Profile: James N. Smith

James Smith first experienced the power of Scrum during a most dramatic of corporate turnarounds.  Holding a very painful client-facing position and tiring of having nothing but bad news to communicate to his clients over and over again, a new job search had begun.  Then Scrum took seed. 

In an incredibly short time, Monday mornings were once again something to look forward to and not to dread.  Clients soon began requesting that we slow down our pace; we were overwhelming their IT departments with new features.  Life for everyone in the corporation, and for those to whom we come home at night, got much better. 

Moving into the ScrumMaster role and being part of the many successful releases delivered to our clients has been an extremely gratifying part of the past years. 

Scrum when properly implemented makes life better for all involved.  And at the end of the day, that is a very good thing of which to be a part. 

James is a member of the Winnow Management consultancy, a Certified Scrum Trainer and holds an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management.