A Dynamic Collaboration Between an Engineering Agile Coach & Talent People Leader

Not long ago, Elise Shapiro, CEC, CTC, PMP and I had the privilege of collaborating on a distinctive project that focused on enhancing career management within an organization, both from a functional and organizational perspective.

We were both enthusiastic about the prospect of joining forces, melding together principles of agility and a human-centered design approach. Swiftly, we united to assess the current landscape using data as our guide. Our initial step involved collaborative work on defining our key charter and formulating a specific objective and key result (OKR). Using the agile practice of “customer collaboration”, we curated a diverse pool of talent and engaged in empathy-driven interviews to gauge interest and participation. This phase led to the formulation of eight tailored questions for each interviewee, which we utilized during the interview process.

Following the conclusion of the interviews, we meticulously compiled the data and organized it into distinct categories: 'says,' 'thinks,' 'does,' and 'feels,' thereby creating a comprehensive empathy map. This enabled us to pinpoint both consistencies and discrepancies across the participant group, revealing key thematic threads. With this insightful groundwork, we transitioned to the ideation phase, employing both divergent and convergent thinking to brainstorm and refine pivotal concepts.

We then constructed a prototype, and quickly got feedback on it from our primary interviewees. We incorporated that feedback, and repeated the cycle several times, leaning into the agile practices of quick iteration with real customer interaction, until we had our minimum version, ready for release.

The fruit of our collaborative partnering manifested in a co-created career growth toolkit that catered to a diverse range of audiences, as our disparate experiences enabled us to create compelling tools for the entire population, from engineering to sales. This toolkit revolved around the fundamental pillars of "Who am I," "Where am I going," and "How do I get there." Each pillar was supported by an array of tools and resources carefully designed to aid individuals with career progression.

Our efforts not only culminated in the achievement of our defined OKR, but also garnered an overwhelming and positive response from Executive leaders, People Managers, and our talented workforce.

What a delight it was to partner and first hand experience how bringing agile and human-centered design frameworks together can swiftly create a dynamic solution. The partnership between People & Culture Partners and Agile Coaches to support individuals, teams and organizations with value added transformations are powerful, and we highly recommend it to others.?

Angie Cartwright & Elise Shapiro