by: Christina Nashed
Before joining the program, I was working and living in a country where my knowledge and experience in Agile & leadership were highly valued and appreciated. And due to family reasons, I had to move to a new country and accordingly new work. At the beginning everything seemed almost similar, I’m still working with software international teams.
However, my experience was not helping me to help the team, and I had some self-doubt. Even when there was a consultant by my side, things were not moving forward.
At this moment I recalled one of my LinkedIn connections talking about WiA and their mentorship program. I was fascinated by the confidence, opportunities and confidence. This is when I decided to join the Women in Agile Mentorship program. I wasn’t so hopeful, and I couldn’t also put a clear objective of what I want to achieve. I went to my 1st call with my mentor wondering what she could help me with. To my surprise, my mentor was like my perfect match. She has been almost through my same journey and can quickly relate to what I’m talking about. This made every call not just about mentoring & coaching but it was the fun part of a week/month.
In the first call, we could already identify the real challenge which wasn’t related to Agile but more about working with different cultures, and she put me right on the track again. Even though due to a lot of changes during this time in my life and we couldn’t meet frequently, we still connected in different ways.
I had a feeling that this program is all about Agile & frameworks, yet I can assure that my mentor was so knowledgeable and helpful in different areas that really met my needs. I wish I had more time, or the program was longer. 😊
A WiA Mentor can help you with:
- Identifying with you the real challenges you are facing
- Guiding you through a journey of exploring your skills and what you can put in for overcoming these challenges
- Sharing with you previous similar experiences or tips and tricks.
In general, the goal of your mentor is not to solve your problem or tell you what to do to reach your goal. But more to help you identify everything yourself which ensures that the impact of their mentorship will last when they are not there (which for me was something I really appreciated).
Bio:
Christina Nashed, Agile Coach | Senior Scrum Master | RTE
With over 16 years in the software industry in enterprises, I held different role through my career. I started as test engineer then moved to Project management & leadership roles. I am passionate about enabling high-performing, self-organized teams to deliver customer-centric, high-quality products. My expertise spans Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, Lean Portfolio Management), Agile coaching, transformation, and project management.
I believe agility is more than a framework—it’s a mindset that empowers organizations to navigate change with confidence.
To learn more about our mentoring program, visit the homepage here or email mentoring@womeninagile.org
