Introducing the Digital and Innovation Team: Sarah Norman, agile delivery manager
Sarah tells us about being an agile delivery manager at RNID, her small-talk skills, and her quest for a good coffee
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Tell us about your role at RNID
In my role as agile delivery manager, I help teams at RNID to work in an agile way to deliver value. I help teams to do this in the most efficient way and make sure that everyone has the right environment to do their best work.
I help resolve blockers and problems that might impact delivery, and I help to promote a reflective, transparent culture where we continuously learn, improve and share with others.
How do we work effectively with an agile delivery manager?
It’s really useful for me if you are honest and open with me, that way I can maintain a broad overview of all our work going on, and how everyone in the team is doing. I can then work out which areas need my help or support and focus there.
It’s also great if you can let me know about a blocker or problem as soon as possible. Then we can work out a plan of action!
In a nutshell, keep your delivery manager in the loop with everything. I am always happy to chat.
What are you working on at the moment?
Right now I am spread across a few things. I’m working with the online community project as a trial for working in a more agile way, aligned to RNID values (in particular, curiosity and insightfulness), which I’ll then take to other matrix teams at RNID.
I’m also working on an informal introduction to agile training for RNID colleagues, and have recently facilitated several retrospectives and workshops with various teams. Lastly, I am planning a kick-off session for the digital and innovation capability as we embark on our roadmap for quarter 2.
Tell us about something you’ve been proud to work on
In my last role, I worked on the NHS website where I was really proud to work on a product with such huge reach — over a billion visits in 2021! I was involved in making sure the website was as accessible and inclusive to all needs as possible, something I am really passionate about, and why I’m really enjoying my time at RNID so far.
In particular, I spent four months collaborating with NHS Test and Trace to deliver the NHS website content for universal asymptomatic testing in England. This was incredibly challenging work at an unimaginable pace but I was proud to play a part in the national COVID-19 response.
What’s your superpower as agile delivery manager?
Previous colleagues have described me as the queen of small-talk! You’ll never have an awkward silence in a meeting with me.
Joking aside, I love building strong cohesive teams, with wellbeing the number one priority.
Where are you working today?
Today I am working from my parents house in lovely south-west London, where I grew up.
However, most of the time I work from home in north-west Leeds, where I’ve now lived for nearly 10 years.
What’s your favourite weekend activity?
You’ll usually find me hiking in the Yorkshire Dales or Lake District! Also love finding a good coffee, cake or G&T.
