[ibimage==29945==Large==none==self==ibimage_align-center]
It's possible that many of us will have job titles in five years that don't exist today. Each new tech innovation provides a new way to negotiate old challenges, and creative thinkers sometimes fashion entirely new roles for themselves with these tools.
Chris Oltyan is the Senior Technical Project Manager and Scrum Master at the e-learning firm Pearson. “After working in software and video games for years,” Oltyan said, “it became clear that 'work infinite hours' was not the best solution. When I researched methods that had proven track records, Scrum, a practice associated with Agile software development, seemed like a natural fit for my style.” Thus, Oltyan went from a tech leader and serial entrepreneur to a Scrum Master, a term devised by the creators of the Scrum process.
“The wording of 'Scrum Master' instead of 'Project Manager' was done for a reason... You are not there to manage people, you are there to serve them. A great Scrum Master is a personification of the Servant Leader.”
[ibimage==29946==Medium==none==self==ibimage_align-right]Oltyan graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with an Enterprise Award for Entrepreneurship. With that tailwind from his academic mentors, he launched seven companies of his own.
“For my first company I liquidated my savings, sold my car, and tried to keep things going well past when they were dead. We spent all our cash chasing after contracts and building prototypes that ultimately all fell short. My seventh company had a product that we tested and knew people wanted before shopping it around, and when we couldn't find funding to make it the reality we wanted, we let it die quietly and peacefully. Knowing when to let go was a huge and important lesson for me.”
Oltyan later worked as a Serious Games Evangelist and in other unusual self-created positions before deciding to pursue Scrum Mastery full-time.
“I've always been interested in helping people be successful,” he said, “and I've often had to be a thought leader at organizations who were just starting to embrace agile thinking. As an Evangelist, I was promoting various ideas to combining gaming with education and learning. Those were the same skills I used to help promote and gain support for Agile practices within organizations I was a part of. Agile Coaching was an evolution of this. I provided that service as a freelancer trying to help people in general succeed more often. When I found a cause and place to practice my art long-term, I settled into the role of Scrum Master for a single company.”
