Cheryl Hammond: Wicked Wisdom

In this Wicked & Agile Interview, I had the chance to speak with Agile Consultant Cheryl Hammond about how she combines her decades of agile consulting with decades of volunteer work promoting college access and success in the US.

Her area is related to global inequality; she specifically works with under-resourced kids in Seattle – where Cheryl herself experienced the same predicament when she was young.

She felt the need to spring into action in 2020 when she was witnessing Black Lives Matter. All of the inequalities experienced in the US for her are overwhelming and daunting. For Cheryl, she knew she needed to take a step and it was starting small, locally, in a space she was passionate with and that she new she could make a difference. Her biggest challenge is ensuring she does not get too overwhelmed to quit and balances out the overwhelm with impact.

Cheryl's Wicked Wisdom

1. Their journey is their journey, not my journey.

2. Everything challenging about leadership is exponentially more so with volunteers. Then add teenagers.

3. Aligning on small outcomes and conducting experiments to achieve them never doesn’t work.

Watch the Wicked & Agile Interview recording with Cheryl Hammond and Joanne Stone below.

About Cheryl Hammond

Cheryl came from an under-resourced US school district that had no idea what to do with her – until she blundered into need-based financial aid and a life-changing education at Smith College. Smith paved the way for Cheryl’s career as a software developer, agile leader, and world-traveling consultant and conference speaker.

Today she volunteers as director of college counselling for the Seattle chapter of Minds Matter, a community-based non-profit serving low-income high school students in the same zip codes where Cheryl grew up. She’s obsessed with making sure they don’t have to rely on luck to succeed the way she did.