Implementing SAFe^® 4.6 with SPC4 Certification

Randy Smith

Randy is a Consultant, Trainer, Agile Transformation Coach, and SPCT candidate. He believes that a transformation is about more than adopting a framework—it's also about meeting people where they're at to help them create an optimal human system that can happily and effectively deliver value to customers. Randy has more than two decades of experience in the industry and has worked in several sectors, including tech, manufacturing, shipping, financial, and medical firms, and he has served many roles like developer, test management, release management, support, etc. He started using Agile principles and values with a team in 1999, got his SPC in 2014, and will complete his SPCT in 2018.

Joe Vallone

Joe Vallone is an experienced Agile Coach and Trainer and has been involved in the Lean and Agile communities since 2002. Mr. Vallone has helped coach several large-scale Agile transitions at Zynga, Apple, Microsoft, VCE, Nokia, AT&T, and American Airlines. Prior to founding Agile Business Connect, Joe Vallone served as an Agile Coach at Ciber, CTO/CIO of We The People, and the VP of Engineering for Telogical Systems. While at Telogical Systems, he led the Agile transformation of the engineering teams, which developed the intelligence gathering and delivery infrastructure. Joe Vallone is an effective leader and speaker with over 20 years of software development and management experience with certifications as a Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), and Certified SAFe Program Consultant Trainer (SPCT). Joe Vallone received his engineering undergraduate degree in Engineering Technology from the University of South Florida, in Tampa Florida, and his MBA from the prestigious Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University in Dallas. He says of his Agile coaching work: “Helping companies use Agile methodologies to deliver value to their customers, faster and with higher quality, is what I am passionate about. As a change agent, I enjoy teaching and coaching organizations to reach their full potential by embracing Agile values and Lean thinking.”

With over 24 years of professional experience, Charlene has been a leader in transforming organizations and teams by helping them master Agile and Scaled Agile best practices. She is a passionate Agilist whose thirst for continuous learning led her to receiving her SPC certification in 2014 and her SPCT certification in 2017, with her first SAFe® implementation in 2011. She is also an official SAFe® Contributor.  She has experience working with Enterprise Agile initiatives in Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries, as well as the Federal Government. Charlene has led several large-scale, international Lean-Agile Transformations providing portfolio, program, team and leadership coaching and training.  Currently, she is helping a major Insurance and Asset Management Corporation align three siloed portfolios across three countries. When she is not working, Charlene can be found at the beach, listening to music, spending time with family and friends, sightseeing, and knocking items off her bucket list.

For more than 17 years, Kathy has guided teams and organizations as an Agile Transformation Coach. Kathy improves clients' software development practices by listening, observing, coaching, facilitating, and teaching. She became an SPC in 2012 and a certified SPCT in 2014. Her recent accomplishments include transforming an all IT-involved effort to apply SAFe® to globally distributed teams; helping a global organization adopt a new Agile methodology and establish an internal coaching program; coaching a globally distributed program with over 100 people during their transformation from Waterfall to Agile; transitioning a 200-person program to SAFe® so that they are now running on their own; and working with Dean Leffingwell, the creator of SAFe®, to help a 3,000-person program envision their SAFe® transformation. Kathy is grateful to her clients for their willingness to embrace change, collaborate to resolve challenges, and share their experiences.

Matt is a customer-focused, self-directed, and detail-oriented Agile Transformation Coach and IT Professional with seventeen years of experience in software development. He has excellent knowledge of Agile processes and software methodologies, including experience running Agile projects as Scrum Master. He has consulted or worked full time for financial, medical, retail, and technology companies, all of which have helped him cultivate strong interpersonal skills and knowledge of different industries. Matt became an SPC in 2014 and an SPCT in January 2017. He enjoys training and coaching people at all levels in Agile and Lean principles.

Charlene Cuenca

With over 24 years of professional experience, Charlene has been a leader in transforming organizations and teams by helping them master Agile and Scaled Agile best practices. She is a passionate Agilist whose thirst for continuous learning led her to receiving her SPC certification in 2014 and her SPCT certification in 2017, with her first SAFe® implementation in 2011. She is also an official SAFe® Contributor.  She has experience working with Enterprise Agile initiatives in Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries, as well as the Federal Government. Charlene has led several large-scale, international Lean-Agile Transformations providing portfolio, program, team and leadership coaching and training.  Currently, she is helping a major Insurance and Asset Management Corporation align three siloed portfolios across three countries. When she is not working, Charlene can be found at the beach, listening to music, spending time with family and friends, sightseeing, and knocking items off her bucket list.

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Matt Aaron 

Matt is a customer-focused, self-directed, and detail-oriented Agile Transformation Coach and IT Professional with seventeen years of experience in software development. He has excellent knowledge of Agile processes and software methodologies, including experience running Agile projects as Scrum Master. He has consulted or worked full time for financial, medical, retail, and technology companies, all of which have helped him cultivate strong interpersonal skills and knowledge of different industries. Matt became an SPC in 2014 and an SPCT in January 2017. He enjoys training and coaching people at all levels in Agile and Lean principles.

John Miller

John has been working in the complex systems development world for over 20 years. When he realized that the problems of large organizations could be solved by combining the use of fundamentals from Lean, Agile, Systems Management, Engineering, and other practices, he dove into understanding and using SAFe®. He became a certified SPC in 2013 and a certified SPCT in 2018.  John is the co-creator of a Lean Agile Budgeting course designed to help Senior Leadership in large organizations understand and improve the financial side of their Value Streams and ARTs. He has been involved with many organizational transformations and has launched dozens of ARTs and Solution Trains. He invests his time working with Senior Leadership, Portfolio, and Program teams and training both private and public SAFe® and Engineering courses. John is a life-long learner who is more than willing to chat about the next book you might consider reading

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Randy Smith

Randy is a Consultant, Trainer, Agile Transformation Coach, and SPCT candidate. He believes that a transformation is about more than adopting a framework—it's also about meeting people where they're at to help them create an optimal human system that can happily and effectively deliver value to customers. Randy has more than two decades of experience in the industry and has worked in several sectors, including tech, manufacturing, shipping, financial, and medical firms, and he has served many roles like developer, test management, release management, support, etc. He started using Agile principles and values with a team in 1999, got his SPC in 2014, and will complete his SPCT in 2019.

John has been working in the complex systems development world for over 20 years. When he realized that the problems of large organizations could be solved by combining the use of fundamentals from Lean, Agile, Systems Management, Engineering, and other practices, he dove into understanding and using SAFe®. He became a certified SPC in 2013 and a certified SPCT in 2018.  John is the co-creator of a Lean Agile Budgeting course designed to help Senior Leadership in large organizations understand and improve the financial side of their Value Streams and ARTs. He has been involved with many organizational transformations and has launched dozens of ARTs and Solution Trains. He invests his time working with Senior Leadership, Portfolio, and Program teams and training both private and public SAFe® and Engineering courses. John is a life-long learner who is more than willing to chat about the next book you might consider reading.

For more than 17 years, Kathy has guided teams and organizations as an Agile Transformation Coach. Kathy improves clients' software development practices by listening, observing, coaching, facilitating, and teaching. She became an SPC in 2012 and a certified SPCT in 2014. Her recent accomplishments include transforming an all IT-involved effort to apply SAFe® to globally distributed teams; helping a global organization adopt a new Agile methodology and establish an internal coaching program; coaching a globally distributed program with over 100 people during their transformation from Waterfall to Agile; transitioning a 200-person program to SAFe® so that they are now running on their own; and working with Dean Leffingwell, the creator of SAFe®, to help a 3,000-person program envision their SAFe® transformation. Kathy is grateful to her clients for their willingness to embrace change, collaborate to resolve challenges, and share their experiences.

Duane Bushman is a Consultant, Trainer and Agile Transformation Coach with a genuine passion for helping organizations to understand and realize the business value of Lean and Agile principles. His pragmatic approach to applying principles and proven practices to develop a culture of continuous improvement has been cultivated from 10+ years of practicing and coaching Agile in IT and product development environments. Duane's personal journey in life-long learning includes being certified as a SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) in 2014 and an SPC Trainer (SPCT) in 2016. Duane brings an engaging, energetic and highly collaborative presence to both the classroom and the most challenging real world scenarios. Guiding teams large and small, he has consistently helped leaders understand what it is they need to do to unlock the potential of their people and become truly Agile.

With over 24 years of professional experience, Charlene has been a leader in transforming organizations and teams by helping them master Agile and Scaled Agile best practices. She is a passionate Agilist whose thirst for continuous learning led her to receiving her SPC certification in 2014 and her SPCT certification in 2017, with her first SAFe® implementation in 2011. She is also an official SAFe® Contributor.  She has experience working with Enterprise Agile initiatives in Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries, as well as the Federal Government. Charlene has led several large-scale, international Lean-Agile Transformations providing portfolio, program, team and leadership coaching and training.  Currently, she is helping a major Insurance and Asset Management Corporation align three siloed portfolios across three countries. When she is not working, Charlene can be found at the beach, listening to music, spending time with family and friends, sightseeing, and knocking items off her bucket list.

With over 24 years of professional experience, Charlene has been a leader in transforming organizations and teams by helping them master Agile and Scaled Agile best practices. She is a passionate Agilist whose thirst for continuous learning led her to receiving her SPC certification in 2014 and her SPCT certification in 2017, with her first SAFe® implementation in 2011. She is also an official SAFe® Contributor.  She has experience working with Enterprise Agile initiatives in Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries, as well as the Federal Government. Charlene has led several large-scale, international Lean-Agile Transformations providing portfolio, program, team and leadership coaching and training.  Currently, she is helping a major Insurance and Asset Management Corporation align three siloed portfolios across three countries. When she is not working, Charlene can be found at the beach, listening to music, spending time with family and friends, sightseeing, and knocking items off her bucket list.