Welcome to the Coalition! Introduce yourself :-)

#248

Welcome to the coalition!

#249

Howdy, everyone. I was at the event Tuesday and was blown away by the thoughtfulness and depth of topics being discussed and jumped in here to keep up with the conversation!

Iā€™m Dallas Walker, and Iā€™m in the process of a career shift right now from ten years in the Culinary industry. I got fed up of the poor team dynamics and inefficient labor-to-pay ratio and am polishing myself up right now to get into the Web/Software Dev market soon!

Iā€™m a life-long problem-solver and leader who loves learning; my life goal is to work on substituting competitive models for co-operative ones. This community is SUPER enthralling to me, as the methods discussed here fit right in line with my intuitive sense of what a solid team environment should look like, and I canā€™t wait to be able to fit into such a system and start working towards being a part of a well-oiled human machine! Thanks again for the great event and the invite to this community!

#250

Welcome to the fold, Dallas. You definitely have come to a place for lively discussion by people that consistently blow me away.

You know what? Neither can I. :smiley: I might not be well-oiled, but working towards being in a team that makes a difference makes every day a little special.

Dive into the conversations. Ask questions and engage. I look forward to chatting.

#251

Welcome aboard Dallas! Like Brad said, feel free to jump right in, we welcome the conversation!

#252

Weā€™re starting a new experimentā€¦ using Patreon.com to crowd-source funding to help support the AU mission by covering our fixed overhead: hosting costs.

Become a Patron!

#253

Hi Everyone!

Iā€™m a Scrum Master at Hyland Software in the Cleveland, OH area. I followed a thread on Linkedin that lead me to this treasure trove and Iā€™m super excited to be able to connect and collaborate with other Agile Enthusiasts. In terms of personas, I would have to say that I am some sort of Susan the Scrum Master and David the Developer hybrid.

I have been on my Agile journey for 3 years. I started as a tester on a scrum team and became that teamā€™s part time Scrum Master. The Agility Enablement group at my company was influencing through ā€œguerilla tacticsā€ at the time and my QA manager quickly discovered the value a full time Scrum Master could provide. I became a Scrum Master for two more teams while still having a QA Analyst title, helping to pave the way for the Agility Enablement team to create Full Time Scrum Master roles in our company. Since then, weā€™ve embarked on a full blown Agile transformation at our company and I now support multiple teams both independent and part of SAFe programs.

I love experimenting with my teams and showing them the importance of Agile as a mindset. Itā€™s important for me to help open a teamā€™s eyes to engineering practices as well as process improvements. Being the teamā€™s therapist and conscience is probably the most rewarding aspect of this role that gets overlooked in most SM ā€œjob descriptionsā€ :grinning: The relationships that we cultivate whether itā€™s with the development team, the Product Owner, or those Executive leaders or influencers is so paramount to what we do but so easily overlooked. To do that well, Iā€™ve found that I rely heavily on mentors and there are great people in the Agile Community that are gracious in lending their time and knowledge and Iā€™m excited to have found another avenue to expand my network of colleagues.

I was lucky to have been selected to be a part of the Women in Agile2017 Lightning Talks for new and inexperienced speakers. I was teamed with a mentor to help prepare for the talk as well as introduced to a group of ā€œPower Houseā€ :sunglasses: Women that have since changed my perspective and influenced me in ways theyā€™ll never know. I look forward to connecting to more strong Women (and Men) in Agile and exchanging tips and tricks.

Thanks for letting me introduce myself!

#254

Hi there, Iā€™m Terry the Trainer :wink: Agile and Scrum trainer from Germany doing certification and introductory classes, some more advanced ones as well if I get the chance. Companies and organizations Iā€™ve worked for are from various backgrounds, such as IT startups, military, university / academia. Iā€™m also doing open classes with training provider companies. I have several years of training experience, but started out with software (JIRA mainly), from there I somehow got to Scrum and Agile about a year ago, after some experience as a practitioner in software rollout projects. By now Iā€™ve decided to be dedicated to training and some consulting. And so far, I really enjoy teaching the concepts.

Not necessarily looking for new clients as I have two small children and want to maintain some work-life balance as well. Iā€™m really here to exchange information and experience in the hopes to be able to continuously grow and improve as a trainer.

Glad to have found this forum and hope to meet many like-minded people. Grabbing a beer while Iā€™m here, too. Have a great day!

#255

Hi Linda, what you say about therapist is so true! Many people are so glad to find someone to talk to about their daily woes. And thatā€™s so understandable.

Congrats on being a speaker at Women in Agile2017, sounds intriguing! Iā€™ll definitively check that out - as long as the roles of PO and SM are so often referred to as ā€œHe isā€¦ā€ / ā€œHe doesā€¦ā€ out there I always think ā€œwell, okay, still some way to go hereā€
:wink:

Also, I found this forum the same way that you did. Maybe it was even the same LinkedIn thread? 8)

#256

Welcome. It sounds like your organization is making great strides towards an agile transition. If you havenā€™t already, I highly recommend you listen to the podcasts: http://podcast.agileuprising.com/ Youā€™ve only hit the top layer of the treasure trove! :grin:

#257

Welcome @lindapodder ! Iā€™m looking forward to hearing more about your experiments and hearing you speak at some Agile2018 events. What topics are you thinking about?

#258

HI @AnLeBe and @lindapodder,

I really look forward to learning from both of your experiences. And whilst I canā€™t drink beer, I will happily share a libation of some variety.

Welcome

#259

Agreeā€¦ if you have something to add, this thread might gain from it: Gender Diversity... it's about all of us every day!

#260

@lindapodder your audio from your talk was aired on the Agile Uprising Podcast. It was great meeting you in person at the Women in Agile event. http://po.st/SzHrJX

#261

Howdy all - My name is Jen Frahm and Iā€™m an organisational change practitioner based in Melbourne, Australia. I came to the Coalition from the podcast, which I have been fan of for sometime now. Increasingly my work has focused on agile themes and projects. I spoke at Agile Australia a couple of years ago on translating OCM for Agile (or how can a change practitioner add value to agile initiatives). My favourite quote is ā€œAs I learn, so do I teach, as I teach so do I learnā€ and that kinda sums up my life in agile at the moment! I do a lot of public speaking, published a book this year and I also host a podcast (Conversations of Change).

Outside of professional life I get very enthusiastic about wine, cooking, bushwalking and way too many TV series. Ya gotta shut off some-how.

#262

Heya Jen,

Pleased to see another Aussie on the boards. I have to ask, which reason and varietal is your poison for wine?

Welcome

#263

Alas @bradstokes I am varietally promiscuous and share the Jen love around many wineries and varieties. With the exception of Sauvignon Blanc. A gal has to have some standards. I do offer a special affection for champagne, a buttery chardonnay and a rich cab savā€¦ (and thank you for the welcome :slight_smile: )

#264

Ha! What a trip :slight_smile: It was great to meet you too!

#265

Thanks! Iā€™m trying to put together something on ā€œA Day in the Life of a Scrum Masterā€. Iā€™d like to highlight the fact that weā€™re not just event facilitators and showcase all the cool things we do with our teams. I found a really cool resource from a thread I was following on LinkedIn http://scrummasterchecklist.org/pdf/ScrumMaster_Checklist_12_unbranded.pdf that is helping to guide my outline.

#266

OK, since I volunteered for a podcast I guess Iā€™ll introduce myself :grin:

My name is Bob Bartz, currently a Scrum Master at PNC Bank in Pittsburgh. Iā€™ve worked in the Agile space as a Scrum Master/BA/QA since 2010 and fortunately am now with an organization that fully embraces agility at all levels. I first found out about this forum from @Scrummando after the Heart of Agile conference last year, and I canā€™t thank him enough for it.

To say Iā€™ve learned a lot of techniques and methods that have helped me improve my professional life is an understatement. All the podcasts, especially the Manifesto signer series, are great to hear and I really appreciate them. Before visiting here, I never heard of ā€œThe Goalā€ or ā€œThe Phoenix Projectā€. Iā€™ve read them both and am now working on ā€œThe DevOps Handbookā€. I never heard of Deming, and now Iā€™ve read a lot of about his findings and take them to heart on a regular basis. @andycleff I love the regular quotes from him you share since he always seems to be right!

Anyway, thanks again to all that make this place possible and I hope I can contribute where I can. Itā€™s always nice to hear about other folks on their own journeys.

#267

Glad to have you on board, Bob!!!

Also good to know thereā€™s at least one org in the US that fully embraces agility at all levels :slight_smile:

Share with us how that happened, we can steal from itā€¦

HOA brought a lot of us together one way or anotherā€¦ so more props and kudus to @Scrummando @cusack and others who made it possible.

Looking forward to hearing more about your journey - work + life ā€¦

And when your night stand starts to run low on books, we have plenty more as a group that weā€™ve lovedā€¦

I also have my own list going, with some overlap of the above:

And Iā€™m sure youā€™ve got some youā€™ve read that we should pick up as wellā€¦