Tom Perry

Tom Perry is a storyteller. In his 25-year career as a software developer and architect, he has used his talent for storytelling to lead digital transformations, including at Visa, which resulted in a 30% decrease in defects and 60% faster time-to-market, and at USAA, where his exceptional coaching skill led the development team to delivering their first features eight times faster than had been projected at the start of the project. Now as an instructor and educator, Tom uses stories and real-world examples to inspire his students to see Agile and Scrum training as something they can integrate into their lives and work right away to create remarkable improvements — not just the efficiency of their work, but their own engagement and morale as well.

Tom also believes in Agile as a work-in-progress. He says, “I like to share my experiences and get others to share theirs, too. I’m imperfect, and I make a lot of mistakes — I use that imperfection to help invite learners to engage. I like to share the mistakes I’ve made. Largely because they make me laugh, but also because they’re learning experiences students can benefit from.”

Tom is an active member of the Agile community as a past president of the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Agile Leadership Network (ALN), a global nonprofit dedicated to expanding the impact of Agile through community building. He has written a guide to software project management called The Little Book of Impediments, and regularly writes blogs for Hyperdrive and his personal website. Tom also produced and ran the annual Agile Management Northwest conference. His successful Agile coaching engagements include USAA’s People & Culture division, multiple divisions within Experian, and a landmark engagement at AssetMark which saved the company 1.5 million by eliminating redundant analysis meetings for their teams.

The first thing that sticks out with Tom is his enthusiasm, energy and wit. He personifies true servant leadership qualities, and his energy is contagious. He was honest about his personal experiences regarding SAFe, was approachable and engaging throughout each day of our training.