Agile Software Development
Created:
In 2005 I was attending university, one year to go. I was also working for a credit union in Ohio. I promised myself that if I worked at the same place, in the same capacity, one year after graduation, I wouldn’t be working there anymore.
Two years and many twists, turns, bumps, bruises, and bouts of depression later.
One year after graduating, I quit. Having no income, job, or prospects, I moved out of my apartment and into the house of a friend I had been housesitting for. (It was her idea, and I initially turned it down.) I consolidated and purged everything I owned until I could fit it all in my used Hyundai Elantra from circa 2000.
I probably could have gone back to the boutique advertising agency I worked at for a while, but after reflecting on life and reading a couple of self-help books in her library, I decided I needed to get out of Ohio.
I found a roommate situation in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved there.
Long story short. (The story has been moved.)
In 2011 I was formally introduced to the terms “Agile” and “Scrum.”
I went home that night and tried to find all the canonical and primary resources I could to get a feel for what “the industry” thought this was all about. My two main artifacts were the: The Manifesto for Agile Software Development and The Scrum Guide.
I started looking up who the original signers were and following them on social media. I started soaking up as much content as I could; Kent Beck, Ken Schwaber, and “Pragmatic” Dave Thomas were the biggies for me.
I took a training class from Scrum.org, and, if you pardon the name drop, it was taught by Ken Schwaber (co-creator of Scrum). At the time, there were only two levels of the Professional Scrum Master certification. After the class, I asked Ken if he had any tips, tricks, or hints to help with that certification. He made a great show of pondering what was delivered like a practiced answer:
Most people mess up on the written portion. They think of it as an opportunity to show how brilliant they are. That’s not the point. The point is to demonstrate how you’re going to help other people show how brilliant they are.
I was sold.
Scrum.org and Ken Schwaber were of “my tribe,” so to speak.
A year or two later, I went to a weeklong boot camp with Lyssa Adkins and “the Michaels” from the Agile Coaching Institute before selling it.
I determined they, too, were “my tribe.”
During this time, I also spent a year as a corporate developer. The experience was so horrible chances are I’ll never accept a developer position for corporate ever again.
But I’m willing to help improve the corporate experience to be more enjoyable as a coach and consultant.