By Skip Angel
Helping others. That’s been my purpose in life at even an early age. When I saw somebody in need, I was there to help. When a fellow student didn’t understand an assignment or how to apply something new that they learned, I was usually there helping them figure it out. As a developer starting out my career, I often paired with other developers and worked through solutions, well before agile came into being. As a manager, the chance to mentor others and improve processes to make life easier for others was the parts of the job I enjoyed the most. I guess you could say I was destined to become a coach, it seemed to be part of my DNA.
After learning and applying Scrum to an organization where I was the Chief Technology Officer, I realized that I needed to help other organizations as an external coach. Some thought I was crazy, giving up a key position in a stable company in very unstable times. Though there have been risks, the rewards that have come with coaching far outweigh them. I have been involved in both small and large organizations, with various size teams across many locations throughout the world. There is no better thrill than when a person comes up to me and says, “I now know what you have been talking to us about and I get it.” My goal for every company is to reduce the pain of delivering software and bring the fun back so people enjoy their jobs. My greatest joy is when my coaching makes a difference to the operations and bottom line of the business. It is these situations that drive me towards continual growth and improvement in my role.
