My Agile Epiphany

From low bottom to over the top in little over 2 years.

September 2019: my last day as a communication manager. I am having some drinks with my former colleagues. Now what? I had no clue. At that moment, I didn't know anything about Agile, anything about Scrum or Lean or Wemanity. First, rest. I had kind of lost my purpose, I just knew I didn’t want to keep working in communication. Maybe I could be a project manager. Or I should open a bakery. Maybe I could just travel and look around for inspiration?

A couple of months later, I was having dinner with friends. We were talking about jobs, how my last one, as it turned out, wasn’t a perfect match like I expected and how, at that point, I really had no clue what to do next. A friend said:

“You should be a Scrum Master, I think it’ll suit you.”

“A what?” I had never heard of it. Since I’m a rugby player, Scrum Master has a totally different meaning and it didn’t make a lot of sense…

During part of that night, we talked a bit about Scrum and Agile, what it can do for companies and how, according to my friend, my personality would be a good fit for that environment. I don't know why, but that conversation really stuck in my head.. I guess it was meant to be. The next day, I reached out to one of my brothers, asking him about Agile. His answer was pretty straightforward: “Have you lived in a cave? Of course I know Agile, everyone knows about Agile!” The rest of the conversation was very valuable to me. He’s the one who suggested that I read “Scrum and XP from the Trenches” by Henrik Kniberg, as well as the Scrum Guide of course. We discussed how it could fit me, but that it was a hard role to pick up. That there were many Scrum Master out there but that becoming a great one might take some extra effort.

I read that book in less than 5 days. I’ve never been so captivated by a non-fiction book before (spoiler alert: it happens to me all the time now). Each single chapter was an eye-opener for me. How had I never heard about Agile? How is it that I’d spent 30 years of my life living and working without being aware of that mindset which just perfectly suits my soul. I still don’t know. I think my sector, the non-profit/cultural sector, was not ready back then. That it seemed to only be fit for IT companies (#SoWrong). That it was not promoted outside of that world. I had been blind. But now I wasn’t anymore. And a whole new world was opening his doors to me and my curious mind.

The next couple of months went great. I had my fire back. This was exactly what I wanted to do. This was the new me. I took a class about Scrum to finish building my theoretical knowledge and found a scholarship type fund from Actiris International that was allowing me to do an internship to practise my brand new knowledge. Then Covid came and everything stopped. I was hoping to go abroad and practise Scrum, but the companies I reached out to had other important problems to tackle and welcoming an intern is always an uncertain thing.

Looking back, that time was actually valuable. I put a hold on my burning need to experiment. But I kept reading, digesting all the topics, understanding my previous path and how it had led me to that moment. I was going to be a Scrum Master, maybe an Agile coach later. I was going to use all my communication knowledge, my soft skills and my competences in the area of people and building relationships to help others, teams and organisations work better. I had my new purpose.

When I heard back from Wemanity NL, in order to schedule a call about an internship, I was euphoric. It was the perfect company! Firstly, from the story told on their website to their values, their purpose and how they wanted to work… It all really connected with me. Secondly, the offices were located in The Netherlands. I was finally going to be able to practise my Dutch. And they also had an office in Brussels, which could become convenient if I decided to move back to Belgium after my 6 month internship (and if they wanted me to). The way I remember the call is the perfect example of that mindset I love. They said “well, we’ve never had an intern coach/scrum master before…” I thought it was a polite way of saying thanks but no thanks. Then they continued “we don’t really see why not. Let’s experiment, we’ll see how we can best make it a fit for you”. I couldn’t wait to start.

I moved to the Netherlands in October 2020, around a year after my “Agile epiphany”. Then Covid came. Again. It was the second lockdown for The Netherlands, and I was 100% working from home for a new company, in a new country. It could sound scary, but actually, I was doing fine. Better, I was doing great. Wemanity works with ‘Pods’ (sub-groups of coaches) and I was directly assigned a buddy, which means I had calls with colleagues all the time. What a great way to start! I was reading more books, learning more about Agile... A month later, thanks to a colleague's paternity leave, an opportunity arose and I started working for Ahold IT. I finally had the opportunity to work with teams, be on the field and practise what I thought was a good fit for me. The good news is, it seems like for Ahold and for Wemanity, it was a good fit too. When my colleague came back, I stuck around, being a Scrum Master for 2 teams and supporting the department in the changes that were coming. In February 2021, even though I still had 3 more months to go with my internship, Wemanity NL suggested hiring me so I decided to stick around.

I’ve been working for Wemanity and Ahold for a year and a half now. I’m still enjoying every second of it. Wemanity is for sure the best place to grow. I’m now an Agile Coach within the same department of Ahold, working with teams and Scrum Masters to see how I can best help them and challenge them to grow.

So now, looking back, I’m so happy I kept my eyes and ears open. What an incredible 2.5 years. Of course I don’t know what’s coming for me. But I’ll keep growing, helping companies and teams by using the special edge that this story tells about me. I’ll keep educating (myself and others) about Agile and how it can help any organisation to work better, to cultivate a better flow and improve the happiness of its people. I’ll keep changing the world of working with the help of Wemanity and all of my colleagues, being grateful to my friend, to my journey and to that cheese dinner!