Agile coach and PM - maurocherchi.com

It was between 2016 and 2017…

I was working as a software developer on a few projects and my responsibilities were clear, implement in the best possible way what technical leads assigned to me.

I didn’t have any “customer management skills”, or even a little project management knowledge, let alone my communication and negotiation skills.

I remember sitting at my desk (most likely developing some plugin for Jira) when Federico, one of the two founders and CTO of the company I was working for, came and asked me to follow him.

It wasn’t something unusual, the company was so small at the time that working together with the founders was normal.

But this time the conversation wasn’t about a project…

…this time we were sitting in his office and he was asking me if I would be interested in a different position, a different way of working.

Direct contact with clients, a lot to learn, adaptability, and problem-solving challenges.

It wasn’t something unusual, the company was so small at the time that working together with the founders was normal.

But this time the conversation wasn’t about a project…

…this time we were sitting in his office and he was asking me if I would be interested in a different position, a different way of working.

Direct contact with clients, a lot to learn, adaptability, and problem-solving challenges.

I saw an exciting challenge, an opportunity…

I accepted!

My curiosity, mixed with the desire to improve my soft skills, found an outlet in the newly created “Atlassian Business Unit” at GetConnected.

That was the beginning of my experience in managing and facilitating the adoption of Atlassian tools, Agile practices, and custom software solutions.

I saw an exciting challenge, an opportunity…

I accepted!

My curiosity, mixed with the desire to improve my soft skills, found an outlet in the newly created “Atlassian Business Unit” at GetConnected.

That was the beginning of my experience in managing and facilitating the adoption of Atlassian tools, Agile practices, and custom software solutions.

Experience

Ferrari F1 Tempo calendar

While helping the team responsible for the software embedded in F1 cars to adopt and configure Atlassian Tools, the client expressed a particular need that only custom software could satisfy. I then designed and proposed a solution that the client approved resulting in the starting of a product development project. After a few iterations, the project was delivered and the client was happy.

My role and contributions:

Active listening and customer success obsession
Management of the iterative solution design and implementation process
Dev team engagement
Project’s Budget and Time management
Delivery management
User documentation production
Post-release maintenance and feedback gathering

Crash test team reports portal

Angelo, the head of the team responsible for analyzing and documenting crash test results, had a challenging and exciting idea for improving the way the team used to work. It has been a long project characterized by close collaboration and a clear continuous improvement mindset and goal. We delivered a solution that revolutionized the way the team worked making it more efficient and collaborative.

My role and contributions:

Analysis of custom requirements and solution design (Mockups + POC)
Project’s scope definition and stakeholders’ alignment
Backlog decomposition and prioritization
Project’s Budget and Time management
Implementation of an iterative and collaborative delivery process
User documentation production
Implementation team internal recruitment and management

Crash test team file browser

For the same team as above, custom software needed to be implemented in parallel. As usual, I took care of the first phase of Analysis, the formation of a development team, and led the project implementation and delivery.

Ferrari vehicle reports dashboard

As you might have guessed by now, I was the “go-to person” for collaborations with Ferrari SpA in my company. For this team, we implemented a set of custom reports and charts to enable them to monitor projects directly on their Jira dashboards.

ART PM consultant

I helped this client with the configuration of Atlassian tools + third-party plugins to fulfill their product development process management and monitoring needs.

A few months after the project closure, the customer contacted me upset because one of the tools that I recommended wasn’t helping, indeed it was creating problems.

An update of a third-party software was creating conflicts.

Instead of blaming the third-party provider, or who did the update, I immediately acknowledged the problem, proposed, and implemented a quick fix.

After solving the problem, when they were able to work again, we did a retrospective analysis and they recognized and appreciated my solution-first approach.

It resulted in renovated trust and the beginning of a new project meant to replace the third-party tool.

My role and contributions:

Conflict resolution
Client success First

Panini Agile coach

I helped one of the coolest teams I’ve ever worked with (in an office covered by comics and human-size action figures) with the adoption of a Leaner and Agile mindset and methodology. On top of supporting the adoption of Atlassian tools, I run several workshops for the team to discover and absorb the key values of the Lean and Agile philosophy.

My role and contributions:

Enhanced team unity and collaboration dynamics
Team pressure relief thanks to a leaner approach
Better stakeholder alignment and visibility of the team’s work

Euris timesheet

When GetConnected Srl (the company I was working for) joined a bigger company (Euris SpA), the merging of processes and tools started. Probably the most important aspect that needed to be merged was the time-tracking system, upon which the payslips of all the employees depended.

The CEO of my company asked me to lead the implementation of a synchronization tool between Jira (used in GetConnected) and a proprietary software used by Euris. That was the first stage of the migration of the whole Euris to Jira.

My role and contributions:

Analysis and solution design
Backlog decomposition and prioritization
Project’s Budget and Time management
User documentation production
User onboarding

Onboarding and Coaching

Onboarding and coaching junior colleagues has always been a great pleasure for me.

First, it nourishes the spirit, makes me feel good, and builds good relationships.

Second, when the time comes, well-prepared colleagues, regardless of their junior status, will undoubtedly be a valuable asset, contributing significantly rather than being a burden.

That’s why I always spend time asking if colleagues need help or simply a brainstorming partner, giving my feedback, and documenting and answering all the questions that colleagues may have.

Key results: