About

I grew up and was educated in Melbourne. Before I returned in 2011, I was based in Oxford, UK, having lived there for 10 years.

I am co-organizer of LAST Conference, a one day, low cost, grassroots mini-conference for Lean, Agile, and Systems Thinking practitioners. I am also co-organizer of the Melbourne Agile and Scrum Meetup Group, and the Agile Business Analysts Meetup Group. I was also the founder of the Agile Oxford group.

I have worked at a web agency, in digital publishing at FT100 listed companies, and as a trainer for a big telecoms company, amongst other things.

Some of the things I have done in the past include Project Management, Product Management, Business Analysis, web agency management, agile coaching, and lean and agile training. If you would like more detail about my professional achievements, then my LinkedIn profile is a good start.

As a Certified Scrum Master since 2007, I enjoy helping individuals and teams with agile planning, user story gathering, project initiation facilitation, retrospective facilitation etc.

Testimonials

Here are some nice things that people have said about me:

“Ed transformed our company and the way that we work…The quality of our work shot up; our relationships with our clients became closer and more constructive; our planning became easier and more realistic.”

– Dave Fletcher, Managing Director, White October.

“Ed is quick to understand people and work in ways that suit them, rather than the other way around.”

– Risto Pearce, Technical Development Manager, Toll Global Logistics.

Ed is passionate about solving real customer problems, and finding efficient ways to accomplish customer goals, with unflinching quality insistence.

– David Marques, Senior VP Research Data Services at Elsevier.

Thanks to Ed’s superlative grasp of Agile and thoughtful management style, when I worked with him I was more organised and productive than I’d ever been before.

– Sebastian Motraghi, Web Developer at Twitter.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with Ed on a number of projects, and I’d work with him again in an instant. Not just because of his many excellent personable qualities, but because he makes my life easier as a designer and as a team member.

– James Christie, Senior Experience Designer at Mad*Pow.

Ed taught me everything I needed to know about Scrum during my time at ode. He’s not only a first rate Scrummaster, but also a great manager who keeps his team focused and energised.

– Garrett Coakley, Head of Online at Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

Inspiration

I’m inspired by thinking such as Getting Real by 37Signals, lean manufacturing as made famous by Toyota, agile approaches to software development and collaborative working environments such as those at Ideo.

I believe that creative thinking, innovation and insight need not be limited to a few ‘special’ organisations; those qualities can and should be nurtured no matter where you are.

I like to help others to find improved ways of working, and to help my colleagues in the agile and lean community to learn from each other.

One thing I’m not inspired by is those motivational posters that say things like “Determination”, underneath some stock photography of some penguins huddling together for warmth.

Hawaiian shirt day is also not very motivating to me!