Leigh Zainal
My credentials
About
Leigh Zainal, PMP, SA, CSP (CSM + CSPO), PMI-ACP
I have been in IT Project Management for more years than I care to count. I have worked in the telecommunications, internet, e-commerce, media and entertainment industries and have found that no matter where you go, the challenges facing a software project manager are virtually the same. Prior to being Agile, I was climbing the Project Manager ladder of success, reaching Director of PMO.
In 2009, I was thrown into the deep end of the pool with respect to Agile, being tasked to transition a traditional Waterfall software delivery team to Agile/Scrum. I often told my Scrum team that I would know I was successful in leading them through the transition when they no longer needed me as a Scrum Master (or project manager). And together we worked me out of a job!, so I moved on to the next team to transition. I love to watch a Scrum team form and grow; and I grow with them, learning new approaches with every team.
In my current role, I am helping transition a software development team to Agile Scrum, not only in process, but in culture. This promises to be a very fun ride. We're embracing all sorts of "new" ideas (for the team) like Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery and Test Driven Development.
My personal goal is to approach each day as a learning opportunity. Scrum allows me the flexibility to "fail fast" and learn quicker. And even if something did not work for one team, does not mean it won't work for a future one.
Experience and services
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Career history
- 2018-03-20 - present - College Board
- 2009-03-30 - 2014-01-17 - Neustar, Inc (Scrum Master)
- 2014-03-03 - 2015-08-01 - AOL (Scrum Master)
- 2015-08-17 - 2018-03-16 - k12 (Sr. Technical Project Manager/Scrum Master)