Mike Barlotta - I am a Certified Scrum Professional and Scrum Master. I come with a background in Software architecture and development particularly with Java and Open Source technologies.

I had heard of Scrum and read various articles on the topic but was thrown in the deep end on a project I was asked to lead in 2009. The Scrum Master / Architecht had left the company and I was asked to fill both roles. After trying to re-motivate the team and manage the project using Scrum for a couple weeks, I took the Scrum Master class through Scrum Alliance. Having a better handle on how to manage using these practices and principles I was able to return to the project and begin building up the team helping them not just use some Scrum techniques but turn the project around as well.

Having a positive experience with Scrum, I was able to convince my management team to try it on a new and larger development effort. Scrum helped us manage a very difficult and aggressive schedule by gaining the trust of the client through sprint reviews and detailed release plans. Management saw the value in how we were able to relate to the client and provide detailed information regarding planned features and the impact of change. They adopted the Scrum and agile processes for the other projects they were managing and asked me to train the development teams and find and train up additional Scrum Masters.

For the last three years, I have been running Scrum teams and coaching future Scrum Masters at Booz Allen Hamilton.