what hasn’t) - depending on the team, the org and the context. Most importantly, I hope to kick off a conversation around how we structure technical work when the stakes are high, the timelines are short, and the backlog seems bottomless.
I’m Martina Kohn, Director of Engineering at Graylog. While my focus is on core functionality and data management, my passion is improving the way we work as engineers. With a background in physics and experience across engineering, product, and project leadership roles, I care deeply about not just what we build - but how we build it.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martina-kohn-2b182498/