My role at FinoComp is a combination of a Scrum Master and developer.
I came on as a graduate in 2019, in a developer role. Back when I joined there were only the two Jamberoo offices, the FinoComp family was much smaller, and we all worked out of Jamberoo. Now many more teams have been added to the company, and when we are not in lockdown my home-base is the Wollongong office. FinoComp has grown exponentially over the last few years, but at least one important thing hasn’t changed, being able to bring your dog to work!
Although I initially came on as a developer, I am also now in a Scrum Master role for one of the FinoComp teams.
Despite sounding rather football-related, a Scrum Master role comes from the Agile framework we employ at FinoComp, which is called ‘Scrum’. The role involves ensuring the team’s development processes are as smooth as possible, and that any impediments or issues in the team’s or a team member’s workflow are resolved quickly. The process of Scrum also mandates several meetings, which a scrum master facilitates, and we ensure the purpose of the meeting is achieved and try and try keep everyone engaged.
Scrum Masters are servant leaders to our team. Being a developer and Scrum Master is an interesting duality as we are in the team while we are serving it. Sometimes you have to approach an issue from multiple perspectives at once.
I find my role as a Scrum Master really rewarding, as it involves encouraging the team to voice their ideas for opportunities to improve our process and minimize waste in our development cycle. It is always so exciting when we find some new way of working that helps make our development life easier!
One example is when the pandemic hit and we all had to adapt to working remotely overnight. The first thing the Starforce team did was to get together and brainstorm for ways to make remote working and communication as easy as possible. We instantly decided to do more calls, to replace the old workplace chats. We also made a new meeting to help share knowledge through the team, which would naturally occur when the team was located in the same building.
An important aspect of a smooth development process is team co-operation. Developing is all about teamwork, and the Starforce team is a prime example of that! We all approach problems together as a team and try and share our knowledge as much as possible. We even take our team problem solving outside work, and help each other solve (physical logic) problems at the climbing gym!
Sometimes it’s difficult to be both a Scrum Master and a developer. One such time is when you have an exciting chunk of work you want to do as a developer, but you constantly get called into Scrum Master business! It’s particularly hard when we first went into lockdown, as my Scrum Master duties increased for a while as we tried to smooth out our remote-working processes. Sometimes this meant I wouldn’t develop for a whole week at a time!
I love both my roles at FinoComp, as both provide so much satisfaction. Equally from when you solve a logic problem you’ve been stuck on for days, or when the team hits a new all-time high for work completed.
