Bio

I am Vice President and head of Training Services at LitheSpeed, where I deliver agile training and coaching.  I am an agile editor at InfoQ (www.infoQ.com), and a frequent speaker (Agile 20xx, Scrum Gathering, Agile Palooza, etc.).  I was an independent reviewer of the Project Management Institutes body of knowledge for agile.  I have 25+ years' experience delivering software and systems and I have been applying agile methods for 10+ years across the entire value stream from strategy and product ideation to development and support.  I have helped hundreds journey from plan driven to adaptive, resulting in increased returns and higher satisfaction.  

From 2008 through 2011 I was on the Board of Directors at the Center for Program Transformation (changing the way the US Government gets' IT done) where I prepared testimony that was presented in United States Senate Hearing and I contributed to federal legislation on IT Oversight.

From 1999 to 2004 I was a VP at JP Morgan Chase where I managed a successful eBanking transition to agile (Extreme Programming / XP with Kent Beck as our coach) and trained/coached teams on process improvement. 

In the 1990’s I was a member of the Software Program Managers Network (SPMN), a DoN Tri Service initiative, where I identified proven software best practices and conveyed them to managers of large-scale DoD system acquisition programs.  Also in the 1990’s I built an electronic commerce startup into a leading provider of catalogs and directories on the web.  Early in my career, I was a developer at Siemens Medical Systems and Senior Developer at Digital Systems Group.

In my career, I have created or significantly improved over a hundred systems, written hundreds of thousands lines of code, thousands of test cases, managed large groups, and worked at companies large (Fortune 50) and small (first person at Internet startup).  This allows me to deliver reality based training based on actual experience, not theory!

My Passion

Helping teams apply Scrum and agile variants (Lean, Kanban, etc.) to progress from average to good, and good to great.  

Workshops I Deliver

I deliver Certified ScrumMaster, Certified Product Owner, PMI-ACP Prep, Executive Agile Training, Agile Team Workshop and Agile Requirements Workshops.  I don't focus exclusively on CSM as I believe true success with Scrum comes from collaboration across role and function, so I train and coach across disciplines.

Why Should You Attend a Session of Mine?

I have a passion and energy that carry through in my workshops.  Each workshop combines hands on exercises, discussion and practice tests that will keep you engaged.  My training is reality based, not theoretical, and, although it will help you pass a test, more importantly the session will better position you and your teams for success in advancing the use of agile methods.

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