About me

Professional Summary

Below is a concise and straightforward summary of my professional experience:

Serving as a Scrum Master, integral to a team.
Working as an Agile Coach, implementing agile on a large scale.
Functioning as a Manager, leading a team of Agile Coaches.
Taking on the role of a Product Owner, developing an agility service.
Participating as a member of an org change and design team.
Managing a project for the migration from Jira to Azure.
Contributing as a member of a start-up team.
Acting as a Trainer, instructing in Scrum and Agile methodologies.

If you would like know more about me, please keep scrolling down.

Skills

Agile Scrum Leadership Product Ownership Smart scaling / descaling
Organisational design Facilitation Team building Process setting up

My Super powers

Everyone has them, what are yours?

2021-now

Serving as a Scrum Master, integral to a team

Being an effective part of a team is the only way to truly understand the underlying realities. It allows you to sense the system and offer informed advice. The role of a Scrum Master extends beyond merely mastering the Jira process; it involves serving the organization, the team, and the product owner, necessitating experience in each of these areas. Acquiring this experience has taken considerable time, which is why I prioritize working in this role, at least for now.

However, there are drawbacks to this role. Decisions at the organizational design/culture level are often made by individuals who are not part of any development team, which is unfortunate. Establishing partnerships at this level requires a different perspective, a holistic view, and an understanding of how various system components interact. There are two or three ways to achieve this: open communication (the best but most challenging option), a strong community of Scrum Masters (the second-best option), and having an agile coach (the third-best option, which should lay the groundwork for a journey that incorporates the first two strategies).

2016-2020

Working as an Agile Coach, implementing agile on a large scale

I began my journey as a Scrum Master for a single team at a time when our company had little interest in Scrum, with perhaps only myself and the customer I was serving showing any enthusiasm. We quietly started implementing our strategies, and I attended Scrum training sessions alone, as no one else was interested.

Then, around 2015, the concept of "agile transformation" began to gain traction within our company. Being chosen as one of three agile coaches to facilitate the transformation of our 1,000-person company was both an immense learning opportunity and a significant challenge. I worked as an agile coach for 3-10 teams in a specific area and was part of the transformation team, which consisted of one CEO, 5-12 directors, one project manager, three agile coaches, and two external agile coaches. We managed the entire process of major change, starting from a pilot involving 10 teams, through preparing everything from a team's starter kit to organizational structure changes, and even creating slides for town-hall meetings. This journey was a rollercoaster that provided me with unique experiences at every level of the company.

A firm belief I consistently voiced was, "Agile transformation will begin, not end, with structural change." After a year, I transitioned to working as an agile coach for 10 teams, supporting them in adopting agile methodologies. This was a focused role that didn’t last very long. During this time, I received a specific request from my leader.

2017-2020

Functioning as a Manager, leading a team of Agile Coaches

There are certain requests you simply can't turn down. This was one of them. I was offered the role of leading a newly formed chapter of agile coaches. Eager to involve my team in this decision, we held a session where my new role was introduced and we sought their feedback. They gave their approval. At the time, I naively thought that this promotion wouldn't change much, but I soon realized how much it actually altered things.

As a Scrum Master or agile coach, the focus was always on the team. Although a team consists of individuals, it was the team's interests that were paramount. However, as a people manager responsible for an individual employee, the question arose: whose interests are more important, the team's or the individual's? It's ideal when they align, but what happens when they don't?

During this period, I understood that being at different levels in the organization changes perspectives. It may not always be the case, but it was my experience. A colleague of mine used to say, "different people are different," so you never can be sure how others perceive hierarchy, or how having the authority to make decisions about the team or individual salaries will affect your colleagues.

As a company, we weren't prepared for the changes I envisioned: team-based decision-making about salaries, no individual awards but only team-based ones, eliminating performance reviews, etc. We were even excluded from a competition because I nominated the entire team instead of an individual. This experience taught me that sometimes patience is necessary. One person alone cannot effect substantial and lasting change; it takes time and collective effort.

2018-2019

Taking on the role of a Product Owner, developing an agility service

If you know me you probably heard me speaking: Product Owner is most difficult role in the world (sometimes I tend to exaggerate). I let myself to share this opinion as I really tried to be a PO. Our team needed a guidance. We need direction. So we decided to work as a scrum team building own product (in our case that was agility service to build learning organisation). We organise a PO role contest, every team member could candidate. I did. And majority of team voted for me. I created a backlog, started working with stakeholder, we built our service NPS survey.. the first results were horrific. But it was very good staring point. We build a vision, a plan, bring some structure to our work. I felt that we really started managing our service, start to scale our work (10 AC for 2000 people), becoming an expert in our expertise. Every sprint we organised sprint reviews to gather feedback and make our work better. It was fun although planning sessions were a nightmare in the beginning. It was one year adventure, where our surveys results grown up for almost 4 points (10 scale). When let's say our service was structured enough, stabilised and area maturity differentiate a lot we decide to work as Center of Expertise based on stakeholder agreement and decided leave scrum and PO role behind us.

2019-2020

Participating as a member of an org change and design team

Scrum is not fitted for every team. Agility can be. In our entity we experiment with few of settings, scrum for devs, scrum for non-dev, kanban board for service team, parts of scrum in 24/7 service desk.

In this very fast growing company there was a need for new way of working not only for one hub but for few hubs, worldwide. Not only in development work but also for service based teams, with queues, manuals etc. We need to design agile way of working across many entities but also agile way itself needed to be different and we cannot pushed scrum everywhere. It was fun, instead of lots of travels and observation of teams needs we did majority of work during pandemic lockdown. I learned how to design big structure in the environment that you cannot wait until way of working will emerge. And no matter how difficult it is you have to involved people who know the context.

2020

Managing a project for the migration from Jira to Azure

I am a passionate advocate for product development. Many assume that running a project should mirror product development, but my experience (and hopefully not yours) has shown that it's not always the case. Although I lack formal project management knowledge and wouldn't label myself as a project manager, I once took on a project. My motivation was to demonstrate that numerous activities could be effectively managed using planned, time-boxed iterations, and feedback loops.

Initially, I found the process quite challenging. My effort wasn't focused on merely checking status or completing tasks for others; instead, I concentrated on engaging the right people and fostering a sense of collective responsibility for the final delivery. I left the company before the project concluded, so I can't comment on its end state. However, I believe we laid a solid foundation together. I later learned that the project was successfully completed and the work was well-received.

2021

Contributing as a member of a start-up team

Working at a start-up is incredible and an excellent environment to learn about true accountability. I served as a Scrum Master (SM) there for only four months, and during most of that time, I felt that the team didn't really need me. They were working on a single product, with one key stakeholder and one application. Moreover, the team had been collaborating for several years, creating a cohesive and efficient unit.

Starting a professional career in a start-up would be ideal, especially when every sprint could potentially be your last. In such a dynamic environment, there's a palpable sense of urgency and innovation, where nothing seems impossible, and every task or challenge presents an opportunity to learn and grow. The start-up atmosphere is uniquely conducive to developing a wide range of skills and gaining a deeper understanding of accountability in a business context.

2016-2020

Acting as a Trainer, instructing in Scrum and Agile methodologies

If you're still with me, send me a ninja emoji on Instagram – reading this much about me is quite impressive! Thank you. Here's the last paragraph:

I could say that the first training my colleague and I created together was one of the most popular in the history of our internal academy, marking the beginning of a new era in training approaches. We decided that the training wouldn't be mandatory, open only to those genuinely interested. To our delight, it became so sought-after that we had a waiting list. I relish the role of a trainer, creating engaging sessions, involving participants, and assessing what they've learned by the end.

So, why do I mention this last? Currently, I rarely conduct trainings. I'm still capable, but my interest has shifted. While trainings are beneficial, they often lean heavily on theory. My focus has always been on practical application. I'd rather organize a workshop with a team to address real issues than deliver theoretical knowledge from a Scrum guide.

If your company needs a training session, I'm available. However, let's establish some prerequisites first: I need to understand your organization's context, ensure there's a follow-up plan for the knowledge imparted (e.g., by a Scrum Master), and possibly co-run it with someone to build authority for change agents. This is crucial for me because I aim to contribute to effective change. Training sessions are just the starting point.

Education

2003-2008

University of Economics in Katowice

Computer science and econometrics

PS. I was learning about AI that time (really ;))

Interests

I enjoy reading books, gardening, and walking in the mountains.

Additionally, I am passionate about agility, so much and I could spend hours on agile way of working discussion. So I have included it also as my interests.

However, at work, I don't talk about agility at all. Only implement this ways of working.