Michael Vizdos

“Of all the people in the agile industry, no one is more people focused than Michael. I took my first scrum class from Mike in 2008, and I still use the skills he taught me today. And, it was about far more than skills - it was inspiration. The class was interactive, engaging, and real. It's been 14 years since that class - and Mike still shows up each week the same way. He is always focused on building community, helping others grow, and moving the industry forward. As CEO of Scrum Alliance, Mike was a active volunteer. Unlike so many others, Mike genuinely wanted to help to make the world a better place, not for his financial or positional betterment. Mike is always available for others, whether it's to help people find agile jobs or advance agile in education. He is an excellent presenter at conferences and always willing to step in and assist in almost any role. Mike is planting seeds for growth in the future he may never see in people, but he continues to plant. The agile space is far better for having Michael Vizdos in it. I would recommend him as an educator, mentor, facilitator, and collaborator.”

“If you or your organisation are interested in agile methodologies, scrum or simply want to (as I did) gain an understanding of the wider methodology and how it can sit alongside or integrate with existing processes and models I recommend trying to get hold of Mike.”

“Michael shows passion and excitement about Scrum in every situation. Look at his cartoons and you see it.”

“Michael is an outstanding Agile trainer and coach. Besides deep and thorough understanding of SCRUM and Agile processes in general he has a great mentoring and teaching skills. What I really liked is how Mike managed to help people get the idea themselves instead of just telling the story. Its awesome!”

“I worked with Mike over the period of a few years at a fortune 500 company where he worked as an Agile Coach. I feel like Mike is a great teacher. He leads and helps you along the way. He does not give you the answer out right, Mike asks questions to help you gain understanding on your own rather that feeding you the answers. He has such great perspective and thoughts…most of this can be seen in Mike's wonderful website. I was interested in being a certified Scrum Trainer at one point in time and Mike allowed me to observe a class that he was teaching. It really helped me to see what I wanted to be doing and to even check to see if being a certified trainer was something that I could do. I do highly recommend Mike. He gets Agile and People/Team management/motivation at a very deep level.”

“Mike Vizdos proved highly effective in coaching an early adopter organization within Capital One to success with Agile. He was able to set up a critical IT/ process redesign team for success based on his guidance of leadership, coaching of product owner, customer and stakeholders. He was able to give great guidance to newly minted apprentice coaches. Some coaches he developed have been pivotal in guiding COF to effective adoption of Agile.”

“Michael Vizdos is recognized as a thought leader in Scrum and has made numerous contributions to the Agile community. Michael and Mark Pushinsky developed one of the most interesting and informative Certified Scrum Master courses available today. Michael's site implementingscrum.com is a gem of insights and humor, and demonstrates his deep understanding of the many issues Agile makes visible in organizations today. I highly recommend Michael Vizdos as an insightful Scrum trainer and as a consultant to give an independent perspective on your IT processes.”

“Mike is an expert Agile Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer. I observed him actively coaching an Agile team and remain amazed at how well he influenced the team, trained the team, managed the executives, and ensured complete success for the team… all the while appearing to sit back and watch. He is a master at listening. He hears a teams needs and quietly influences them to find the right path for themselves. When he needs to intervene, he does so with earned respect and confidence rooted in experience. He helped me get started down the Agile path and I still seek his advice when I face the really tough Agile and Scrum issues. I highly recommend his Certified ScrumMaster Workshops, even if you have to wait a while for him to teach one on your continent. His implementingscrum.com website is a “must read” for the Agile and Scrum communities, especially the cartoons!”

“Mike is a very seasoned Agile coach who has seen it all. At times quiet and watchful, at others boldly speaking truth to power, Mike is ever the unflappable coach. He can handle a wide variety of situations and varying levels (from technical to managment) within the organization. Mike has an uncanny ability to get others to confide in him, therefore his influence can be wide. I recommend him to you for your Agile teams.”

“Leveraging the scrum methodology and real world experience, Michael provides a Scrum certification course that can immediately be applied on the job.”

“Michael conducted most exciting training's I've ever attend.”

“I really enjoyed working with Michael. He has an uncanny way of helping people clearly see how their decisions affect their environment. He does in a manner that appears almost effortless. Mike has helped me to be a much better consultant and change agent. Expect the unexpected with Mike!”

“I have had the best learning experience while working with Mike. He's managerial style is awesome, he knows how to set team expectations, manages his time and his subordinates' without loosing focus on the big picture. He knows how to get the best from every team member within his/her area of expertise. His technical proficiency will be always way above average and he has the best sense of humor you can find!! I definitively would love to work with Mike again!”

“I participated in Michael's "Certified SCRUM Master" course and it was a real pleasure for me. Disregarding my opinion that I know enough in the subject, the course gave me an insight in both theoretical and practical aspects. Michael has a good presentative skils and a great sens of humor that helped to understand theoretical part and not get boried at any moment during two days. Moreover, Michael has a big practical experience that gave me the deep insight in the subject. It was not only "the book says" course, but also great sharing of reall experience among participants and Michael personally. I'd recommend Michael as a trainer and consultant for anyone who has joined or only goining to join the Agile community. I will be glad to see my employees and colleagues on next Michael's course.”

“Michael was a top-notch addition to Agile implementation. Not only is he an expert in the concepts, he is personable and is not afraid to be creative in applying the theoretical concepts to real world situations. In my assessment Michael was a large part of the reason we were successful.”

“Over the past couple of years, I've worked with Mike and had an opportunity to observe his low-profile, yet determined and steadfast coaching and mentoring to people and organizations implementing Agile practices. Mike's coaching approach is effective across the range of experience from newbies to seasoned, experienced Agile experts. I have enjoyed working with and learning from him.”

“I worked with Michael at a major financial institution implementing Agile (Scrum and XP). Mike is quiet, down to earth, practical guy. Fun to work with, with a gentle sense of humor. I always respected his knowledge of Agile. His style typically was to let the person he was working with come to their own conclusions (typically much more effective). With his developer background, he brought things to agile coaching that others could not. I know several people who felt that their interactions with Mike were amongst the highlights of their experiences with Agile. I look forward to continuing to work with Mike, and I recommend him without reservation.”

“Michael has the unique ability to take a team of professionals that are comfortable with the Waterfall approach and a bit cynical of other methodolgies, and transform them into a highly effective, cohesive Agile team. He creates a constructive balance between letting the team struggle with decisions and guiding the team to results. He spends the time necessary with the team and individuals as needed to ensure that the concepts are not just being applied, but also understood. He can quickly change gears when required to ensure that the team is moving forward. Michael is professional, knowlegeable, dedicated, and pleasant to work with.”

“Michael is a solid thinker who doesn't let that get in the way of taking timely and appropriate action. He is able to see deeply into human and organizational problems in a highly technical setting and find useful solutions. I enjoyed working with Michael and I hope to have the opportunity to do so again in the future.”

“Mike was instrumental in helping develop a successful team using the Agile methodology.”

“Mike was a Excellent Agile Coach and helped a team of developer, designers, architects testers and business users understand and embrace the philosophy. Additionally, Mike helped to solve a very hard technical problem with his past experience.”

“Michael is very knowledgeable in the agile arena. I have worked with Michael and also utilitized Michael as my mentor. Michael has always educated and consultated me in such a manner that I have already received awards from my company on my coaching ability. Michael has a natural ability to teach in a manner which creates positive results.”

“I can't express enough the amount of change and improvement that Michael Vizdos has sparked at our client Capital One. To my knowledge there are a few organizations that have adopted a widescale change like Capital One, in their adoption of Agile principles. Michael, lead the most difficult project to date from introduction to completion with stellar results. Kudos for a job well done.”

“Micheal has strong experience co-ordinating agile teams and coaching executive management, project management, and project contributors in agile practices and strategy. His contributions to the community of coaches and agile managers was cogent and helpful. I would recommend his assistance in any roll-out of agile methods and practices.”

“I worked alongside Michael, leading the enterprise rollout of Agile practices, so I heard the stories of his good work. Teams knew Michael as a trustworthy and effective coach, who led by example. Management relied on him to help apply the lessons of Agile beyond software, into the domains of product and project management. Michael is serious about his work, and a real asset to any enterprise.”

“Michael helped me arrange for a key speaker on Agile technologies to address an audience of senior technologists at my company. He was both efficient and a great person to work with. The event in question was a success and I would work with Mike and his company in the future.”

“Michael was my Scrum coach at a major financial services company. He was extremely knowledgeable about Scrum and Agile methods, in general, but wise enough to know when to let the team (and me) learn through our own experiences.”

“Energetic, professional, resourceful. Michael was very helpful in educating me on the agile methods.”

“Mike and I worked together on sales opportunities and he has supported my work when onsite with clients. He is creative and focused in his sales efforts and very supportive of the consultants he manages.”

“Mike is a self-motivated proven leader whose impact on Brience extended beyond the Professional Services Organization he led. For example, he conceptualized and authored a comprehensive document outlining/defining the processes to be followed by all departments within the company. It was a pleasure working with Mike and I would highly recommend him to any company considering him for employment.”

“Michael has a wealth of knowledge on Agile development and the custom implementation of iterative processes. He is constantly researching new material as well as industry best practices. He is able to match this knowledge with customer needs to define effective solutions. I would highly recommend him.”

“Michael was a pleasure to work with; very response and time sensitive with my needs and requests. Great follow up and attention to detail. A pleasure to interact with!”

“Here Michael had an opportunity to bridge the gap between customers, management, and employees and did so flawlessly. He made everyone feel like an important part of the big picture. Michael’s professional nature made him a pleasure to work with.”

“Michael’s upbeat attitude and good nature helped employees and customers alike see things in a more positive light. While juggling multiple customers, he always managed to make each and every one, no matter how small or how large, feel important. His professionalism toward coworkers was unsurpassed. Michael comes highly recommended.”

“Michael’s professionalism and drive made him a pleasure to work with. He always made time to listen to both customer and employee input. He made sure that every customer understood that they were important and appreciated. He also treated every employee with this kind of respect. Michael’s unique ability to adapt to any situation makes him the perfect candidate for any position.”

“Mike has a gift for listening to clients' needs, and conveys genuine interest in providing the right solution. He is a straight-forward, down to earth professional who has always shown me the highest level of ethical conduct.”

“Michael is very responsive and on top of issues. I recommend his work highly.”

“Mike's a great guy. I've known him for some years now and have worked with him in the past. He's great to work with. He is professional while yet retaining a sense of fun. I have no reservations endorsing or reccomending Mike.”

“The best supervisor I've ever worked for. Very balanced, great industry knowlegde, excelent comunicator, very good planner. Mike knew better than most of the other management team members and CXO level.”