The Quick Brown Fox

I signed up for one of those WordPress "how to blog" classes in hopes that I will learn something and get a little bit more disciplined about this! The first assignment is to write a "who I am and why am I here" post. As good a place to start as any. (This blog isn't on WP but one of my other ones is, and this blog needs more attention, so.) Who am I, though? I'm a mid-life wanna-be career changer. I'm fascinated by everything I've come into contact with since my introduction to agile practices three years ago. I don't know if they can save the world, but they can certainly make us less miserable while we go about our work, which is a step in the right direction. I'm a very reserved person and don't share myself easily, which can come across as being detached or diffident, but is really just a reflection of the fact that I'm very introverted and have a degree of social anxiety; trust is a slow process for me. I have a family and a...

Today is my Scrum Master anniversary! I got my certification back in May of last year, but it was on this day in 2016 that I was voluntold into the role (which I jumped at, although not before telling the manager in question that he was never to do that again). It has been quite a year. I have often entertained the thought that the CSM certification is basically your entrance point into apprenticeship. The mechanics are one thing, but you're not going to learn how they work except by doing it, and that's going to be a multi-year process. It has been a rewarding year in a lot of ways. I've balanced being a Scrum Master with my existing role in the company (do not recommend that as a practice) and only lost my temper about it a few times. I've led what feels like a million meetings -- standups, retrospectives, backlog refinement sessions.... I've done a lot of new things -- went to the Agile Games, did some impov there, read a lot of books, met some cool people, l...