Phillip Devries

Background

About Phillip Devries

I started out in technology twenty years ago and have enjoyed the excitement of learning about changing hardware and software, and especially working with the people who use it. Over the years, this has led to me discovering what I really value: growth and stewardship. When working on projects like patient medical record conversions, I discovered tools that helped move data through an extract transform and load (ETL) process. This included furthering my understanding of SQL, Java, XML, and many other tools. I also had to listen closely to clinicians, billers, leaders, and many others to understand how this data was used so I could be a good steward of the data and the needs of those using it. I have also worked on projects where the technology was a tool for the users and my role was to understand how they needed to use the tool. My experiences as an analyst and in customer service roles has helped me form a foundation of communication skills based in listening to understand. Project management roles have given me tools to translate that understanding into action through managing schedules, scope, and budgets. Currently I am working as a Scrum Master and that has given me plenty of opportunities to live my values as an advocate for my team. I am able to protect their time and remove systemic barriers. I am able to achieve growth through learning and teaching agile concepts like a self managing team, flow, and Kanban. Taking care of my team while learning better was to work and communicate continues to be a fulfilling role for me.