Amanda Empey

Amanda Empey has done some sort of project management from the time she was in high school, though she didn't realize that's what it was called at the time.  As a Stage Manager, she worked with groups of people with unique specialties and talents to make sure exciting and entertaining shows were ready to go on opening night, and as the Director of a local chapter of DanceSafe she worked within a budget to create culturally appropriate outreach materials to deliver to youth on the risks involved when using drugs.  

The professional experience came later, when Ms. Empey discovered Agile organizational projects while working as an implementation specialist at a technical support company in 2013.  Tasked with organizing a large list of backlogged employee accounts, she found Kanban Methodology and adapted it for use on her team.  Being able to tangibly hold a Post-It and move it from status to status and being able to see at a glance which accounts needed attention proved to be the jolt the team needed and they were able to quickly clear out months' worth of appointments and training.  From there, she was hooked and devoured any information she could get her hands on about Scrum and Agile Methodologies.
 

Ms. Empey worked as a dual role Software Quality Assurance Analyst and Scrum Master for multiple teams, honing her skills both technically and interpersonally as she worked with numerous developers and staff to deliver software that collected survey data and processed and shipped products through direct-selling.  Maintaining both roles gave her a newfound perspective on the unique challenges of completing testing in an Agile environment and Ms. Empey continues to champion for the SQA on the team whenever possible.

Currently, Ms. Empey is only acting as a Scrum Master for the two teams she serves and is enjoying working in a medical environment where she feels as though her work is meaningful and improves patient care.