REFERENCES
Ben Berger
Chief Product Owner
Here’s the thing about Jody. She’s awesome in a world-class sort of way. She started in THE ICONIC’s Tech team when we realised we needed some serious help in getting better in our ways of working. Over the next two years, she guided, cajoled, and brought us on the journey to a much better place: Agile, Lean, Design Thinking, Self-Selection, Psychological Safety, Equal Voice, Remote Working.
And then lots of other teams in the organisation saw her magic and wanted in and before we knew it Jody was facilitating groups and initiatives across the business. Most recently she has helped us think through and adjust to what it means to work remote effectively. She’s the ultimate force-multiplier for effective teamwork and positive culture!
Bec Badcock
Senior Product Manager
Before THE ICONIC, I hadn’t encountered a Head of Agility, but after experiencing how Jody transformed the culture and accelerated both productivity and engagement, I’m a firm believer that this is a critical leadership role for all Tech companies.
Jody’s infectious enthusiasm never waned from the first time I saw her speak at Tech Showcase years ago. She is a true servant leader, constantly thinking of new and inventive ways to build knowledge, connections and create a psychologically safe place.
Jody is an expert facilitator, I’ve attended her workshops about equal voice and will always remember how she coached and facilitated the Panel Q&A about mental health with colleagues who bravely shared their own personal experiences. This is next level openness at work and it was thanks to her work over the years fostering a psychologically safe culture.
Jody understands the importance of data, rituals and catchy phrases to drive change. Feedback will always be a gift and everyone's favourite Showcase segment 'Agility Metrics’ demonstrates an evidence based and measurable approach to agile, while playfully keeping us accountable for story point completion, cycle times and well constructed user stories, epics and tasks.
Jody brought order and consistency across 18+ tech squads; always available to answer questions in person and in her Agile Coaching Corner channel. I admire and respect Jody immensely and know she is the secret sauce you need to level-up your company.
Sobia Zafar
Organisational Change Manager
Jody leads from the heart and leads by example with a natural ability to create a high performing team. Working with Jody was a great experience in getting experimental with Agile and constantly learning and moving forward to deliver results. Jody is an awesome leader and mentor.
Alex Berrill
Agile Coach
Jody is a transformational leader who brings passion, energy, and fun to any environment she connects with. Jody’s inclusive leadership style and commitment to people helps build high-performing individuals and teams. Her engaging approach and resilience helps leaders, teams and individuals start and continue their change journey even in the face of adversity.
As Head of Agility and Product Owner for AMP’s blend of Agility and HCD, Jody led our team in bringing Agile ways of working into AMP. In partnership with the HCD Practice, she led the effort to blend these practices to be greater than the sum of their parts.
When we started there was minimal visual management activity at AMP and now it is EVERWHERE! Teams are embracing standups instead of traditional meetings and holding retrospectives to reflect and continuously improve. We went deep with Agility within AMP Digital, achieving a 3x improvement in productivity and 10x increase in release frequency.
Jody was an instrumental part of the founding team that introduced monthly ‘innovation hack-days’ to AMP. These have gone on to become a regular series of ‘pitch and hack’ events reinforcing a culture of innovation to AMP. Jody was also able to shift the mindsets of leaders through introducing byte-sized agility and HCD training. She built a strong Agile Practice and community that has provided AMP with a firm foundation for future Agile growth.