From Clients & Colleagues

"I was part of a failing team. Within one month of having Alex as a dedicated coach, we were not only working together, but writing beautiful and well tested code. She left a permanent impact and we're still practicing and swearing by her principles today." — D.C.

"Alex helped shift our development process into over-drive. Through careful observations and small calculated changes, she helped us become a clean code power house. She's as equally versed in Agile software practices as she is at team communication." — C.P.

"...our retrospectives improved dramatically in lots of different ways when you started working with us... you're making sure that important conversations and reflection do happen. That's invaluable..." — S.S."

"I write my best code when I'm pairing with you." — K.M.

"I am grateful that Alex would 'tell it like it is' to me (and others), as I so much valued her observations and opinions — and she is wicked smart. At the same time, if I disagreed with her on something, she would hear me out and would change her mind when (if?) I made sense :-)" — Jon Kern (co-author of the Agile Manifesto)

"Leaders of all technical stripe: read Alex's book right now. You will find it warm, wise, and most important, useful."—Mike (Geepaw) Hill

Work Experience

Maitria, Process and Practices Coach. 2013-present

Raise, New York, June 2017 - June 2018

Lead and coach evolving Agile processes across organization of both distributed and co-located people -- 75 engineers, data scientists, designers and product leaders. Mentor managers and individual contributors toward improving team dynamics, managing workflow, better communication and more empathy in order to achieve organizational goals with minimum friction and maximum happiness. Regularly organize and run team retrospectives on the path to continual improvement. Provide facilitation to make meetings more effective and less frustrating. Continuously educate the organization on the value of Agile and lean methodologies.

2U, July 2016 - June 2017

Coached software development teams to encourage Agile thinking, and to offer options in the Agile space for optimizing work. Facilitated retrospectives and other meetings, with both local and distributed folks, to improve communication, collaboration, decision-making and problem-solving. Mentored teams and individuals in Agile delivery techniques, collaboration skills, and communication.

GM OnStar, July 2013 - December 2014

Worked with a team of Agile coaches and scrum masters to deliver the OnStar RemoteLink mobile app. Provided technical coaching to three mobile delivery teams. Started a weekly academy to grow internal XP coaches within the organization.

Encouraged engineers to break their work into tiny chunks for fast feedback, to take tests and quality seriously with continuous integration. Coached around TDD, pair programming, continuous integration, technical collaboration and XP and Scrum values. Facilitated retrospectives, coached facilitation techniques. Coached story breakdown and planning, product owner responsibilities, business value.

LeanDog Software, Cleveland. Agile Developer and Coach. 2011 - 2013

Sherwin Williams, November 2012 - May 2013

Erie Insurance, September 2011 - November 2012

Pillar Technology, Columbus. Agile Apprentice. 2011

Progressive Medical

OCLC (Online Computer Library Center)

Exel Logistics

Web Presence Help, Eugene

Freelance Editor & Web Designer, 2006 - 2010

Professional Development & Outreach

Author, The Little Guide to Empathetic Technical Leadership

The Little Guide to Empathetic Technical Leadership is a guide for strong developers who want to improve their skill as team leaders. Grounded in empathy and human connection, the Little Guide provides practical ways to improve leadership skill.

Speaker

I speak internationally on topics related to Agile development. You can see some of my presentations online, and hear me on various podcasts, on this speaking page.

Host, The Geek Joy Podcast

Conversations about life as a geek. See all the episodes at The Geek Joy Podcast archive.

Organizer, Moonconf

Gathered a team to create this conference in response to a community need for a diverse, welcoming space to explore funcitonal programming.

Alex Harms

Less fear, more joy.
It works.