How Adopting an Agile Mindset Can Improve Both Your Professional and Personal Environment

Can agile best practices go well beyond the world of business and be adopted into your personal life? Adrian Aringhe, Scrum Master II at EPAM in Romania, believes that they can be—and should be to help you reach your career goals!

In this interview, Adrian shares his personal experience and offers valuable advice and strategies to adopt an agile mindset. Adrian is a Certified Scrum Master with more than 10 years of experience in both national and multinational companies. He is passionate about helping others and improving processes to achieve goals and has chosen to focus his career on agile and being an advocate for this approach.

From your perspective, can you pinpoint what strengths are most important in an agile environment? 

In my perspective, the most important strengths in an agile environment include effective communication, focus on continuous improvement, commitment and respect.

Tell us more about how agile can be adopted both in your professional and personal life.

Firstly, being agile in the workplace has changed how teams operate and produce results in the business world. There are a few agile critical elements that can increase our productivity and effectiveness:

• Encouraging an attitude of gradual development. This strategy enables regular feedback, modification, and ongoing development and may help us prevent becoming overwhelmed and keep a steady pace toward attaining our goals.
• Fostering a collaborative environment that promotes efficient communication and cross-functional teamwork by encouraging a collaborative environment will result in creative ideas, quicker problem-solving and increased production.
• Adapting to change as an opportunity rather than a disruption. We may react more effectively to shifting objectives, market needs, and unanticipated challenges by embracing change and being open to regular modifications.
• Agile ideas can be used outside of work environments as well and may be used in our daily lives to produce transformative effects. I’ve also talked about six practical agile tips to live by, which everyone can apply easily to everyday situations. 

We love your practical tips and passion for supporting growth for others. Is there someone you look to as inspiration for your own development?

There are several well-known people who have made major contributions to the agile community, that could serve as career inspiration for anyone. Jeff Sutherland, the co-creator of Scrum, is one role model. His tireless efforts to modernize project management and advance Agile principles have had a significant impact on motivating many people to adopt an agile mindset and advance their projects.

What advice would you give to a younger version of yourself?

To a younger version of myself, I would suggest adopting a growth mindset and being willing to learn from every experience or situation encountered.

What is the biggest factor that helped you be successful? 

The main thing that has made me successful is my willingness to always advance, change, and look for chances to advance both personally and professionally. My journey has been greatly aided by accepting obstacles as learning opportunities and being proactive in developing new abilities.

To sum it up, adopting agile concepts can improve productivity, adaptability, and a sense of balance in both our professional and personal life. We can overcome obstacles more successfully and succeed in our goals by accepting change, promoting teamwork, and adopting iterative approaches.

One thing is for sure, you can decide for yourself regarding the result. Will you choose to use the agile principles in both your personal and professional life starting from now on? 

Join EPAM’s agile teams: check out epam.com/careers