Leaving Codeplay
For the past three years, I've had the privilege (and occasional headache) of working at Codeplay as an Agile Coach. It’s been a wild, challenging, and incredibly rewarding journey — full of ups, downs, and the occasional "why is this on fire?" moment. I’ve had the pleasure of working with some brilliant minds... and a few people best described as learning opportunities. Together, we navigated complex challenges, shifting priorities, and a constantly evolving company landscape.
When I first joined, Codeplay was an independent champion of compiler technology, with ComputeCPP as its flagship product. Shortly after, Intel acquired Codeplay, bringing new opportunities, new priorities, and enough organizational change to make even the most seasoned Agilist’s head spin. The company pivoted toward cutting-edge machine learning libraries, and I was lucky enough to support amazing engineers pushing the boundaries of SYCL on diverse hardware backends. Then, in a plot twist worthy of a Netflix drama, Intel faced financial difficulties. I survived waves of redundancies and had the tough but vital job of helping colleagues manage the psychological toll of uncertainty. To say it’s been a ride would be an understatement.
Experiences Gained
This role marked the first time in my career that I could fully focus on team and individual development — and it was a blast! I had the privilege of working closely with Serena, an Agile Coach of rare skill (and even rarer patience). Thanks to her mentorship, I built a solid foundation of Agile practices, refined my own coaching style, and learned the dark art of devil’s advocacy — all skills that served us well as we helped drive large-scale improvements across Codeplay and its collaboration with Intel.
It wasn’t always easy. There were days we wondered if anything would ever change, but in the end, I firmly believe it was worth the blood, sweat, and sticky notes.
One of my proudest moments came when — with about two days' notice, one teammate out on holiday, and another incapacitated by the flu — I designed and ran company-wide workshops to help teams triage a flood of new Intel project requests. Armed only with Miro, Excel, and enough coffee to power a small nation, I finalized the material mere minutes after the grand Intel-wide rollout presentation. Somehow, it worked: teams were able to identify duplicates, scope risks, and funnel questions back through the Office of the CTO. We even got top marks! Massive kudos to everyone who helped pull that off.
Beyond the big events, though, the real heart of my time at Codeplay was in the countless one-on-ones and coaching sessions. I got to see amazing transformations — people who once thought "Agile" was just a buzzword grew into confident, compassionate team players, helping their squads thrive through massive challenges, including the tough redundancy periods. Watching them deliver world-class results while supporting each other with heart and humour was nothing short of inspiring.
I want to give a special shout-out to Aaron, our Head of Infrastructure. Aaron was an absolutely phenomenal manager — always supportive, always steady, and a true pleasure to work with. I also had the opportunity to spend some time alongside the Infrastructure team, and while I wasn’t involved in their day-to-day heroics, I genuinely enjoyed being part of their group. Thank you all for making me feel welcome!
A huge kudos as well to all the Agile Facilitators and Product Owners. Seeing you all grow into your roles was absolutely priceless. Watching you develop your leadership, navigate tricky waters, and truly own your part of team success was one of the most rewarding parts of my time at Codeplay. Never underestimate the positive ripple effect you've created!
To everyone at Codeplay who made my journey joyful: thank you. You are an extraordinary collection of human beings. As I often said at the end of stand-ups: Keep being awesome!
Moving Forward
Next up, I’m returning to the world of Technical Project Management at Optima Partners. I was deeply impressed during the interview process — the people, the culture, the challenge ahead — all of it made me think, "Yes, this is the right next step."
This time, I’ll be swapping my coaching hat for a TPM helmet, taking a more direct hand in project delivery. It’s time to show that I can not only support teams philosophically but also practically — prioritizing work, managing timelines and budgets, and enabling engineers to do their best work (without setting anything important on fire).
It’s a new challenge, and I’m excited to dive in. Here's to the next great adventure!