For a large part of my career, I never quite knew where I fit in. I started out as a Junior Systems Analyst in the IT department, and when people learned that I worked in IT they tried to get me to fix their computer… let’s just say that that never went well. From there I moved into the role of Operations Manager where I was still working with databases and implementations and projects but I wasn’t in IT now I was working in the Operations Department (luckily when I told people I worked in operations no one knew what I did – so no more broken computer drop offs!). At my next company, I started as a Database Manager in the Membership Department (long story…). Although I did eventually transition back to the IT Department and I have now settled in as a consultant in the world of Management Consulting, and while most companies still do not know where I fit, I have come to a realization: I am a Non- Techie living in the Tech World….

While trying to address the perennial SCRUM-versus-waterfall question by researching project success rates, I came upon an interesting article in Dr. Dobb's Journal.  After surveying over 300 project management practitioners with expertise in both Agile and traditional methodologies, the Journal was able to quantify success for 71% of Agile projects and 61% “traditional” projects.  Whether this implies that self-organization effectively mitigates at least some risks, or that Agile projects are more disciplined than is commonly perceived, remains open to interpretation [more on this in my next blog entry], but even more interesting were the trends about workplace health, as documented almost as an afterthought on the survey’s periphery^[1].