My Highlights of 2014

Having a few days off around Christmas offers an ideal opportunity for some reflection. In this blog post I will write down the professional highlights of this year, the next blog will include the wishes, dreams, and goals I have for 2015. Of course, these are all personal topics, but maybe it will inspire you to do some reflection on your own.

Looking back, 2014 was quite a roller coaster. Switched jobs between Enrise and Prowareness. I really got out of my comfort zone. Experienced what it takes to be a truly great coach/consultant and (luckily) discovered I still got a lot to learn. But it was an awesome journey so far!

In a nutshell, my highlights are:

1. Leaving Enrise. This is not meant negatively towards Enrise; I really had some great years at Enrise. Fun, smart and professional colleagues, warm environment, challenging projects, and all the freedom and support to bring yourself to the next level. But after four years it was time to move on;
2. Starting at Prowareness. Although my start was a bumpy ride, the reward for not giving up was worth it all. Prowareness turned out to be the company I hoped it would be: offering you all the support, chances, and guidance to achieve your professional dreams.
3. Giving training. This really is the icing on the cake! I learned a lot from being a co-trainer for the Professional Scrum training and quickly got the chance to do a few in-house training on my own. Having a focus on the role of Scrum Master I also managed to take ownership of the Scrum Master Advanced course where I still learn a lot from the experienced participants. Recently we also started the new Scrum Framework Training as a solid preparation for the professional Scrum courses. Giving training is intense but the enthusiasm, shared experiences, and being able to contribute to someone’s journey is a great reward.
4. Feedback. The feedback I managed to gather is also one of the highlights for me. Even though this feedback most of the time wasn’t always ‘positive’. But it gave me the opportunity to improve myself and this ended the bumpy start I had at Prowareness. For sure my journey will have more difficult times, but entering these with an open mind and heart increases the chance of dealing with them.
5. Shared passion. The primary reason to join Prowareness was the presence of colleagues having the same passion as I do. Sharing the same interests and helping each other obtain their goals and dreams is awesome and inspiring. Being a fast-growing company, even more, colleagues sharing the same passion have joined Prowareness in the meantime!
6. Writing. I always liked to write but never gave it a serious chance. This year I finally started writing blog posts also in English because improving these skills was also a goal. Every finished blog post really is a part of me. It forces me to truly understand the topic I’m writing about and gives me a boost of energy and satisfaction afterward.
7. Visiting seminars. This year I visited Scrum Day Europe, Agile Open Holland, and the XP Days. By attending these seminars I not only learned a lot from the presentations but also got inspired by the enthusiasm and passion of all the other visitors. During these days my professional toolkit got filled tremendously!
8. Finding a work-life balance. Although this is quite difficult to define because for me work is also some sort of a hobby. But let’s say I’ve found a balance between the amount of time I spend on my work versus my family, friends, sport, etc. Keeping the balance is a daily effort and a continuous challenge, but compared to previous years this was a good year.
9. Bye-bye comfort zone. By joining Prowareness I knew I had to leave my comfort zone regularly. But I truly believe the biggest personal progress can only be achieved outside your comfort zone. By giving training, speaking & writing English often and some consultancy assignments, the comfort zone was left quite often. Due to this, the achieved personal growth was larger than in previous years.
10. Consultancy assignments. Although mentioned, at last, this might be the most important highlight of all. I really gained a large amount of knowledge and insights during the assignments I’ve done and learned a lot from my temporary colleagues. The life of a consultant isn’t always easy but it’s definitely rewarding!

In retrospect, it was a difficult and challenging year, but summing up all these highlights, I definitely look back with a satisfying feeling! Hope to write a blog post next year with the same amount of highlights, let’s go for it!

Originally published at www.barryovereem.com on December 28, 2014.