Amy Firestone

Amy Marie Firestone is a principal systems engineer with a background in software testing and Total Quality Management who believes that Agile Scrum processes have helped the teams she has worked on produce the right product at the right time. 

Ms. Firestone’s first exposure to Agile Scrum methodology was on a contract with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in 2009.  Although the team had no formal training and there were some aspects of Scrum that could have been better implemented, the team, a part of a larger project, put some Agile processes in place as an overlay to their previous practices, and as a result the team was able adapt to changing customer requirements quickly and produce what was desired at the end of the contract period, not just the concept that was suggested at the beginning. 

In 2011 Ms. Firestone helped implement an Agile Scrum methodology on a project that had been running for several months but was new to SAIC.  The daily scrum and sprint planning meetings allowed for meaningful product owner involvement and realistic goals and expectations for each iteration delivered. 

Her next several projects also used Agile Scrum methodology as an overlay, and in 2013 Ms. Firestone became a Certified Scrum Master and assumed that role on a small team with a focused product.  Although there have been challenges implementing developer input into sprints and developing user stories for requirements in an environment accustomed to performing with a Waterfall mentality, the team has performed most efficiently when the scrum methodology has been best implemented.    Ms. Firestone has found continuing education in Agile methodologies to be very valuable in allowing her to attempt to help the team she is working with excel.