Resume

Summary:

Dedicated Agile coach since 2013, and Agile practitioner since 2003, with deep expertise in implementing Scrum, Kanban, and Lean in software-intensive and non-software contexts. Software engineer with over 25 years of practice as a Scrum Master, architect, and developer in government auto insurance, telecommunications, oil & gas, SCADA, and equity trading. Experienced team leader, engineering mentor, and valuable team player; skilled trainer, communicator, and facilitator.

Highlights:

Agile coach with expertise in initiating impactful changes across organizational boundaries.
Trained 300 people on Agile and DevOps at Shaw as part of an enterprise Agile transformation.
Guest lecturer on Agile and Scrum, Information Design - Mount Royal University.
Coached adoption of BDD to decrease lead time while reducing defects on a system of over 900k set-top boxes.
Responsible Member – Software Engineering on Shaw’s Permit to Practice Engineering from 2014 to 2021.
APEGA Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) since 1997 and EngGeoMB P.Eng. since 2021.

Experience:

President and Owner, Hacken Agile Software Engineering Inc. (May 2021 – present)

Repairing the world of work by providing remote Agile coaching.

Scrum Master (contract), Manitoba Public Insurance (May 2021 – January 2023)

Coached teams working in HR, finance, payroll, IT (Microsoft 365, Remedy, desktop support), and modernization.
Introduced flow metrics (cycle and lead time, WIP limits, item ageing) and enterprise-wide prioritization of work.
Developed high-trust relationships within and between teams.
Mentored Product Owners and Scrum Masters in Communities of Practice to maximize their understanding of Agile.
Pragmatically applied Scrum and Kanban practices in a SAFe organization.

Senior Agile Coach, Freedom Mobile (Shaw Communications) (July 2020 – May 2021)

Coached senior leaders across the enterprise by understanding their goals and obstacles and offering context-specific guidance for their Agile transformation.
Developed Agile transformation plan and playbook for Shaw.
Guided the outsourcing of professional work products provided by APEGA-licensed firms.

Principal Consultant Engineer, Shaw Communications (March 2019 – June 2020)

Facilitated the creation of self-sustaining, self-organizing teams that maximized the benefit of what they produced.
Coached teams for effectiveness in the face of disruptive change.
Provided Agile and Scrum consulting expertise to teams throughout Shaw.
Acted as a trusted advisor, collaborating with teams and individuals to discover ways they could continuously improve.

Principal Software Engineer, Shaw Communications (November 2013 – March 2019)

Developed and provided a 9-hour introduction to Agile and DevOps for 300 people throughout Shaw.
Provided Agile coaching for multiple Scrum teams.
Introduced acceptance criteria, unit testing, and peer code reviews.
Developed Behaviour Driven Development framework for embedded JavaScript running on cable set-tops.
Scaled development to two cross-functional Scrum teams.

Senior Software Engineer, Shaw Communications (December 2009 – October 2013)

Developed an Agile software engineering practice worth following based on a hybrid of Scrum and XP.
Introduced unit and integration testing, tooling for visual work tracking and peer code reviews.
Practical application of Agile in embedded software.
Arranged CSM and TDD training with Ron Jeffries and Chet Hendrickson.

Senior Software Architect, Shaw Communications (July 2009 – December 2009)

Transitioned the team from an ad-hoc process to Scrum.
Introduced weekly regression testing.
Mentored Engineers in Training.

Software Engineering Architect, Pason Systems (January 2007 – March 2009)

Designed inter-site communication standards using JMS and HTTPS.
Expert in Linux, Perl, Regular Expressions, cfengine, and autonomics.
Performed design reviews, and code reviews.
Created and chaired weekly team meetings to improve collaboration.
Created branch management policies for parallel development, and release management.
Encouraged feature-based Agile releases based on user stories, emergent design, TDD, and refactoring.
Met weekly with other architects to share innovations and improve knowledge transfer.
Encouraged developers to continuously improve, and continuous improvement of the development process.
Created high-level designs for software update mechanism; system life cycle management; centralized management of a distributed fleet of Linux systems on land-based drilling rigs; 802.1x network using PPP over Ethernet.
Researched and selected CentOS 5 as a replacement for legacy Red Hat 7.2 installations.

Senior Software Engineer, Pason Systems (May 2001 – January 2007)

Designed and developed a method for automated and unattended remote system upgrades over a VSAT network; a method for performing unattended transformations of 8GB MySQL databases; application for mass imaging Linux hard drives.
Designed back-end software components for backups, management of removable hard drives, and system upgrades.
Converted application deployment system from tar files to auto-generated RPMs.
Created coding and unit testing standards.
Key developer in conversion from DOS/QNX-based product to Linux servers with Windows 2000 clients.
Firmware programming for an Intel 8051 microcontroller in a hook load sensor.
Configured and administered a new CVS server, replacing Visual Source Safe.
Provided after-hours technical support for applications on drilling rigs.

Senior Programmer Analyst, EFA Software Services Ltd. (November 2000 – May 2001)

C development (object-oriented), unit testing, QA, and maintenance for a high-performance equity trading engine.
Responsible for peer code reviews and technical documentation.
Created Perl productivity tools for developers.

Senior Systems Engineer, Neles Automation (now Schneider Electric) (October 1999 – November 2000)

Designed and developed a real-time multithreaded Publish/Subscribe network layer in C++.
Co-engineered middleware interface for Colorado Springs Utilities.
Enhanced Chevron Pipeline’s leak detection application, to minimize false alarms.
On-site support of Colonial Pipelines' batch tracking and metering applications.
Project Leader for Marathon SCADA upgrade. Responsible for estimates, scope, and developer supervision.

Systems Engineer, Neles Automation (now Schneider Electric) (December 1996 – October 1999)

Designed and implemented engineering calculations in C for hydraulic profiling application.
On-time delivery of temperature and pressure correction calculations for Kenya Pipeline Company.
Successful upgrade of an 18GB Sybase database, and Y2K remediation for Chevron Pipeline.
Coordinated monthly software releases of Liquid Management System applications.

Design Engineer, Engineered Air (October 1994 – November 1996)

Designed finned-tube heat exchangers for HVAC equipment, and certified steam heating coils.

Education, Certification, and Memberships:

Applying Professional Kanban I (2022), Professional Scrum Master I (2021), and Certified Scrum Master (2010-2023).
Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering, University of Manitoba (1989-1993).
APEGA – Professional Engineer since 1997.
Calgary Agile Methods User Group (CAMUG).