Paula Stewart
Early in my career, I quickly moved from data analyst, to business analyst, to product manager before I was recruited into Information Technology where I was included as part of an Agile team as both data architect and developer for one of State of Florida’s earliest data warehouses. As an Oracle consultant, I built a strong relationship with the CIO of the Department of Highway and Safety by resolving enterprise system issues. My passion for solving problems by listening to the customer along with the ability to perform under pressure flipped a previous Oracle engagement failure into a multi-year, multi-person engagement. For that, I was awarded Oracle’s Rookie of the Year for all of North America. With young children, I returned to the State of Florida working as solutions architect, and senior data architect leading teams, delivering enterprise solutions, and implementing the ITIL framework.
After moving to Colorado, I was recruited as CIO by the head of a neonatal hospital and CEO who had developed the best of breed neonatal intensive care unit expert system. Using my multi-disciplinary background, I quickly identified and led the elimination of performance bottlenecks working with a global team. I engaged the CEO and Vice President of Marketing in developing a product strategy and was instrumental in the company earning their Meaningful Use Certification, and in winning a university hospital system engagement.
Next, I worked as the delivery lead combining product ownership and servant-leader skills with a global team for a product that became a Gartner Group, Magic Quadrant offering in IT Portfolios. My team from Belarus sent their lead to Denver who immediately told me that his team greatly appreciated how I provided them context and empowered them to be part of the solution.
In recent years, I have been involved in multiple Agile transformations as a member of coaching teams. My emphasis has been on coaching product managers by implementing portfolio systems, empowering teams, and building bridges between legacy and modern technology team members. Up-and-coming managers and leaders have come to me to prepare them for leadership roles in development and product management. Focusing on team dynamics, I recently received a standing ovation from multiple teams for empowering them and aligning them with the VP of Development.
Through my involvement in multiple SAFe Agile transformations, I saw that hierarchies were replacing empowered teams and open communication. I fully committed to XSCALE when I recognized that it delivered on the promise of scaling Agile without abandoning the core Agile values and principles. XSCALE provides a systems approach to dealing with complex systems, while enabling business agility.