I’m a recovering Command-and-Control Manager.

Learning from my managers and my peers I never really felt comfortable in my role. Creating detailed plans upfront, assigning tasks and telling people what to do and how to do it never felt natural to me. But I didn’t know better back then. And I didn’t know better for years.

It was almost by accident that I was sent to a 2-Day Scrum workshop in London a few years ago. It was the first workshop in years that was somehow not directly related to my current role as a manager and I thought this could be interesting to learn something new. These two days were probably the most eye-opening experience I had since wearing a manager hat. Although I was just learning the basics of Agile and Scrum I instantly felt this is how an (engineering) organisation in the 21st century supposed to function. And this completely changed my work life and how I see my role as an Engineering Manager.

Ever since this workshop, I’m on a constant learning journey around Agile Coaching, Leadership, Change Management and System Thinking. I’m a bookworm and whenever possible, I’m attending meetups and conferences in my area to exchange experiences and learn from other people.