From Developer to Agile Coach

“Follow your passion and your energy. Do what make sense for you right now, you can always evolve into something later.” Susan Pedersen, Agile Coach

Quote Card Susan Digital

I’m Susan Pedersen, an Agile Coach sitting in the Group Business Agility team in Billund, Denmark and I joined the LEGO Group in 2016. We’re a bunch of passionate people who love to work with our colleagues to change and adapt how we do things, so we can reach even more LEGO® builders, and make the LEGO Group an even better place to work.

Being disruptive

Our aim is to disrupt the current digital structures and systems, to prove that there is a different way of doing things that will provide higher value, and help make our employees happier. We’re very aware that this is a long journey and requires a lot of people to change their views of the world, but we believe this is possible with the backing of the wider Digital Technology team at the LEGO Group.

From Developer to Agile Coach

My personal journey to become an Agile Coach is probably pretty common – prior to the LEGO Group I worked as a Software Engineer. I loved it, the beauty of well written code that makes users happy is a really satisfying job. Around 13 years ago I changed roles and joined a company as a developer, that was working Agile. The energy, empowerment and creativity flowing through the team was so different to what I’d already experienced.

That was the moment my love for Agile working grew. At my previous company I was always torn between working with the product and the technical side, and working with people and the human side. In the end I chose people. When joining the LEGO Group family, I was fully committed to working with people as an Agile Coach. What I love about my job is the possibility to make a difference in people’s lives – to actually make people happier.

Today I interact with all types of colleagues from across the LEGO Group – from Scrum Masters and Developers, to Product Managers and Vice Presidents, as well as everyone in-between. I find that connecting with lots of people from all over the company, with different contexts and different challenges is what makes my role so fun.

Curiosity

Sharing my background as a female developer with others always brings curiosity from people, but to me it was very natural. I love the predictability of code. The fact that you can calculate the outcome is very fulfilling, to see the end-product that emerges from those lines of code. When working with people, there is none of that predictability. The problems we are trying to tackle are much more complex and have no simple solutions. The only way forward is to test and learn– try out small experiments and monitor how they affect the people and the surroundings.

There is no doubt that I get my energy from helping people realise that they have the power to affect how they work and thereby become happier and better at what they do.

Working at the LEGO Group is really something special. Here people always come first. We make great products with endless possibilities that children love. But there is something different in our culture and values: Imagination, creativity, fun, caring, learning and quality. The fundamental belief that we will only succeed if we are true to our values – it truly feels like being part of one big family.

My advice to anyone considering a career as an Agile Coach, is to follow your passion and your energy. Do what make sense for you right now, you can always evolve into something later. Figuring out what to do with your life is a complex problem – you have to experiment your way through it and learn along the way. Good luck on your exciting journey!