Personal approach

One of my areas of expertise is test automation and test driven develop as applied to Agile (acceptance testing, domain driven development, CI and automated builds). As a former developer-in-test myself, I can teach hands-on test automation at all levels (unit tests, integration and UI tests). My current teams' work to an impressive code coverage of 95% or more. I can mentor developers on the core of true “test first” test driven development (the smallest code for a failing test, the smallest production code to make that test part, refactoring all the way) plus the supporting principles (as the tests get more specific, the code gets more generic) and supporting practices (recognising when TDD has taken a wrong turn and how to correct it).

I've worked on projects to add test automation to legacy systems that previously relied on manual testing and greenfield projects that eliminated manual testing from day one. I can also ‘pair programme’ with developers and testers to teach good practice in the early stages of adoption or when on-boarding a new team member.

One of my biggest wins at a recent client was coaching teams to craft encompassing and meaningful Sprint Goals and to work to create potentially-releasable increments of product each Sprint (when I arrived there, Sprints were mere shopping lists of user stories!). I had been with one of the teams from inception of product vision to the release of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) offering. I've worked with junior and experienced Product Owners on how to order the Product Backlog Items to maximise value and mitigate risks.

I also provide all services to the team expected of a Scrum Master. I coach teams to ensure they understand the purpose of the Daily Scrum: to inspect progress towards the Sprint Goal, adapting tasks and approach and owning impediments. The Sprint Reviews I oversee presenting working software to stakeholders for discussion and feedback. I facilitate Retrospectives that make team issues visible in a safe and engaging environment, running games and activities, and teaching about Agile principles and supporting practices.