Dealing with Slackers, Idiots and Subversives in Agile Teams – Lunchtime Session

Jerry’s Story

Teaching has always been a passion for me. I remember several of my primary school teachers saying I should consider being a teacher one day because I seemed to have an inclination for it. In high school I partnered a small start-up company where we taught computers and programming languages to youth on evenings and weekends. Much later during mid 1990’s I taught several University night school classes. I loved all of it, but at the time I never thought I’d actually end up working the front of a classroom.

My first exposure to Scrum was in 2008 as a Project Manager at MapInfo Corporation. There was considerable animosity between business and IT because of project issues so we decided to try Scrum in the hope of bringing business and IT together. Eighteen months later we had transformed most of the global organization (North America, Europe and Asia) by building a scaled system of interconnected Agile services and teams. In essence we were operating as Enterprise Agile Coaches and educators but we didn’t call it that – it’s just what we did.

In 2010 I became an Agile Practice Lead in the Royal Bank of Canada’s Agile Centre of Excellence where I spent about 1/2 of my time building and delivering training classes. This was where I realized I would be happy spending the rest of my career teaching Agility. While at RBC I taught Scrum and Agile classes to over 800 people globally which solidified my desire to teach Scrum and Agile for the rest of my career.

Over the next few years I taught and coached Scrum, Kanban, Lean and Agile at organizations like Telus, Canadian Tire, LoyaltyOne, and Sick Kids Foundation. It was rewarding but I wanted more. Then in 2016 I had the fortune of becoming an instructor and coach at BERTEIG. It’s been a fantastic experience. I’ve delivered hundreds of classes to thousands of people and it’s been very rewarding working alongside many world-class Scrum instructors and learning from them.

In January 2019 I added new height and breadth to my career when I became an Accredited Kanban Trainer (AKT) with Kanban University. Since then it has been an honour to teach and certify people in Kanban as their eyes light up when they realize it is an alternate path to Agility.

The one thing that eluded me was to become a Scrum trainer for a globally recognized certification agency. In 2016 I earned the Scrum Trainer designation with Scrum Inc. This has allowed me the privilege of providing a meaningful certification option and a balanced view of Agility by combining my own knowledge and teaching with the wealth of globally recognized experience at Scrum Inc. and BERTEIG. I’m really enjoying where this path has taken me and how I leverage it to help others achieve their own personal and professional learning goals and outcomes.

After decades working in the Software and IT industry I have finally found the sweet spot where I hope to finish my career – as an Agile trainer with the credentials to certify people with globally recognized agencies in Scrum and Kanban. I am humbled by the opportunity to represent Jeff Sutherland and his team as one of their trainers. Combining that status with my credential from Kanban University as an Accredited Kanban Trainer (AKT) as well as my hands-on experience working in the industry for over 30 years should hopefully provide a balanced and well-rounded experience for any student that chooses to join me in a classroom or learning event.

Jerry Doucett is a Strategy and Delivery expert, Business Advisor, Leadership Consultant, and Professional Trainer with over 30 years hands-on experience in improving business practices, and developing and delivering learning and development programs for software and process management initiatives.

He is currently responsible for the management, development, and delivery of public and private classes and workshops for our clients, while also serving as a Business Improvement Consultant and Coach leveraging Agile and Lean practices for several enterprise business transformations.

For well over a decade Jerry has been supporting Agile transformation strategies. On numerous occasions he has served as an integral coach, mentor, advisor and team member on several enterprise transformation leadership teams including several companies with over 50,000 employees.

Jerry has developed and delivered Agile training for over 3,500 people in Canada and abroad. He has been teaching private Scrum classes under license for Jeff Sutherland and Scrum Inc. since 2016. His tailored materials include everything from introductions to advanced role-focused topics, and target audiences from junior team members to senior executives at multinational corporations. He has contributed many blog and online articles over the last few years, and his book (published October 2018) is “The Scrum Master Guide to Choosing Retrospective Techniques”.

Select Client List:

• RBC Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank, Royal Trust, Scotiabank, BMO, Concentra Bank
• GFSA, London Life Insurance, Great West Life Insurance, Canada Life
• Carbonite (EVault), Deloitte, TELUS, Canadian Tire, Pitney Bowes
• LoyaltyOne (AirMiles Corporation), Sick Kids Foundation
• MapInfo Corporation, ESI Canada, DigiMap, ExtenSys, General Motors
• Hydro One, Toronto Hydro, North York Hydro, SPL Worldgroup

Certifications and Accreditations:

Accredited Kanban Trainer, Scrum Inc. Scrum Trainer, ICAgile Certified Instructor, Kanban Management Professional

Scrum Alliance® Registered Education Provider, Certified Scrum Professional

Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Certified Scrum Developer, Professional Scrum Master I

SAFe® Program Consultant, Project Management Professional

Prosci ADKAR® Change Management Professional

B.A.A, HONS, Applied Geography, Economics Minor, Ryerson University

Experience Summary

• Over 30 years in software and process development initiatives
• Over 20 years of applying project management practices
• Over 14 years assisting organizations to leverage Agile and Lean approaches
• Over 10 years assisting enterprise Agile transformations

Testimonials:

“I wanted to acknowledge Jerry for his support and mentorship as he was pivotal as I on boarded to a new role within a new department and new Scrum team; a team newly formed and new to Agile. Jerry supported the team through training including User Story Writing and Agile estimation workshops among many. During team lift off Jerry identified that both road map and product backlog were missing from ‘delivering value’ stream and as a result we saw a team with constantly changing focus, a large number of product responsibilities and a lack of clarity on priorities. The Scrum process does facilitate changing priorities, but it doesn’t help the team adapt. This was an extremely challenging experience but a tremendous learning opportunity for me as I had guidance and gained key insights from this experienced Agile Enterprise Coach. I am fortunate to have been able to rely on Jerry’s leadership, experience and coaching. Thank you!” – Angeline Lim, Program Implementation Manager at Loyalty One

Publications

2018 – The Scrum Master Guide to Choosing Retrospective Techniques

(Currently only available on Lulu.com in ePub format.  Click the image for more information.)

Presentations

“Kanban Case Study” – 20190121 – Private Event