David Gardner

David L. Gardner has been in the high-technology industry since 1980 when he was a co-op at IBM.  David has worked in a variety of well-known companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Novell, and NetIQ, and has worked in several disciplines - he has been a hardware engineer, software developer, researcher, consultant, trainer, Product Manager, Product Line Manager, Product Owner, ScrumMaster, and coach.  In academic pursuits, David has earned BSEE, MBA, MCIS, and Ph.D. IS degrees, and holds the CSM, CSPO, and CSP certifications from Scrum Alliance.

David's lengthy experience in product management along with his broad and deep technical background put him in a unique position to learn and apply Agile principles when he became the director of a product management team in a company practicing Scrum development back in 2006.  Since that time, David has been both a Product Owner and Scrum Master in several companies, a consultant with a specialization in software requirements, and has trained and coached teams, ScrumMasters, and Product Owners in a variety of organizations.  Because of the success of David’s coaching, he has been asked to participate in Agile Transformation working groups in several large companies. 

David’s product management and software requirements consulting expertise is particularly applicable when he is coaching teams and Product Owners; with in-depth guidance provided in eliciting requirements, describing customer “journeys”, creating visual models, forming well shaped product backlogs, and elaborating user stories. David has found one of the most rewarding aspects of being an Agile coach comes from watching empowered teams “hit their stride” and take pride in their high-quality software that delights stakeholders.