Vice President of Learning Solutions, Don McGreal has long been a foundational member of Improving’s culture and team. While helping to organize and coordinate training across all of Improving’s offices, Don also teaches Scrum.org certification classes extensively throughout North America.
In addition to Don’s many titles VP, Consultant, Trainer, Speaker, Scrum.org Course Steward, Husband, Father, and proud Canadian, another one has recently been added, Author.
Teaming up with Ralph Jocham, with whom he also redesigned the Scrum.org Product Owner Certification Course, Don wrote the recently published book “The Professional Product Owner: Leveraging Scrum as a Competitive Advantage”
Read on for the lightly edited transcript of our interview.
HW: What keeps you excited about working at Improving?
DM: In 18 years, I’ve had two jobs, I’ve worked for two companies, but I’ve had hundreds of gigs within that time. Here my job is completely different every single week. I’m with a different client, a different problem. I love teaching and coaching. I like the short time periods of what I do. I like the life of a consultant, so when I’m switching off to different jobs, I have the possibility to try different things while sticking with one company. I could teach independently, but it would just be me. I wouldn’t be building something with people I love and respect. Improving is family to me.
HW: What’s the relationship between Improving and Scrum.org?
Improving is the largest trainer for Scrum.org classes in North America. Scrum.org has been a huge partner of ours and a great channel. People sign up for our public Scrum certification classes through them and then find out about our consulting and coaching. Ken Schwaber is the co-creator of Scrum, the owner of Scrum.org, and he wrote the foreword to the book. This book is a part of the “Professional Series” by Scrum.org and Pearson (Addison-Wesley) publishing.