Agile Thinking

Motivations

I think about motivations pretty frequently. My motivations are the backbone to how I operate as a person. They shape how I handle technical difficulties, and reassure me when things do not go as initially planned.

My purpose is centered around providing value. Helping people out by fixing things that they need or making stuff that would be useful to others. Streamlining processes makes things more efficient in the end. Efficient processes help people from all walks feel more confident in their everyday responsibilities. Knowing that my work helps to raise the bar makes me inherently feel good. Which motivates me to work even harder, learn more, and become prepared for when challenges arise.

It’s a self-feeding cycle. Learning about Agile development has been fuel to my fire, and it has made me approach things in a more refined way. My approach before was not bad – it just wasn’t as educated. The things that I partake in professionally, educationally, and in extracurriculars are separate, with specific focuses. My intention when joining them all for one reason or another was to make me better and expose me to a new way of learning. Creating different neuropaths in my brain so that it can become stronger. Tangible input or results should show that growth – but the outcomes are not what I am in it for.

Having diverse experiences has led me to this way of thinking.

The agile development framework feeds into this. Let me explain why.

Engineering Assistant, IT Security Analyst, and Engineering Intern are all titles that I have held over the years. The common link between these is that with every level, they demanded something more of me. Analyst made me keep on researching to understand possible compromised accounts and engineering forced me to think with the intention of building. Was the quality of what I built always profound? No. It has improved with time. The mentorship that I received during these roles, and my ability to integrate it to become better is what I find to be profound. Being dynamic means being able to respond to change. In my heart – I intuitively had the desire to help and produce quality things. The agile manifesto outlines these attributes and expectations in a manner that allows me to meet those high expectations.

I think that being well-rounded is bare minimum. That is why I made myself step into another framework of thinking when I took on the Technical Policy Fellow role at The Paragon Fellowship. I figured that yes, I can program and learn on the spot for engineering roles. How is the work that I do connecting with people in other roles? What is the broader meaning behind the work that I am doing? How can I become cross-functional and also be able to speak to the desires of stakeholders that may only want to know about progress on their end objective? That is what counts. Now my work is helping those with disabilities by having a technical approach to how government practices handle accessibility requests and complaints in the City of Lebanon, NH.

• Dynamism
• Openness to challenges and change
• Exposure to passionate people (in-person or via tech media)
• High standards for quality outcomes
• Adaptability to contribute effectively in various teams
• Consistent presence
• Collaborative problem-solving skills

Courses start again in less than a month. I’ m really excited to take the whole agile development process and start to integrate it into the fabric of how I operate the Claremont Cybersecurity Club as President.