“Knowing how something originated often is the best clue to how it works.”
—Terrence Deacon
Shortly after earning my MBA by going to night school, I was confronted with the first layoff at my company ever. And it was massive. Even though I was pretty sure I would get through unscathed, the remote chance of having to explain to my family that I was jobless seared the unpleasant thought of that possibility into my mind forever. Fortunately, I was spared. But I came to the realization that I needed a skill that was portable between companies and industries. My second realization was that “you are only as valuable to your current company as you are to someone else.” So after much thought, I picked a career and worked my way into project management and leading projects. This role was hard work for me and I knew that there had to be a better way to get all the stuff done. What annoyed me no end was that a bright acquaintance of mine, Jane, would often show off a how-to booklet she had written on how to do projects, but had never shared even when I asked about it. But then, a miracle occurred that would soon put me on a new and exciting path.
Around this time, a new contractor named Paul arrived on our floor in a high-rise building in the heart of downtown Chicago. I had the chance to see his resume. Clearly, Paul was a battle-seasoned, dyed-in-the-wool, project manager. In fact, he had published some of his ideas and was even interviewed by one of the two best-known Chicago newspapers on his unique, successful vision. By vision, I mean his interpretation of what the future should look like. One day, he asked me if I wanted to get better at getting projects into production better, faster, and cheaper. To that offer I gladly accepted. He took on responsibility for being my coach. Once I gradually got to trust his methods, and used them, my in-flight projects, which we were using as an experiential-lab/testing-ground, were getting done so well that it was rare to get any backlash from implementations. As I understood Paul’s method more and more, I was able to apply his day-to-day teachings for many years to come as they were practical and intuitive. Before long, I had settled into a successful 15-year stint as Project Manager, at the large, well-known telecom firm. Honestly, managing projects had become pretty easy (Well, passing those challenging project audits, where the “right” method changed monthly, was always a challenge for me). Due to my friend Paul, I now had that portable, marketable skill; that of effective project management. And, I have no need to look at Jane’s magic project-booklet, because my intuition tells me that the stuff that Paul taught me and how my understanding of it evolved over the years make Jane’s booklet less than useless to me now (no, that is not her real name).
Soon after, I began to feel a responsibility to pay forward Paul’s favor to others who needed similar assistance. Plus, I had vowed never to be a “Jane.” After much consideration, I crafted my vision statement to personally address the dislocated, or potentially dislocated professionals; “Sharing with professionals the job skills that improve their ability to remain gainfully employed, and provide those skills so that they can take them to their next career as their current skills age out.” To implement this, I teach college courses in my free time on team building, communication, project management, risk management etc. My vision leads me to meet very interesting, often brilliant people, develop new skills, and has provided interesting recognitions along the way, though I must admit that the Chicago Tribune has not interviewed me yet (smile!). My vision has moved me into creating this book with the intent of sharing the “how to” of Agile Scrum so that others can partake in the rewards that people who are good at Agile have been experiencing. What I have noticed is that Agile Scrum is similar in many ways to the style of team leadership that Paul taught me many years ago. I suspect that is why learning this has felt so natural to me.
As for the path forward, I will break down the process of Agile Scrum in the same way Paul had broken down Project Management for me years ago.
Although after reading this book some project managers may feel that AgileScrumMasters will get to replace them, this is not the case. When a project effort must complete all requirements, there is significant risk to the performing organization or stakeholder community, each requirement must be explicitly captured, and/or it is necessary to have all in-scope items approved by many, then classical project management definitely has a place. That is, there are some projects that will work best with project management methodologies.
While writing this, I have made an intentional effort to integrate the jargon of our Agile culture into the lexicon used for this book. I am a firm believer that once you have an intimate understanding of the words used in a process to the point you can effectively speak them yourself, then understanding the process is orders of magnitude easier. My goal for this book is that it will leave you in a better position in your career as you learn how to enact change in an organization. And in using this awesome new methodology, you will be achieving outstanding results through team collaboration. My second desire is that you, through what is presented in this book, and through your experiences trying out what you learn here, will be in a solid position to share this knowledge with others. I suspect you will enjoy your Agile journey and I am excited to share with you the body of knowledge that makes it a pleasure for me to start my work day.
Brian Vanderjack, PMP, MBA
Agile Coach—For the Best Telecom in the World
Principal Trainer—PMHighway LLC