Apr 28, 2022
Meet Codie, Senior Scrum Master
1. What is your role in BC GOV and what product are you currently working on at the Exchange Lab?
I am the Senior Scrum Master with the Digital Talent Team.
I started my adventure with the BC Government in December 2021 so I am still learning the lay of the land. Before joining government I was working in private sector in strategic development, learning and leadership, and training and development. I was jazzed for the opportunity to stand-up a new Scrum team and the Digital Talent Pilot.
Building teams is one of my favorite challenges. It has been an exciting few months and I am enjoying my work with the Digital Talent Team as well as leaning into standing up a portfolio scrum within the Digital Delivery Capacity Portfolio Digital Academy (Digital Talent, Digital Marketplace (procurement tools), Digital Community and Engagement, Digital.gov.bc.ca, Organization and Team Consulting Team).
2. What do you like most about working at the Exchange Lab?
My days are filled with wicked problems and interesting humans with dynamic skillsets and unique perspectives. Getting the opportunity to lean into complex, multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder problems that impact citizens of BC and the lives of myself, my friends and my family is exciting and rewarding work.
Aside from being a Scrum Master I am getting to use my skills in strategic facilitation, visual thinking, group process, learning design, coaching, organizational development, therapy and high performing team building. Coming from private sector I never expected to be given the space or support to do the kind of work I always wanted to do at the government.
I didn’t imagine a place as collaborative, innovative, or progressive as the Exchange Lab and feel lucky to work here.
3. Do you have a favourite failure or apparent failure that has set you up for later success?
I think that all the failures of the past have led me to the learnings I have now. I don’t think that I would have as much to bring to my current role without those failures. One area where I see the benefit of past failures the most is my capacity as a facilitator. In my earlier years as a facilitator I had a vision for what I wanted to achieve but struggled to deliver the depth and embedded change into day to day work. I would buckle in the face of participant anxiety and lose track of where I was trying to guide participants. Facilitation is an art, and it takes throwing many pots before one can produce them on demand. I threw many a failed pots before I learned the art, and even now I still feel like only a beginner.
4. What is an absurd thing you love?
I have an absurd love for books.
Firstly, I have too many. Secondly, I like to organize them by color, which I thought I might hate but turned out loving. In my world books are like friends.
I got rather fascinated with following the rabbit hole of citations years ago. Whenever I enjoyed a reference in a book or article it started a hunt for the original book or article and then the hunt for the text surrounding the reference I enjoyed.
There are books I have given away so many times I had to start buying them in multiples. Eventually, I started putting stickers on the front to remind myself not to give them away as some of them would be hard to find and difficult to replace.
My love of books has also translated into an absurd habit of putting a book, or if I am smart a kindle, into my backpack on backcountry camping trips even when I know I am going to be carrying it for days. As an adult having a book became a bit of a security blanket.
These days my book procurement is more focused on general topics of interest and I find I have some books in multiple format (audible, digital, print).
5. What is a book that has greatly influenced your life?
This is a loaded question, books are a bit of a weakness for me. Some of the books I most often give away are:
Irvin Yalom’s “The Gift of Therapy”. I think it’s an excellent book for anyone involved with working with people as a leader, facilitator, teacher, coach, or manager. At the end of the day it all comes down to people.
“Gamestorming” By Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo. It is a must for anyone wanting to create a collaborative, innovative and empowering work environment that does great work and has fun doing it.
The Meaning Revolution by Fred Kofman . Fred was the head of leadership and development at LinkedIn and then at Google before starting his own leadership development company. His work is inspiring and practical for anyone managing teams or working in groups.
The Evolving Self by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Mihaly was the psychologist who founded the research on flow states. This book paints an incredible picture of the possibilities for group flow and next level teaming. From his vision it is in collaborative flow that we will be able to leverage the expertise of multiple perspectives and join together to solve complex problems in an future filled with uncertainty.
