Dina: Fluent In Agile (And Six Other Languages)

With degrees in International Relations and Diplomacy, Dina Goncharova once had her sights set on becoming ‘President or Prime Minister of whatever country I was living in’. These days she’s settled for simply leading the world of tech.

As an Agile coach at Team Digital, Dina puts her negotiation and diplomacy skills to use every day. We caught up with her to talk discovering scrum, what makes Agile great (the clue is in the name) and why you shouldn’t worry if she’s crying by the swimming pool.

Hi Dina. First of all, what should people listen to when they read this?

Anything by Stanton Lanier. I love the piano. It’s great reading music too.

A very elegant choice. OK, what’s an Agile Coach?

Officially, it’s someone who helps teams and individuals adopt and improve their Agile methods. For me, it’s about creating a way of working where amazing things can happen. Agile coaches are the invisible glue that holds everything together.

What makes it the best way of working then?

Funnily enough, it’s the agility. The definition of ‘agile’ is ‘being able to move quickly and easily’. You can see how that’s perfect for software development. What can I say? Agile just rings true to me. It suits my personality. Especially the ‘people over processes’ part.

When did your Agile adventure begin?

Eight years ago at my first job in the Netherlands. I was hired as a Project Manager to coordinate mobile dev projects between offices in the Netherlands and Ukraine — my home country.

Their way of working wasn’t actually working so I went on a scrum course. It was like ‘Ah, this is it! This is perfect!’ Our company then grew from three to 30 people in three months. So it obviously worked.

What is it about your job that makes you leap out of bed in the morning?

I’m afraid it’s the world peace answer: making the world a better place. Agile gives people greater job satisfaction and customers better products.

What makes you want to hit the snooze button?

All the persuading and politics. Just give me a developer, a hypothesis and let’s get building!

You speak six languages. How is that humanly possible? (In English please.)

[Laughs kinda modestly] They just came along! Ukrainian and Russian came naturally from home and school. Then at university, I studied French and German.

When I was 26, I moved to Israel to study diplomacy and it was all in Hebrew. It was a tough first six months but I’m native level now. Finally, there’s Dutch. I learned that in cafes and Albert Heijns.

Why Israel?

There’s no better country to study diplomacy is there?

Good point.

It was a big decision though. Ukraine was booming at that time, especially Kiev. I left a promising career for studying and waitressing jobs. It was hard but I knew it would bring me to the next level.

Now for a tricky one. Describe Dina the Agile coach in five words.

Passionate, open, caring, driven and knowledgeable.

And Dina the woman?

This is a question I didn’t expect! Let’s see… Passionate, open, caring, driven and wise. I think wisdom is the ‘life version’ of knowledge. You pick things up along the way.

What do you get up to outside the office?

I love skiing. My husband and I train every week on the ‘plastic slope’ at Wolfskamer. We also go on skiing holidays in Austria and Italy.

It might sound a bit braggy, but I also love learning. I do at least one major course in my field every year. In fact, I’ve got a coaching course that goes way beyond Agile starting soon. Finally, I’ve got my own Agile Coach. We get together once a month to spar on Agile issues.

You’re obsessed! Which is probably a good thing. OK, most prized possession?

A ginger cat — as much as one can ‘own’ a cat!

Favourite film?

Shawshank Redemption or Schindler’s List.

Not the most upbeat choices, Dina.

I’m terrible. I always end up on some Greek holiday reading about the Holocaust or something. My husband is like, ‘what are you doing?!’ I like it though.

Fair enough! Finally, what’s the last photo on your phone?

Some little presents from a colleague just back from Israel. ‘Ahava’ means love in Hebrew. Made me smile.

Want to create a huge batch of happy customers, just like Dina? We’re always on the lookout for digital talent who know what makes people tick. Or click, your choice. Click here to find out more. You know you want to.