Ever heard of Agile or Scrum or even Jira? If you haven’t, it’s time to catch up. These unique project management skills are being talked about in every organization – from IT to supply chain and even marketing! Here’s what you need to know about working in agile & how it can CHANGE your career path:
Agile project management career skills are highly demanded across industries from retail to tech. Here’s a summary:
Agile teams are very small, think 4-5 team members per focus area- with high visibility to leadership. Speak the agile language:
- Jira software is used to keep track of tasks that add up to achieving large milestones.
- Tasks help teams undergo rapid test & learn cycles.
- Scrum masters are the overall project managers for the agile teams that help keep the team organized.
This is how organizations are creating innovation hubs while keeping the creativity directly aligned to executives’ greater vision for the company.
Organizations are using agile principles to transform from traditional ways of working and spur innovation. Bain and Company’s Darrell Rigby, Sarah Elk, and Steve Berez wrote Doing Agile Right: Transformation without the Chaos to illustrate the power of agile in driving entrepreneurial thinking. This book is an excellent guide through the world of setting up agile teams, being effective within them, and looking at organizational transformation. I highly recommend reading it.
How I began working in Agile Project Management:
I was hand-selected to work in an agile team of four. Each day began with a quick “daily standup” meeting where we discussed what we were working on and roadblocks we needed help with. I experienced 20+ two- or three-week sprints of hard work toward big goals.
Each sprint ended with presentation demos to executive office-level leadership. Sprints were filled with testing, learning, and refining with the goal of improving the customer experience. Being part of an agile project management team is unlike any other “traditional” corporate experience.
It is important to self-reflect when considering new job opportunities and your personal development goals. Knowing what I know now, I would choose to take advantage of the opportunity to participate in an agile project management team all over again. If you want to reflect on your career path with other like-minded ambitious women, don’t forget to sign up for my Galentine’s workshop on February 23rd. It will be a great chance to visualize your future and begin your success story.
Since working in agile, I’ve received countless job opportunities via Linkedin. These skills are highly sought after by companies across industries. They also translate to product management roles, which often use agile principles and even Jira.
Do you have the most wanted skills of the future? If you found this post helpful for planning your future career, be sure to tag me on Instagram @LaunchedbyLiz when you share about it.
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