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Scrum.org Global Face-to-Face Meeting #39

July 9, 2017

Our Trainer Community Program Director, Daphne Harris, was clear about the goals of our Face-to-Face Meeting, one of which was to strengthen our Professional Scrum Trainer community through getting to know each other, syncing with Scrum.org, and exchanging ideas. The other was to create stuff together that we could use to improve as a community.

Having been part of this recent activity, allow me to share with you my personal account of my first Global Face-to-Face meeting with the Trainers Community.

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Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainers at the Global Face-to-Face Meeting #39, June 23-24, 2017. Photo credit to Scrum.org.

MY JOURNEY WITH SCRUM.ORG

Who would have thought that a brown bag session could lead us to Scrum.org. Some years ago, I was asked by our president at RCG IT Philippines, Richard McGonegal, to do a session on Scrum with our delivery directors. At that time, we were just starting to adopt Professional Scrum into our organization.

The brown bag session led to my first Scrum training to a group of enthusiastic development team who was working with me on a project.

Earlier this year, I have shared our story on how Scrum changed our corporate culture. https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/scrum-how-it-changed-our-corporate-culture

 

The Guinea Pigs, My first Scrum class at RCG Global Services

The Guinea Pigs, My first Scrum class at RCG Global Services

L-R: Sarah Sampan, Mark Vila, Suzette Dimasaca, Larry Ragunjan, Jane Kabigting, Karl Esculano, Rickson Chew, Jason Justiniani, Merck Ogoy, Tristan Lopez

 

Professional Scrum Masters at RCG Global Services. Aside from Business Applications, Advisory and Data & Analytics, RCG is also a member of Scrum.org Professional Training Network.

Professional Scrum Masters at RCG Global Services. Aside from doing Business Applications, Advisory and Data & Analytics, RCG is also a member of Scrum.org Professional Training Network.

 

GLOBAL FACE-TO-FACE WITH FELLOW TRAINERS

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With Peter Götz - I met Peter for the first time at the hallway of the hotel where most trainers were staying for this event. The moment that we looked at each other, we knew in that instant that a mentor-mentee found each other.

 

Peter Götz was one of my mentors at Scrum.org. I was a trainer candidate back then. The process to becoming a trainer involves various steps and multiple assessments. I met Peter in the latter part of my journey wherein he gave me a lot of encouragement especially during the last challenging stages. I remember doing Google Hangout with him and numerous email exchanges pushing me to go forward with the next steps in the process. Surprisingly, Peter was there at my peer review. What touched me the most was when I was patiently waiting for the results, he told me, “I already welcome you to our community.”

  

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With Jill Graves - After three years of long distance mentoring through Skype and emails, I have finally met my coach Jill Graves.

 

In 2014, a few days after I submitted my trainer application with Scrum.org, I was introduced to Jill Graves. She has been a trainer for a while and one of her initiatives was to help other trainer candidates get acquainted with the process.

From then on, Jill and I went through my journey together. She was there to celebrate with me after successful assessments and comforted me during challenging times. I was in the final phase of my masters program at that time and I was also going through the peer review process of my application. When I felt like giving up, Jill was there to give me some encouragement to continue.

Jill and I became friends and she even became my thesis mentor reminding me to “self-organize” myself in meeting my deadlines. She was my Scrum Master.

 

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With Ken Schwaber, Co-creator of Scrum and Founder of Scrum.org

 

I had a clear vision in my head why I wanted to attend my first Global Face-to-Face at the Headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts. Firstly, it is where my coach Jill usually attends. I was hoping to meet her in person. Secondly, I was hoping to meet Ken Schwaber. I must have done something good in my life to have the opportunity to meet both. I told Ken that I’m a trainer from the Philippines.

 

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With Dave West

 

I’m an avid reader of the Head First books. I love the visuals and the way they were written was conversational. Some years ago, I got fascinated with Head First Object Oriented Analysis and Design. I didn’t know that this is how I would meet the author. Dave West is the CEO of Scrum.org.

 

With Daphne Harris, left, and Jill Graves, right. Daphne introduced Jill and I in 2014.
With Daphne Harris, left, and Jill Graves, right. Daphne introduced Jill and I in 2014.

 

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With my coach Jill Graves and my husband Jojo. Both played an important role in my journey with Scrum.org.

 

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Great conversations with Ken Schwaber on the first day of our Face-to-Face meeting.

 

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L-R: Edwin Dando, Francois Desrosiers, Russell Miller, Erik Weber, Myself, Nisha Patel, Lin Zhu, Mica Syjuco, Louis-Philippe Carignan, Rob Maher

 

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L-R: Barry Overeem, Francois Desrosiers, Simon Bourk, Myself, Mathieu Boisvert, Louis-Philippe Carignan

 

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L-R: John Davis, Todd Miller, Simon Bourk, Dave West, Myself, Jill Graves, Patricia Kong

 

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Matthew Keperling leading an energizer activity during the event

 

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L-R: Mark Noneman, Ahmet Akdag, Joel Lamendola, Don McGreal, Ralph Jocham, Philip Sauve, Edwin Dando cheering on the other teams during the Energizer activity

 

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L-R: Rob Apmann, Louis-Philippe Carignan, Francois Desrosiers, Edwin Dando, Erik Weber, Brett Maytom

 

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With Steve Porter, Peter Götz, Robbin Schuurman  

 

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With Steve Porter who once quoted Winston S. Churchill that success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss in enthusiasm. He was so right.

 

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With John Davis who facilitated our F2F Retrospective.

 

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Scrum.org Professional Scrum Trainers at the Global Face-to-Face Meeting #39, June 23-24, 2017. Photo credit to Scrum.org.

 

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Andy Hiles facilitating one of the activities. Photo credit to Scrum.org.

 

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Barry Overeem facilitating a session at Global F2F Meeting. Photo credit to Scrum.org.

 

 

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES

Coming from the other side of the world, I was almost clueless as to what to expect from the Global Face-to-Face meeting. Being there I realized how important the community is for us trainers. There were a lot of sharing of our experiences from our diverse background. It’s an opportunity to learn from each other. Having come from different backgrounds and culture, I learned a lot from my fellow trainers in terms on how they facilitate their meetings as well as how they run their classes. Aside from the learnings on how to better improve our ways of working, one of my key takeaways is the mentorship program within the community and how the culture of our community continues to be supportive of each other.

I’m coming home confidently that I have become a better trainer. But if there’s one I know, this is just the beginning.

The journey continues.


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