It is my profound pleasure to welcome Sue McKinney and Tom Grant to the Cutter family and to the Agile practice. I am really excited about the expertise they bring to the practice and the opportunity to work with them in person.
I first met Sue some five or six years ago in an APLN conference in which she presented her experience teaching the IBM elephant to dance to the rhythm of Agile. My overarching impression from the presentation was “Wow, this lady has fire in her belly!” This impression of mine grew stronger and stronger over the years as I became more familiar with her large scale transformative work at both IBM and Pitney Bowes.
I must confess I do not even remember where and when I first met Tom… What I do know, however, is that precious few Agilists that I interact with combine the breadth, the depth, the balance and the wisdom that are so characteristic of Tom’s publications and engagements. I have no doubt that now that he has joined Cutter I will often take his good advice.
It is a little premature to speculate on future foci for Sue and Tom at Cutter – like every consultant in the practice they will make their own choices. Until they leave their imprint in their preferred areas of specialization, I would allow myself one speculation: between the various consultants in the practice that specialize in methodical aspects of Agile/Lean, Tom’s deep expertise in Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) and Sue’s experience and track record in large scale Agile transformations, we have a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts…
I am thrilled that Sue and Tom chose to be two of us. Please join me in welcoming them aboard.
