Richard Sample

My name is Rich Sample, I have been fortunate to have a career in Software Engineering for almost 30 years.  My software development journey began at a company named Frontier Technologies where I worked on internet software before there was an Internet Explorer.  

I then started my 18 year adventure in the world of Healthcare Information Systems at GE Healthcare.  I worked on designing and developing software that would allow physicians and EMTs access to cardiovascular reports via a web browser. 

After several years in Healthcare, I had become a Development Team Leader for a cardiac motion imaging viewing and storage system that allowed Cardiac Catheterization medical personnel to view a movie of the heart as contrast materials have been injected in order to view the vascular structures of the heart.  Being a team lead I discovered the joy of leading a team of talented software developers in producing life-saving medical software.

I spent the last 5 years of my healthcare software experience working for APS Healthcare (now Universal American) creating Employee Benefits web portals that allow employees to access wellness information. I then became a Team Lead on a Provider Portal that would allow physicians to enter procedures and billing information.

Almost 8 years ago, I left healthcare and transitioned into Building Efficiency at Johnson Controls. I was a Project and technical lead for an integrated people screening/security checkpoint system that included an X-Ray Scanner, Radiation Meter and a Physical Access Control System. My responsibilities included functional requirements creation, project timeline creation, direct customer interaction, technical design direction and software development.

My journey into Scrum began almost 8 years ago as a Scrum Master for a development team creating software that is used to detect alarms (fire, etc.) in different building environments. I worked with the Scrum Team during Sprint Planning, Review, Retrospectives and the Daily Scrum.  

Seven years ago, I became a Scrum Master for 2 development teams for a mobile application and hardware thermostat product. This was a great learning experience working as a Scrum Master for two teams FOr these two teams I was a facilitator at a joint Sprint Planning/Retrospective/Review and each teams individual daily scrum.

My current servant leadership role is as a working as a Scrum Master and coach as part of a distributed team to consolidate several platforms with the end result being acloud-based platform that can be used for analytics and reporting across all company brands. 

 I enjoy learning something new about Agile and Scrum everyday and I enjoy coaching others in the Scrum Framework.