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Photo Credit- Sebastiaan ter Burg
If I was to charge a cent for each time someone asked me how they can be a scrum /agile Coach and/or ‘sharpen their hone’, I will be rich by now. Scrum mastery comes with experience and this takes time. However, you may be able to speed it up by leveraging on the agile community. The community has become a global space and it imperative you tap into that.
As a community builder, I can’t speak enough about the importance of networking and learning from peers. It has helped with my career growth and development immensely. A couple of the gigs that I secured were may possible partly because the recruiter/hiring person knows of me within the community.
You are your brand! Ask yourself- How will people find you? How will people know what you have to offer? If you can’t find answers to the questions, that fine. It is not too late to start either.
Suggested ways to get noticed in the agile community and grow as an agile practitioner. These are tried and tested by me and I hope you find them useful.
Attend meet-ups/webinars to learn from others and share your knowledge, connect with others in the agile space.
Sign up to speak. If the meet-ups organizers need speakers, sign up and share something you learned. Or better still, reach out to the Organisers and share your thoughts with them.
Write about things you’ve learned in a blog; you never know, someone else will benefit. It is easy to say the topic has been written in the past. However, you are sharing your experience and it is a fresh perspective.
Read other people’s blogs and comment if you have something to add and leave with takeaways.
Speak at conferences. You can start as a conference abstract reviewer to understand what organizers are seeking submissions.
When friends talk to you about being stuck on something at work, you can offer to help them see ways to improve. Of course, be careful not to be the annoying coach at parties! Make sure they are asking for help or ideas before you give advice.
Become part of online and offline discussions on platforms to promote agile or related topics. Don’t be afraid to be ‘wrong’. Remember! Everyone is right, only partially.
Learn, learn, and keep up to date on the prevailing subjects. Don’t limit yourself to agile and its frameworks. Explore topics such as Leadership, Psychology, etc
Adopt Agile mindset and help the fellow team members to adopt the same.
Don’t be a parrot. Some agile practitioners simply like talking. Don’t be the expert in the room. Don’t offer most of the ideas, invite others to contribute.
Don’t collect certificates, be practical. – Some practitioners collect certificates without even understanding the depth subject. Attend training/workshops to expand your knowledge.
Give a hand to your colleagues within the agile space. One good turn deserves another. Networking is the most productive way to secure your next gig.