Mark Stringer

For further information, contact Mark@agilelab.co.uk (07736 807 604)

Summary

Agile Coach, Consultant and Trainer: As the lead trainer and consultant at Agile Lab I have
been responsible for writing and delivering all of Agile Lab’s courses. I specialise in creating
training that delivers not only the concepts, but also allows participants to also experience
through exercises and activities the understanding of the material that I present. I have
experience of running delegate and in-house courses to audiences with a wide variety of
technical abilities, from novice to expert.

Project Manager: My understanding of the role of project manager has developed over my
10 years of experience. I now understand that the role of project manager is not so much to
organise his team, but to provide the project team with the resources to organise themselves
and make clear to them what needs to be done.

In technical projects such as software development projects, the project manager is also the
crucial interface between the technical description of a problem and the business description
and this means that it has to be the project manager that takes responsibility for the delivery
of a project and its business value.

Software Developer: I have 15 years of experience as a developer. Alongside my work as a

project manager I have worked hard to maintain a high level of technical competence. I am
also a Sun Certified Java Programmer.

My technical experience includes: Java (to 1.6, Sun Certified Java Programmer- SCJP) 10
years experience, Perl (to 5.8) 12 years experience, C 15 years experience, C++ 12 years
experience, Python 5 years experience, Javascript 3 years experience, Ajax 1 year,
Googlemaps API 1 year. Other language experience ADA, COBOL and PROLOG.

Employment

Agile Lab (June ‘07 - present)

Managed a series of projects that aimed to introduce Agile project management methods into
organisations which were struggling with large-scale software development, both internally
and with outside suppliers. Delivered managed change in several organisations that wanted
to introduce Agile methods of project management.

Worked as an Agile coach in organisations varying in size for 5-200 employees, helped teams
to introduce Agile methods and practices, including Test Driven Development and
Refactoring.

Developed a series of training materials for the teaching of Agile project management
methodologies.I write all the articles for Agile Lab’s blog (http://www.agile-lab.co.uk/blog.php)
and publicise it through my twitter account (http://www.twitter.com/Mark_Stringer).

Sodurga.com (June ‘07 – March ‘03)

Managed a project funded by the UK government’s Technology Strategy Board which sought
to investigate ways in which the internet could change and influence product design and
manufacture. Developed a prototype interface which allowed users to submit CAD drawings
on the internet and receive estimate of the cost of cutting the drawings using a 2D laser
cutting machine.

Delivered the prototype interface and a detailed report of a series of interviews with
manufacturers on time and to budget.

inbetwixt.com (February ’08 – April ’08)

Developed in two months in Javascript and AJAX a site that uses the Google maps API to
allow people who are near or far apart to find somewhere to meet up that is exactly half-way
between them.

University of Sussex (February ‘05 - June ‘07)

Managed a series of development and deployment projects which involved researchers from
several universities. Delivered working software on a strict time scale that was fit for purpose
and ready to be deployed in private homes as part of a research study.
See http://bit.ly/mstringerpubs for details of academic publications.

Soda Creative (July ‘04 - February ‘05)

Managed a complicated marketing project for a high-profile internet bank. This involved
liaising with a large number of third-party suppliers, both developers and designers, and
working closely with the banks security team to ensure that all the work undertaken was
secure and complied with FSA regulations.

University of Cambridge (October ‘02 - July ‘04)

Managed the research and iterative development of a novel application which used RFID
technology to support school children’s exploration of discursive arguments. The project was
a European-funded research project and involved technical and research partners from all
over Europe.

Developed a series of user interfaces in Lingo for Macromedia director. Developed a back-
end implementation of a document retrieval algorithm which re-ordered Google web searches
based on notes taken by the schoolchildren.

Delivered working prototypes that were deployed in schools and used in continuing research.

Xerox Research Centre Europe (March ‘98 – October ‘02)

Managed research and development of a series of research prototypes. Many of these

projects involved working with third-party software developers and working to tight deadlines.
Some of these were rated high enough by Xerox’s internal intellectual property committee to
be fast-tracked for patent protection. The announcement of one prototype was spun out
commercially at the height of the internet boom was claimed to have added $5 to Xerox’s
share price.

Developed prototype software in Perl, Python and Java.

IBM (October ‘94 – March ‘98)

Developed software in ADA, COBOL and C++ as part of three large software development
projects. Experience of the whole software life-cycle, from requirements gathering, through
specification and development to testing and maintenance.
Education

Diploma in German - Open University (‘98-‘00)

MSc in Cognitive Science – Birmingham University (‘92-‘93)
MA Hons Philosophy – St Andrews (‘87-‘91)
Other Qualifications

SCJP (Sun Certified Java Programmer)

Clean UK Driving Licence

For further information, contact Mark@agilelab.co.uk (07736 807 604)