For this reason, the responsibility of the modules at TrueAgile lies in the hands of expert groups, within which SMEs from the same field work together, exchange information and ensure the high standards of our certificates. We emphasize the development of global international expert circles in order to place solid findings of the application of theoretical frameworks of Agile methods in different cultures, business models as well as business environments in our certificates. At this point, we would like to introduce our current SMEs to you in more detail.
Arie Van Bennekum is co-author of the Agile Manifesto, the founding document for agile software development. He is a pragmatist who anchors his pragmatism in structure, discipline and common sense, as well as an expert in the field of Agile Project Management, Agile at its core and user involvement.
Agile according to Arie is primarily structured common sense focused on interactions. As a member of the board of DSDM Consortium Benelux and accredited as a DSDM-practitioner, DSDM-trainer, DSDM-consultant and IAF Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) his passion for Agile methods is based on delivering to customers what they really need in a way that suits end-users and business.
As facilitated sessions are very important within the DSDM method and his passion for group processes and human behaviour, he is involved in large scale Enterprise Agile transformations across the world. Among other areas, just as his teaching activities at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Arie has over 30 years of experience in implementing Agile / Lean.
His latest ICT developments are innovative projects, involving optimization of business processes completely intertwined in Agile/Lean, creating value. At TrueAgile, he acts as the Thoughtleader of the institute, a position he also holds at Wemanity, and is co-responsible for the Agile Coach module as the leading SME. In his freetime Arie tries to travel a lot to get to in touch with other cultures and countries all around the globe.
Jerónimo Vargas, born and living in Argentina, started programming and using computers as a young child, which laid the foundation for his future career. After first studying Software Engineering, he went on to obtain a Master’s degree in Business and Technology a few years later.
Already at the beginning of his career, where he worked as a software developer, he was intensively involved with Agile techniques, both on an individual level and as a team leader. Today he is CEO and Chairman of Aconcagua Software as well as consultant for the government of Mendoza and Argentina (ad honorem). In addition, he is Director of IDITS, an ONG that fosters the technology sector in his domestic region in Argentina.
As IATM Certified Agile Coach he managed and coached teams (both technical and not technical) for many years, helping many organizations (including Aconcagua) to undergo digital and Agile transformations. In this context, he managed projects in medium and large size companies, always teaching people and teams separately in the practical use of Agile methods and adopting an Agile mindset.
His strong technology background adds a special component to his module’s expert circle, while his current skills as well as his expertise in Agile implementation methods are unquestioned. As his company is also settled in Spain, he also spends a lot of time in Europe. He has been married for 13 years and his hobbies are reading, scuba diving, mountain climbing and trekking.
Fernando Pinciroli is of Argentinian and Italian nationality, but lives in Argentina. The current President of Solus S.A. started his academic career with a degree in Systems Engineering and Computer Science from the Universidad Catolica Argentina, followed by a PhD in Computer Science from the National University of San Juan.
As Professor of Economics and Technology at Universidad Champagnat, he published more than 70 scientific articles and was a member of academic committees at various congresses in the United States, Europe and several Latin American countries. He has been a software development consultant since 1993 and has provided services, consulting and training in software development, project management and enterprise architecture to more than 25 companies in designated regions and in four languages (Spanish, English, Portuguese and Italian).
In addition to his position at Solus S.A., Fernando has led the quality and Agile transformation strategies of Aconcagua Software Factory S.A. in Argentina, the United States, Chile and Spain since 2005 and has been President of Sparx Systems Argentina since 2003.
As Board member of Agnostic Agile, founder of the Argentine community of “The Heart of Agile” together with Alistair Cockburn, and Certified Scrum Master as well as IATM Assessor Fernando also brings countless core competencies in the field of Agility.
Trained by various authors of the Agile manifesto, he has worked with them on countless Agile transformations in Europe and Latin America, provided Agile coaching for international teams and given several talks on Agile thinking and techniques. Agile versed, but also with an extensive past in software development and especially teaching, Fernando is an important SME in the expert circle of our Agile Coach module at TrueAgile. In his freetime, he enjoys astronomy and playing chess.
Tao is an experienced Organizational Change Management (OCM) consultant and Agile Transformation Coach of Beijing ChangeMag Consulting Co. LTD living in Beijing, China. ChangeMag is the only chinese local Qualified Education Provider (QEP™) by the global Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP).
He knew and practiced Agile for the first time when he was a project manager and Scrum Master at Siemens in 2004. Then he served at Nokia, Siemens, IBM and Merck Serono as OCM project manager and consultant. He has rich experience in different kinds of organizational changes and Agile transformations.
His clients include, among others HomeCredit, Richemont and the Fuyao Group. Tao is the Board member of Agnostic Agile Community, Certified IATM Agile Coach by Wemanity, Certified Agile Coach and Assessor by EXIN, Certified Change Management Professional by ACMP and Certified Project Management Professional by PMI.
Besides Agnostic Agile practitioner, Tao is also a senior organizational change management expert. Being Agile is never easy, it is a transformation for whole organization, paradigm-shift for whole team and each individual. There is more to Agile than just Agile. Agile transformation is an organizational change. Professional OCM is the key success factor of Agile transformation in his opinion. That´s why he positions himself more as an OCM Consultant than an Agile Transformation Coach.
In China Tao’s living a happy single life, enjoying reading, music and movies in his freetime. With his years of experience, especially in such a specialised growth market, Taos’ perspective is of enormous value to us at TrueAgile.
Sam is based in Melbourne Australia, and his hometown is London UK. The certified Change Management Practitioner (APMG-International) and ICAgile Certified professional Agile Team Facilitator (ICP-ATF) specializes in Agile delivery and strategic transformation initiatives as well as Agile Coaching, Consulting and Training.
Sam completed his classical academic career in 2002 with two different Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Film Studies. After that, the Agile thinker began his professional career in various positions as a technical and non-technical project manager and consultant at various companies such as Fujutsu Services, Capgemini and Mircrosoft.
Although Sam had already had a lot of exposure to Agile project management, transformation and delivery before, it is clear from looking at his career that from 2010 onwards his role was increasingly shaped by consultancy and training in this area.
While working as an Acting Director on the development of Agile and Lean project and programme management processes, templates, governance structures and delivery mechanisms, and the creation of a tailored software development lifecycle (SDLC) at GLG Group Ltd in London in 2012, he led large scale, multi-team Agile delivery on Aimia’s strategic and most critical product development roadmap in 2015, which specifically involved implementing SAFe and providing a variety of Lean and Agile training.
Further details of his extensive and varied career can be found on his LinkedIn profile. In 2016, Sam founded Agnostic Agile, which has become a global non-profit movement that has steadily grown since then and advocates for an agnostic approach to Agility, as opposed to a dogmatic one. He is also a director of Agilica, a company founded in London and continued in Melbourne, which focuses on servicing Agile corporate journey, particularly through services such as advisory, consultancy, training, coaching, delivery services.
With his extensive, diverse and cross-industry practical experience in Agile project management, teaching and transformation, Sam is a key member of AC’s expert group. He sees himself as an Agile Coach, because he has always believed that Agile Coaching is a role that one may assume as part of their daily functional duties.
In all the roles of his career an element of Agile Coaching has been necessary, and this is where Sam picks up the Agile Coach role and links it to other day-to-day functional roles designed to deliver pragmatic and practical results. Sam’s hobbies include technology, travel and hiking, as well as theatre and film, although it is worth noting in particular that Sam is also a professional theatre and film actor and has appeared in a number of Melbourne productions.
Ed Capaldi, first SME at IFAAI responsible for OKR, is Strategic Advisor and Business Coach and lives in Italy and the UAE. His coaching specialties are in particular in C-Level Agile Business Coaching, such as CIO Coaching (Business IT Alignment) and CEO Strategic Coaching.
His Agile ScaleUP programs have been delivered to more the 500 clients focusing on incremental, continuous improvement towards delivering strategies that create highly valuable yet differentiated value propositions & financial results. As an accelerator and practitioner of Kaizen and Kaikaku ideals, Ed is driven by a relentless passion for excellence.
For over 25 years he has consistently delivered results challenging his clients, attacking the edges of corporate strategy and their own personal comfort zones. Ed regularly speaks on post-industrial age leadership and Agile transformations, he holds public and private Business Accelerator Masterclasses and hosts the exclusive CEO Supper Club.
Although the Wemanity’s International Partner for IATM™ large-scale Agile Transformations also deals a lot with concepts such as Lean Management, Balanced Scorecard & PUMP™ Framework for performance measurement, structured Innovation with Business Model Canvas and Lean Launchpad Frameworks in his professional activities, the practical application of OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) in particular is one of the growth expert’s specialities.
Practical application of OKRs has been part of his Agile ScaleUP programm for 17 years. His first exposure to the Agile leadership framework was in 2004, when he began implementing it as a CIO and leading teams in this way. In 2011, the entrepreneur set up his own business to help entrepreneurs who want to scale and future-proof their people and their businesses.
So it was only natural to include OKRs as part of his Agile ScaleUP toolkit. Today, OKRs are part of every 90 strategic offsite he holds with his clients in Asia, Africa and Europe, where he spends much of his working week implementing OKRs in his clients’ strategic contexts and helping them to apply these. To be able to switch off from his busy schedule between international clients, he pursues hobbies such as sailing, cooking, reading and hiking in nature.
Oscar, settled in Xiamen, China, is an experienced Scrum Master Trainer by EXIN, certified Management 3.0 Trainer as well as Agile Transformation and Erickson Team Coach.
The first time he got in touch with Agile was in 2003, after completing his Master of Software Engineering at FuDan University, and he started practicing Scrum and XP in 2006. At that time, he worked as Director of the Product and Technology Center at Xiamen 35.com Technology Co. Ltd. and as Advance Director of Project Management at NetDragon Websoft Inc., gaining countless experiences in the fields of Organizational Changes, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) and Agile Transformation.
After successfully monitoring its introduction at two emerging start-ups, the also certified Alibaba YunXiao Devops Trainer decided in 2015 to specialize primarily in OKR. As an expert in the implementation, management and practical application of the Leadership Framework, Oscar has written literature in this field, holds seminars and acts as an OKR Consultant and Trainer.
In this role, he has delivered over 100 trainings on OKR and has helped countless companies successfully implement OKRs. These implementations have particularly involved digital-driven companies in the software, internet, banking & gaming sector.
In addition, Oscar is the Core Organizer of the China Agile Community as well as of China Devops, and he is Author and Trainer of “Agile Performance Leadership”, a special programme that integrates coaching, facilitation and visualisation. When asked, however, he now describes OKRs as core tool of his daily work.
While he believes that linking vision, mission and goals is extremely important to obtain the best possible development results, he describes himself as a mission-driven person who uses OKRs intelligently and individually to drive development.