Belen Pruvost joined Retail inMotion a year ago, in 2016, as a .NET Developer. Since then, she has been working to help build different modules of the Vector solution. She was welcomed here with a great challenge: develop the PreOrder solution, used to deliver meals bought on the ground and delivered in the air. As of now, she is part of the team focused on vPack, which gets your favorite meals and fancy products packed and loaded on the planes in an efficient way, for you to enjoy while on the go. Earlier this year, Belen officially became a Certified Scrum Master through her position at Retail inMotion.
A year ago, I traveled eleven thousand kilometers, from Argentina to Ireland, to be part of the Retail inMotion family as a .NET Developer.
Since then, I’ve been part of different teams: First, I was part of the Crew & Pax team, in which we developed our Pre-Order solution, so that passengers can order food before flying. After that, I moved to the Bond team, where we create logistic solutions for airlines, to help them pack all the products that are needed on a flight, in an efficient way.
The journey to scrum begins
During my first six months at Retail inMotion, I had monthly meetings with my manager to review my progress and define goals for my career path. In these meetings, I could point out what I liked about my role and the company, what I needed to keep improving and ask whether I thought something should change.
In one of these reviews, my manager asked me if I was interested in the technical aspect of the development, or if I preferred leading people instead. As a developer, I love solving problems and dealing with complex code and software architecture. However, I enjoy much more helping a team from another perspective: empowering team members, coordinating tasks and setting achievable goals.
Each day that passes, more and more airlines realize that the Retail inMotion way is the smart way and many developers from all parts of the world decide to join us in our journey. In a context of such rapid and vertiginous change, the role of the leader becomes more important. Within an “agile” framework (like the one at RiM), being a team leader requires also being a Certified Scrum Master.
The DNA of agile
Agile is the approach to software delivery that we use at Retail inMotion. Unlike the traditional management approach, in which the software product is delivered all at once near the end of the project, Agile works by breaking down the projects into smaller pieces of user functionality, prioritizing them, and continuously delivering them in shorter iterations, which are called “sprints”.
Working in an agile way allows us to significantly reduce the overall risk associated with software development. By planning and getting feedback from the client continuously, we provide business value and deliver high-quality solutions throughout the entire development process – aligning what we develop with the customers’ needs, and being more flexible to changing requirements that may appear.
An Agile Team is composed by a Product Owner, a Development Team, and a Scrum Master.
- The Product Owner has the vision of what product should be built. The PO is responsible for the Product Backlog, a prioritized features list for the product in which the Development Team should work.
- The Development Team is a group of self-organized, cross-functional people, responsible for turning the Product Backlog into incremental pieces of functionality.
- The Scrum Master is the team’s Scrum Expert and focuses on continual improvement, helping the team to remove impediments and ensuring that everyone follows the Scrum rules and practices, by coaching and training the team.
Becoming a certified scrum master
The Certified Scrum Master Course is run by the Scrum Alliance. It is the largest professional membership and certification in the Agile community, and their mission is to guide and inspire individuals, leaders, and organizations with practices, principles, and values that create joyful, prosperous, and sustainable workplaces.
The course consists of a 2 days’ classroom training. Its main purpose is to help the participants to understand the Scrum framework, including team roles, activities, and artifacts to get a project off on the right foot and to provide practical, project-proven practices.
After the completion of the course, the participants are eligible for Scrum Alliance’s Online Certified Scrum Master Test. When you pass this exam, you become a Certified Scrum Master.
I had the opportunity to take the Scrum training last month and am proud to now say that I am a Certified Scrum Master. With the official training under my belt, I’m now ready to start implementing the principles that I learned and follow the passion that I discussed with my manager during my first few months with Retail inMotion – leading and empowering others.
Retail inMotion’s deeply rooted culture of agility relies heavily on the expertise of its Scrum Masters to lead the teams towards success, and that is why, as employees, we are always encouraged to keep on learning, with the opportunity to grow and develop ourselves as experts.
