An Interview with Beenish Zaidi — Senior Consultant
What do you do for Elabor8?
I do the best job I can do for the client and I live the values that Elabor8 has. I focus on outcomes rather than outputs which creates a healthy relationship between clients and Elabor8. I strive to do the best I can and am extremely passionate about learning and development.
What is your Elevator Pitch?
I am an experienced Agile coach, Scrum master and a Savvy technologist, and expert practitioner in Agile methodologies such as Scrum, Kanban, Scrumban, and Scaled Agile Frameworks (SAFe).
My strength is my ability to cultivate the teams I work with. I love autonomy and I work very closely with the management and the team to bring transparency and clarity. I believe in growing the teams along with the journey. I am very approachable, a patient listener and very adaptable. I also find that embedding myself in the team brings a humble attitude to my work.
I find creative ways of coaching people and building high performing teams. I have a deep passion for visuals. I strongly believe in order to be a successful coach, you need to observe people carefully. There is one thing I have learned over time “ You need to build people, not fix them”.
I love to work towards focussed outcomes and I feel very happy when we achieve the goals. When I see people become proud of their work, I am proud.
If you could wave a magic wand, and there is one thing you could do to improve agility in the Brisbane workplaces, what would it be?
Accept change and not fake it., believe and live the values which is the foundation of any change. Trust and respect should be encouraged, and the team should feel comfortable to ask when they don’t know something. Leadership should try to bring focus for the delivery teams and should encourage openness.
How do we achieve this change?
By building on small successes instead of bringing in a change that is very drastic. I like to quantify what I do with my team, so that they can start trusting and start seeing the results quickly.. If you can try and build on small successes, slowly you will achieve change, and also acceptance.
Where do you see Agile ways of working heading in Australia in the 2020s?
It depends on where we are and the levels of maturity.
I feel Agile started as a Hype and people don’t understand the true philosophy behind it.
I feel different states of Australia have different maturity level in the Agile space. I see in 2020 slowly organizations will start adopting full fledge organizational transformations. I find in Australia, people are open to change, but slow in implementing it.
You are a self-education advocate. If there was just one piece of advice you could give to up-and-coming Agilists, what would it be?
Understand the frameworks, understand the context, understand the business and put it all together into a way of working that suits your client. Do not go by the book. Do a lot of experiments.
Do you have a favourite book or quote that inspires you?
“Bravery is not the quality of body, it is the quality of soul.” — Mahatma Gandhi
“Little by little, a little becomes a lot.” — Tanzanian Proverb.
To learn more about Elabor8 Brisbane, please connect with them on LinkedIn, here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elabor8/