I remember vividly the three month span of May through July 2008. It was probably one of the most eventful periods of my life. First, I completed my MBA from Boston College and later that week my wife and I closed on our home in Brookline. In June I accepted a job with BigVisible Solutions, becoming their 5th employee, and by July my wife would be pregnant with our first child. Looking back at that critical three month period, it feels like more change was crammed into that window than what followed for several years. Professionally, this also began my consulting career as I became an Agile Coach and started consulting with the large organizations that, up until that point in time, I had worked within as an employee. Now, over five years later I find myself leaving BigVisible and returning to the “other side of the table” as the Director of Product Development for Taxware. Those who frequented the BigVisible blog, know I have thoroughly enjoyed writing online, and indeed the very post owes itself to a comment made half in jest in response to the farewell email exchange with some colleagues that it should be the start of a blog post.

With my prior writing now on the BigVisible website it occurs to me just how ephemeral one’s ideas and writings can be when they are entirely tied to a company which is not yours. The purpose of this website will be to serve as a longer term blog for me to post my thoughts and hopefully continue to engage with the Agile community. With that in mind, it seemed appropriate that my first post be a reflection on my time at BigVisible.

The decision to leave was not one that I arrived at lightly, and indeed I continue to have some mixed feelings that I will not have the opportunity to work as closely with a number of now former colleagues whose passion and talent were always a source of inspiration to me. Indeed, I continue to feel that BigVisible has unequivocally been the best place I have worked in my career. Not just the owners, but the entire company is incredibly supportive of personal growth and I can’t think of a single idea or opportunity that numerous people didn’t leap to assist me to pursue. Reflecting on my time at BigVisible, the only analogy I could think of was Edgar Schein’s characterization of the culture at DEC when he explained the sense of loyalty and growth that caused many numerous people he interviewed, long after they had left, to use the phrase “I grew up at DEC”. WIth that in mind I am proud to say that I grew up at BigVisible.

So why did I move on? Well, the primary reason was to continue that growth that up to now my peers at BV were so happy to support. This is not to say that the atmosphere changed so much as my needs did. For the last several years, I have been consulting with leaders, managers, and executives of various companies, telling them what to do in order to “be Agile”. However, I couldn’t help but at times feel like a hypocrite as I was trying to guide them through an experience I had not seen first hand. Sure, I had worked on many projects, and been a part of countless reorganizations and other organizational transformations – especially during my banking days which featured numerous acquisitions and mergers. However, I had never been the manager or leader who was responsible for those initiatives.

Hopefully I will have the opportunity now to experience that role first hand as I join a company going through its own transformation with a large commitment to Agile Software Development and continuous delivery. So for now I’m not quite sure exactly where this blog will go, I’m suspect it will be a blend of experiences at the new company, continued activities within the Agile community and possibly more feeble attempts to apply my skills to my family.