Business Led Agile
Testimonials
What people say about James
Patrick Greer
Agile Coach
Kristin Niemeir
Head of Agility
We always knew that James would bring a huge amount experience to Hilti, as well as proven Agile patterns, but what distinguished him from other Agile Coaches and Consultants was the language he used. He talks and he thinks as much as a business leader, as he does an Agile practitioner.
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This was a big difference for us. From the moment he started working with us, James helped us to position Agile not simply as a delivery model, but as a strategic driver for business effectiveness, and especially in the digital domain. He taught us how to talk about Agile in a way that made sense to the business itself and not just to the the delivery teams.
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With James's help, we have been able to develop a disparate group of Scrum Masters into a serious cohort of Agile coaches who the business listens to. As a result, we are finding the business taking us more seriously and starting to exhibit a willingness to embrace the degree of change in our operating models that we need for Agile to be truly effective.
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And if I may say on a personal note, not only has James been a trusted advisor and confidant, but he has also become a close and valued personal friend. I’m truly appreciative of all he has helped me accomplish.
My pride won't let me say that we were lost neophytes when James joined our team, but I also couldn't say we didn't need some guidance. When James joined, we were in a time of transition. We were a bigger team, for one, and in that bigger team we had a lot of difference of opinion, a lot of differences of belief, and that diverse set of experiences and beliefs didn't always harmonise.
We were also beginning to transition to other parts of the organisation, getting exposure to different environments and different business contexts that, if we were honest with ourselves, we didn't quite understand. And the business itself was changing. We were no longer just scrum masters in our e-commerce silo, but we were part of a global marketing organisation with a lot of different moving parts that we didn't quite get.
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So yeah, we needed some guidance and mentorship to figure out how we fit into all of this to figure out, in this changing environment, what is the value we bring. And I'm really glad that mentorship came from James. James has a rigour of thought combined with some beliefs that really sharpened our ability as an agile cohort.
He lifted us up to kind of meet the moment. We've come a long way in the years that James was part of our team, and there's still a lot of work left to do, but with James's contribution to what we are, and what we can do, we are more equipped than ever to do it. Thanks to James.
Daniel Manero
Global Lean Manager
I worked with James at Hilti in the Global Agile Team for over two years. In short, he is the most experienced and impactful (agile) coach I have worked with.
What distinguishes James is not only his depth of expertise, but his mindset. He is a true sparring partner—challenging others while being fully open to challenge himself. That combination of confidence, humility and intellectual honesty is rare, especially at his level of experience.
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James operates effortlessly across all layers of an organization. He helps leaders truly understand their role in transformation while staying close to teams and earning their trust rather than assuming it. His work consistently connects business agility to real business outcomes—OKRs, focus, impact mapping and rollout strategies—combining strategic clarity with hands-on, operable implementation.
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A core driver in James’s work is developing his peers: helping them grow, widen their perspectives, and find ways to take their thinking and impact to the next level while promoting the interaction within the agile team. He is neither yes-sayer nor framework evangelist, but a mentor and partner for people who are serious about learning and change.
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I am looking forward to working with James again, anytime, without hesitation.