In this episode, I interview Matt Roadnight, an Agile and Scum coach. Having developed an interest in IT, Matt completed a BSc. degree and went on to begin his career in a corporate environment. After a stint of travelling, he then went on to join a niche IT services company. It was here that he was given that latitude to work in a way and develop himself that he enjoyed. Acquisition of the IT services company by a large corporate got him reevaluating his position and coupled with an opportunity to provide some Agile coaching independently, Matt left to establish his own business.
Matt now owns and runs SprintAgile and is a founding partner of BeLiminal LLC. Both organisations focus on developing individuals and teams.
Matt shares his journey and the values that he developed that shaped his career and choices. He also talks about the enablers of learning and shares some great resources.
Key Takeaways
- In many instances, we train for jobs that don't exist. The important thing is learning to learn and carrying this ability through our careers
- Developing values is important. Understand your values and live by them but make sure you don't focus too much on a single value whilst neglecting other values. There needs to be a balance
- Always be open to opportunities and try to take advantage of opportunities when they are offered to you
- Challenge yourself to move beyond your comfort zones
- Even if you enjoy working alone, don't ignore the importance of partnering and working with other people
- Learning is often driven by client/organisation demand and the desired quality of work
- Make sure that you develop a growth mindset (learn more about this in Episode 11)
- Doing quality work is important but don't let perfectionism hold you back
- Change doesn't happen without emotion!
Resources Mentioned
Matt shared the following resources:
- Job Crafting - Amy Wrzesniewski on creating meaning in your own work
- Managing Yourself: Turn the Job You Have into the Job You Want by Amy Wrzesniewski, Justin M. Berg and Jane E. Dutton
- Camp America
Books Mentioned
Matt recommended the following books:
- The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter Senge
- Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies by Paul Zak
- Creating Intelligent Teams by Anne Rød and Marita Fridjhon
- Business Model You: A One-Page Method For Reinventing Your Career by Timothy Clark, Alexander Osterwalder, and Yves Pigneur
Connect with Matt
Listeners can learn more about Matt and connect with him by visiting his LinkedIn page, Twitter feed, or the BeLiminal website.