Testimonials
Here are several dozen professional testimonials about the quality of my work from recent and past clients and colleagues.
You can also view these on my LinkedIn recommendations page.
 Liz Phelan – Product Operations Manager at VendorPanel | ❝ Neil was able to align our team on an improvement agenda that months later our team of 30+ is still energised by and committed to. His smart approach, deep knowledge, experience and effective manner made his short time at our company highly productive and pivotal - he had a big impact. Thank you, Neil! |
 Robert Read – CEO at MedAdvisor | ❝ Neil was extremely knowledgeable, diligent and engaging when working with us at MedAdvisor. Neil was able to adjust and prioritise as the situation required to tailor as required. He was able to make significant impact in a short period of time and help kick start MedAdvisor on our agile transformation agenda. |
 Jordana Patterson – Senior Project Manager / Agile Coach / Planning Manager / Scrum Master at World Vision Australia | ❝ Neil was not the first Agile coach to spend some time with us, but he was the only one to actually help us create a meaningful and sustained change. The others came to us through someone, who knew someone else (etc!) and tried to help but they didn’t really manage to effect much change – I couldn’t make heads or tails of what they were trying to do for us. It’s real testament to Neil's ability to understand complex situations outside of It and software development and make it simple for us (me!). |
 David Chatterton – CTO at MedAdvisor | ❝ I engaged Neil to uplift the common understanding of agile and lean practices at MedAdvisor, including running workshops and coaching teams and individuals that are directly affected by this change. Neil was highly successful in achieving a high level of engagement across the business as can be seen by the adoption of personal kanban boards, well attended and inspirational sprint reviews and the conversations occurring across all teams. I think the key was Neil's ability to translate agile so that different people could understand it and how it could apply to their role. I intend to get Neil back to MedAdvisor in the future to check in and help us continue to improve how we work to deliver value to our clients. |
 Erwin van der Koogh – Founder at BitGenics, Professional Scrum Trainer | ❝ Neil is one of the best agile coaches in the world... Listen to what Neil says! |
 Derek Winter – Product Owner at MYOB | ❝ Leadership is the art of Influence with integrity and I can confidently say Neil is one of the best leaders I've had the pleasure of working with and learning from. Neil is passionate about his work, passionate about his purpose and passionate about making a difference. He strives to add value, allow and encourage growth and allow people to bring their best and contribute their best. He also brings a technical and academic depth of understanding to his work that ensures that his vision and ideas are founded on proven strategy and theory. I would gladly work for Neil again and confidently recommend him to others. |
 Vincent Brouillet – DevOps and Continuous Delivery Consultant at Travelport Locomote | ❝ Neil is an exceptional leader and a true inspiration. Not only he lives and breath Agile, but he is also able to create and hold the space where individual, teams and organisations can evolve in their agile journey while maintaining a focus on delivering results, changes and value. Any organisation that wants to succeed by increasing their agility and their efficiency should contact Neil. He is most likely one of the best in town. I should add that engineers absolutely enjoy working with Neil and trust him. He is able to maintain excellent relationship with everyone. This makes an enormous difference to any workplace. Neil gets the best out of any team and individuals by trusting and empowering everyone. His intervention is just enough to make a difference but he knows out to get out of the way and let the magic happens. That is excellent leadership skill here. Get in touch with Neil. |
 Tim Watts – Development Manager at Mondo (formerly Geomatic) | ❝ Neil understands and appreciates that every organisation needs to arrive at their own way to evolve into an agile organisation. He's knowledgeable and experienced. He listens and observes before offering advice, suggestions and coaching. I found Neil engaging and approachable and really got a lot from his time with us. His pragmatic approach to adopting agile behaviours and avoidance of dogma meant that we learnt and started applying those learning's immediately. I would recommend Neil to anyone who's serious about becoming agile. |
 Afra Dianati – Scrum Master/Business Analyst at Mondo (formerly Geomatic) | ❝ Neil is an extremely knowledgeable and passionate Agile Coach. I recently participated in his workshop “How to be an Effective Scrum Master” and I absolutely loved it. I highly recommend his workshops to anyone who wants to have a broader understanding of Agile and planning to grow in this field. |
 Doug Ferris – DevOps Engineer at Mondo (formerly Geomatic) | ❝ Despite having done several courses and thinking that I had a decent idea of what I thought Agile was, Neil managed to push my understanding so much further. He helped simplify some complex topics to make it easy for everyone to understand but still challenged the way we worked as a team, not to make us change to how he saw other teams work, but to make us understand how we work and how we could focus on improving. |
 Daegal Brain – Agile Delivery Manager at Mondo (formerly Geomatic) | ❝ The best in the business...Neil will tailor his approach depending on what your business need, get him while you can! We engaged Neil's services to get a fresh look at our software delivery practices and found ourselves getting a timely reminder about what continuous improvement really means. Neil has a very pragmatic approach and he has master the art of "Getting To the Heart Of The Problem"...no matter how hard that conversation turns out to be. If your team or business...or even just your ideas, need a shake up, speak to Neil. |
 Kirstie Wu – Solutions Architect at Mondo (formerly Geomatic) | ❝ Our organisation recently have Neil in as an Agile coach, he was excellent! He observed very quickly to our pain points and challenges and provided a wealth of experience, knowledge, and short sessions on techniques. He also provides tailored suggestions which incorporate feedback and adjust accordingly quickly and with ease. He is great and engaging participation from the team. |
 Uma Diddi – Senior Agile Business Analyst at Parks Victoria | ❝ Neil is a very passionate Agile coach who demonstrated a great deal of patience, a wealth of experience & knowledge in providing us Agile training at Parks Victoria. By applying our project scenarios and examples he made training exercises more interesting & motivating. He loves to be challenged & graciously accepts constructive criticism. |
 Tim Tunbridge – IT Project Manager at Parks Victoria | ❝ Parks Victoria had the pleasure of engaging with Neil to provide Agile coaching across a series of projects. Neil was quickly able to assess the capabilities and maturity of the teams and provide strong guidance (both at a team level and individual level) to increase the effectiveness of deliveries. Neil is deeply passionate about 'true' Agile software development, he has strong background in both hands on software development and management of development teams and projects. Neil doesn't pull any punches and will help you quickly get to the heart of matters and refocus efforts as necessary. I can thoroughly recommend his services. |
 Tim Edwards – Digital Content Lead at Parks Victoria | ❝ Neil is full of great advice for working more effectively and an excellent facilitator for strategy meetings. It also helps that he is just great to have around in the office. You should hire this man. |
 Paul Murray – Project Manager at Parks Victoria | ❝ An insightful, calm, strategic and highly pragmatic leader in the technology space. Able to distill almost any situation into an opportunity to add value to the customer. Takes misused principles and methodologies and translates them into their intended use of fostering a learning mindset. He's able to translate this in useful ways to the team and individual. Overall, Neil is an excellent teacher, with high integrity, strong values who is someone to follow and see as a role model. |
Simon Spencer
Principal Consultant at Appian Corporation
Neil is a great facilitator and problem solver, always hunting down creative new ways to get to MVP.
Tommy Nguyen
Senior Developer at MedAdvisor International Pty Ltd
October 4, 2017, Tommy was a client of Neil’s
I have to say that I am really lucky to have a chance to work withNeil. Even though it was a short time frame but I learned so much from him. He changed the way I think about software development, team, goal ... Thank you so much.
Jordan O'Donnell
Key Account Manager at MedAdvisor International Pty Ltd
October 4, 2017, Jordan was a client of Neil’s
Great and helpful insights into the principles of Agile processes.
Daniel Roberts
Business Consulting
July 28, 2017, Neil worked with Daniel in the same group
What Neil doesn't know about Agile isn't worth knowing! I had the pleasure of working with Neil engaging with multiple high profile clients together as he coached our teams and the client on their Agile journey. Neil had an uncanny ability to identify problems and area's for improvement and suggest multiple ways to tackle the situation. I'll miss our chats about the obvious issues with military WoW, and the not so obvious similarities with Agile! I'd recommend Neil to any team or organisation that wants to improve their ability to deliver!
Mike Macleish
Principal Consultant at ASG Group
July 18, 2017, Neil was senior to Mike but didn’t manage directly
I worked with Neil while he was on an engagement with SMS to provide Agile coaching and develop IP; I needed him to provide workshops for Business Analysts to help them better understand how to work in an Agile environment. Neil designed and ran sessions that explained where and how BAs can add value, and provided take-away material that acted as an easy-to-follow reference while working on projects. Neil has the ability to explain concepts in a very practical way that makes them easy to understand and apply in real situations. I found Neil to be knowledgeable, flexible in his approach and very helpful – I hope to be able to work with him again!
Joshua Kohn
Practice Lead & Consultant at ASG Group specialising in Agile Project Delivery
July 12, 2017, Neil was senior to Joshua but didn’t manage directly
For any organisation or individual looking to adopt or learn about Agile practices I highly recommend you get in touch with Neil. His knowledge is invaluable and he effortlessly applies key concepts into every day examples relevant to your business. Neil adapts his teaching style to suit the environment and participants in the room be it large groups or one on one consultations. Neil was integral in helping our company and I adapt an Agile approach to our clients projects. He taught us how to work in an Agile manner without getting caught up in the 'theater' of Agile.
Matt Davies
Senior Agile Consultant at Innodev Pty Ltd
July 12, 2017, Neil was senior to Matt but didn’t manage directly
I've no hesitation in recommending Neil. He provided me with some top class coaching to assist me on my agile journey. When related to a project situation, he would challenge my thinking, with a supportive and trusting style. In delivery of training, Neil would invest the time during preparation to ensure a good outcome for all attending, and his delivery would keep the room interested and engaged. Thanks, Neil!
Ritika Kulsrestha
Certified ScrumMaster, Certified Change Management Practitioner
June 27, 2017, Neil was senior to Ritika but didn’t manage directly
Neil is one of the most passionate and influential Agile coaches I have met in my career. I had attended his presentations and LAST conference and I was looking forward to learning more from him. I had the opportunity to work with with him in person when Neil joined SMS to help the Agile Capability. During his tenure at SMS, he helped SMS set up Communities of Practice to help the Consultants in their personal and professional growth. He has also helped Consultants like me make a positive change in our engagements by learning from him various techniques that best suit our delivery process and implementing these. Neil’s pragmatic approach and personalised coaching sessions have helped me not only upskill my team, but also be more effective in my role as a Scrum Master. There is so much to learn from Neil, I believe he would be an asset to the organisation he joins in future.
Adrian Viti
Pragmatic solution design and agile delivery excellence
June 25, 2017, Neil was senior to Adrian but didn’t manage directly
In the three or so months that I knew Neil at SMS Management and Technology, I found him very approachable, pragmatic, efficient and of course very knowledgeable. His agile coaching workshops, knowledge-sharing sessions and one-on-one coaching was very valuable to me and to other employees that attended.
Gayle Martin
Technical Business Analyst at ASG Group
June 25, 2017, Neil worked with Gayle in the same group
During Neil's 4 month tenure at SMS he hit the ground running and quickly determined what was required with regards to internal Agile training. He ran a series of excellent Agile "Personal Development Bites" which were aimed at Consultants to attend primarily during their lunch time. After each session I attended I came away feeling like I had learned a wealth of practical skills that I could apply in my every day role as a Consultant. Neil did not just focus on theory, but helped demystify Agile by providing plenty of examples and practical scenarios that got the whole group involved. I thoroughly enjoyed each session which Neil delivered and only wish he could have stayed on longer at SMS to further help develop my/our Agile skills.
Danny Chin
Senior Frontend Developer at Bupa
January 23, 2017, Neil was senior to Danny but didn’t manage directly
Neil is one of the most respectful leader that i've ever met in my career. He valued the importance of deliver product with highest quality. He has been a really good mental to everyone in the team, and strongly encourage cross skill, collaboration and communication. Neil has contributed a lot to the team and business and he always be there to listen and guide the team with patient regardless how busy he was. Love working with Neil and would really love to work with him again in the future.
Jennifer Tran
Senior Test Analyst | Looking for opportunities
January 2, 2017, Jennifer reported directly to Neil
For the three years Neil worked with me, he helped setting up some of the best practices and introduced state of the art tools. We together did some successful project which would have not be possible without his commitment. Neil troubleshooting skills are best among his peers and his charm with technology makes him most demanding and experienced software professional. He takes directions well, and also shares his understanding with peers and juniors. Combined with his passion for excellence, and inquisitive nature. No doubt he will be a good asset for any organization he works with All in all, a well rounded professional. I would like to wish him well for his future endeavours!
Evan Stamatopoulos
Project Manager, Portfolio Deployment Manager, Release Manager, Implementation Manager
July 8, 2016, Evan worked with Neil in different groups
Neil is a very knowledgeable and talented Agile leader. His depth of knowledge led to many in-depth discussions of Agile techniques which resulted in improvements in the performance of my team at MYOB. Neil was also instrumental in making recommendations to the MYOB executive in how MYOB Engineering could improve its efficiency and overall collaboration throughout the organisation. It has been a pleasure working with Neil on a number of initiatives at MYOB and hope that I will one day have the opportunity to work with him again.
Justin Holland
Agile Business Analyst • Visual Communicator • Amateur... Big Thinker and Coach
July 7, 2016, Justin worked with Neil in different groups
Neil cares, and you can tell. He has an ability to see individuals and make them feel seen, to draw alongside them - making time for people that he otherwise wouldn't have to - and help them identify qualities and potential they may never have known they had. He is embodies the ideal of a servant leader. It also really helps that he knows his stuff! Agile, Scrum, Kanban, Lean, Theory of Constraints, Continuous Improvement... all areas in which he is fluent, but also walks the walk. His approach is refreshing, and has enriched and influenced me in my journey. I consider myself lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from him.
Gabor Devenyi
Passionate about people and agile delivery. International speaker.
June 12, 2016, Neil was senior to Gabor but didn’t manage directly
Neil is not only a well-known and well-respected person in the Australian agile community, he is also a great mentor. His insights and advice helped me and others to get better and to continuously learn and experiment. I am very lucky to have the opportunity to work with Neil. While his knowledge and experience is world-class, it's his personality and helpful disposition that makes him invaluable.
Troyene 'Troy' Evans
Creative Director at H.E.R. homemade
April 1, 2015, Troyene 'Troy' worked with Neil in different groups
Neil combines consummate professionalism with empathetic mentorship. He excels at cross team partnerships and was always someone I could count on to give me a reasoned, supportive but above all honest assessment of a situation or project. In the time we worked together his advice was invaluable and I recommend him most highly. I would be very pleased to work with Neil again, and am confident that whatever he applies himself to will be greatly improved by his contribution.
Stewart Rae
Technologist
October 15, 2013, Neil worked with Stewart in the same group
Neil is a true Agile advocate; a Project Manager that lives and breathes Agile and knows what works and what doesn't based on a ton of experience in the Agile space. He managed a successful high-tech, high-profile project at SEEK and delivered on-time and on-budget. He was fantastic to work with, and I would happily work with him again in the future.
Mark Henery
Agile Delivery Leader | Scaled Agile Advisor
August 15, 2013, Neil worked with Mark in the same group
I'll keep it short and sweet: Neil is one of the best agile practitioners I know. As soon as he joined us at SEEK he pulled together a high performing & cohesive team that delivered on their promises. I highly recommend Neil as an agile coach/trainer or Iteration Manager. No matter what your skill level is in agile you're bound to learn more from him!
Nathan Antoun
Solution Delivery Manager | Agile Transformation at Emirates
July 30, 2013, Neil worked with Nathan in the same group
I have had the privilege of being mentored by Neil during his engagement at SEEK. This was my first project with no estimates, yet my most successful. Going beyond the duties of a PM, he has coached our team to a level of autonomy and self-management. But his coaching has not stopped there; his passion for continuous improvement, minimal wastage and willingness to help has seen him engage with the higher beings at SEEK to improve the IT sector as a whole. I encourage any organisation (big or small) looking to start or to improve their agile and lean practices employ the coaching skills of Neil - his guidance will be an invaluable asset to success.
Simon Bristow
Champion, Agility Transformation at 460degrees
May 7, 2013, Neil worked with Simon in the same group
I have known Neil for many years and was lucky to finally get to work with him recently at SEEK. Neil is one of the few guys I turn to when I'm seeking advice or guidance on lean and agile principles, as he is always at the forefront of thinking in this space. His work on #NoEstimates is really interesting and challenges us all to think very differently about principles that we've taken for granted for so long.I look forward to reading the book! His strong analytical mind and passion for continuous improvement makes him a compelling speaker and teacher. He is a key driver of the lean community: a regular at agile, lean and kanban meetups in Melbourne and now taking to the stage and presenting at national conferences. I would recommend Neil to anyone looking for coaching to take their agile and lean practices to the next level, or looking for advice on good coffee.
James Dampney
Senior Digital Professional | Product Management | Transformation Record
April 30, 2013, Neil worked with James in the same group
Neil translated his wealth of experience in software development to coach us on some key principles that were adopted across our business to bring about some great results and changes to the way we work. Neil is a passionate and determined Agile Coach that brings a focus on a continuous learning and fun team culture.
Tim de Kretser
Software Engineer at nbn™ Australia
February 20, 2013, Tim managed Neil directly
Neil was hired by Bigmobile with the intent to transform our team of 5 full time developers into an efficient self managed agile team. He not only achieved this goal in his short term with us but also surfaced an ability for healthy self reflection and constant incremental improvement. He has a level headed considered approach that would be helpful to any technology project or team.
Edmond Goh
Senior Business Analyst
May 23, 2012, Neil worked with Edmond in the same group
I have been working with Neil for almost 6 months. Neil has a very good understanding of agile. He is an exceptional scrum master that does anything possible to help the team to perform at their highest level. He is also a very flexible person that can come up with different agile ways to do stuffs and they worked well every time!! I have learnt so much from Neil and it's my pleasure to work with him. He is absolutely a great asset to AIA Australia and will definitely be a great asset for any other companies in the future too.
Joanne Daubney
Online Marketing Specialist. Copy Writer. Ghost Writer. Content Producer
May 18, 2012, Neil worked with Joanne in the same group
Neil was very supportive in his role as a colleague and I felt that I could turn to him in times of pressure. He would go out of his way to give me a fresh perspective that enabled me to deliver on outstanding goals. He's a natural coach and leader.
Stewart Gleadow
Technical Lead, Mobile Developer
May 14, 2012, Stewart worked with Neil in different groups
I worked alongside Neil while he was a scrum master at PlayUp. He certainly knows his stuff and was a good enabler and teacher of agile practices within the organisation. Not only was he aware of how his own team best functioned, he was able to offer useful insights into the agile practices of the team I was working on and how both the team and process could improve. I would certainly work with Neil again.
Ed Wong
Agile Coach, Lean project coach and Scrum Master
April 30, 2012, Neil worked with Ed in the same group
Neil is an active member of this group and clearly demonstrates his wide knowledge in agile and lean thinking and practice. He has been a discussion panel member and co-presenter in a couple of events so far in 2012, and hopefully more in the future. He knows his stuff.
Alexandra Stokes
Founder at ReBoot Co.
April 28, 2012, Alexandra was senior to Neil but didn’t manage directly
Neil is a great asset to AIA in his role as Scrum master for the first large scale agile project at AIA Australia. Neil has proved himself a strong leader in transforming a new team to agile ways of working, he has coached a diverse team that includes offshore and vendor resources and been a catalyst to the teams every increasing performance. It's a pleasure to be in the room when Neil is facilitating showcases and retros. He is forthright in his opinions and has all the right motivations for coaching in agile practices. Neil is a power house of knowledge in all things agile, very active in the community and helped us enormously in setting up our internal agile interest group, I'm very grateful to him for his efforts.
Paul Lowry
Senior Test Analyst
April 26, 2012, Neil worked with Paul in the same group
I have had the pleasure of working with Neil over a number of months, and found him to be a highly motivated individual, who has a great understanding of Agile in all its forms. He gladly imparts a bountiful wealth of knowledge to the team in his capacity as Scrum Coach, and I for one have learnt so much from Neil. He style is always composed, self assured and he has a terrific ability to explain Agile in a language that everyone can understand. Neil has been instrumental in fostering an excellent working ethic throughout the team, which is a huge achievement for a team that have never adopted the Agile methodology before. I strongly believe Neil would be a welcomed asset to any company in the future.
Craig Brown
Everest Engineering: Software engineering when you need it.
April 24, 2012, Neil worked with Craig in the same group
Neil is a great contributor to the Melbourne Agile community. He brings depth of experience that provides a great deal of value to the community.
Reginald de Silva
Enterprise Agile-Lean-Scrum Delivery Coach at Telstra
April 23, 2012, Neil worked with Reginald in the same group
Since working with Neil nearly a year ago, he has gone from strength to strength. Neil is without a doubt one of the best Scrum Masters in Melbourne. Neil keeps his knowledge up-to-date and exercises this thought leadership in practice. Neil has insightful knowledge of Scrum and Agile and shares this with adept communication. He is a passionate and experienced presenter that has both breadth and depth of Agile knowledge. These are some of the many reasons I why I often engage Neil to perform industry presentations.
James Ladd
Appeggio.com, founder and doer of things
January 9, 2012, James worked with Neil in different groups
Working with Neil was rewarding, even when we disagreed on one or two topics. Neil was not in the same team as I but the rapport with his team was widely envied. Under his guidance the team delivered a well targeted and thought out product, probably the best the company had delivered to date. Neil's understanding of how to get a product out and what it means to iterate on that product and drive it forward successfully is a valuable skill that most "Product Managers/Owners" I have worked with have lacked. I'd be a very happy developer to work with Neil or to have Neil in charge of my own Products path.
Daniel Aragao
Lead Architect at REA Group
January 9, 2012, Neil worked with Daniel in the same group
Neil understands deeply what minimum releasable feature set means. When holding the position of Product Owner he was truly Agile and collaborated beautifully with the rest of the development team to get things done. He stood up for a lean product, established realistic expectations and helped to transformed a project impossible to deliver, due to feature overloading, into something achievable. It was great working with Neil as his passion for delivery transpires in every action of his.
Harish Reddy Reddy Reddy
Software Engineer
January 7, 2012, Neil was senior to Harish Reddy but didn’t manage directly
Neil is the most ardent agile evangelist I have worked with. As a Senior Business Analyst for our team he was influential in driving successful delivery of our project. He is great facilitator and an excellent communicator; it was a pleasure being part of all the iteration planning meetings, product show case sessions and retrospectives that he has facilitated because, everyone involved used to be encouraged with his positive energy and the way he used to moderate healthy discussions. I admire his impressive ideas to communicate product progress; a good example is a weekly newsletter sent out to all the stake holders and the delivery teams, describing various improvements and developments around the product. I liked his innovative approach to get feedback from everyone in the company with extreme feedback sessions. Personally, I feel a team doesn't need any form of team building exercise when you have someone like Neil in the team.
James Drucza
CTO at Tapmint Pty Ltd
October 24, 2011, James managed Neil directly
Neil is a passionate and knowledgable product/software development professional with a great deal of expertise in Agile development practices. He was a respected and effective leader and manager and I would greatly welcome the opportunity to employ or work with Neil again in the future.
Reginald de Silva
Enterprise Agile-Lean-Scrum Delivery Coach at Telstra
October 18, 2011, Neil worked with Reginald in the same group
Neil possesses excellent personal and professional qualities. His proven ability to act in different senior capacities such as Scrum Master, Global Product Manager and Senior Business Analyst clearly demonstrate his professional versatility. Neil takes pride in his work and leads by example. He is a pragmatic thinker and possesses and displays infectious enthusiasm. Neil is multi-talented and certainly one of the best Scrum guys going round.
Daniel McShanag
Chief Marketing Officer at MailGuard Pty Ltd
October 12, 2011, Daniel managed Neil directly
Neil’s strong character and vision for his product, combined with his passion and experience as an Agile practitioner and advocate, mean that he is an outstanding leader both as a BA and a Product Manager. Well liked and respected by his colleagues, Neil is a pragmatic and energetic self starter who goes out of his way to resolve issues, to research and articulate opportunities and to share learnings with others throughout the business.
Sean Morrison
Business Consultant at Kloud Solutions
October 10, 2011, Sean was senior to Neil but didn’t manage directly
Neil was the architect and senior developer for several projects I managed over a period of two years. Neil is a talented developer and architect, with a wide knowledge of software development practices and methodologies. His people management skills allow him to work closely with customers and end-users to deliver software which meets and exceeds customer expectations. His acerbic wit and encyclopaedic knowledge of movie facts also make him an invaluable member of any trivia team.
Torsten Herbst
Director & Founder coseats.com
October 10, 2011, Neil worked with Torsten in the same group
Neil is a very experienced software developer. He has the right combination of technical skills, experience, especially in Agile methodologies, and good communication skills. Above all he is a great team player and fun to work with. I look forward to working with Neil again in the future.
David Lyons
Head of Technology @ Remind
October 10, 2011, David reported directly to Neil
Neil was a fantastic, passionate product manager who tirelessly advocated on behalf of his product and team both externally to markets and internally within the structures of the company. As well as being an effective product manager, he was a constant driver for positive iterative changes within the team and business at large, introducing streamlined tooling and evolving processes and approaches in a truly agile manner.
Cheryl Downes
Head of Quality (International)
October 9, 2011, Cheryl worked with Neil in different groups
Neil is a hub of great information about agile and a great collaborator with colleagues and his team. I found Neil's passion for challenging wastefulness inspiring and always enjoyed our conversations. Even when our opinions didn't entirely align, we were able to have meaningful, professional discussions. I would happily work with Neil again in the future.
John Viner
Director of Engineering at Zendesk
October 6, 2011, John was senior to Neil but didn’t manage directly
Neil was our most talented agile product owner at PlayUp. He formed strong relationships with all his team and was able to provide great clarity on the direction of his product. He was equally passionate about product, people and the agile process, and would be a great asset to a product development team.
Jennifer Tran
Senior Test Analyst | Looking for opportunities
October 6, 2011, Neil worked with Jennifer in the same group
I think extremely highly of Neil Killick, and therefore it is my great pleasure to write a letter of recommendation on his behalf. I found Neil to be consistently pleasant, tackling all assignments with dedication and a smile. Besides being a joy to work with, Neil is a take-charge person who is able to present creative ideas and communicate the benefits. He has successfully developed several product strategy plans for our company that have resulted in increased interest of users. Neil has been an important member to our team and was an instrumental contributor on a number of high profile projects. His strong work ethic, attention to detail, and persistence will be sorely missed. Neil was also extraordinarily helpful, inspiring and motivating other employees. I highly recommend Neil for employment. He is a team player and has been an excellent person to work with both professionally and personally and would be a great asset to any organization.
Sadat Rahman
Senior Digital Professional
October 6, 2011, Neil was senior to Sadat but didn’t manage directly
Neil is a dedicated and passionate product manager with practical understanding of agile software development principles. He was well respected by all members of his team. He was fantastic at coaching the business owners in adopting agile best practices that provided great value during the evolution of our GameJ product.
Peter Houwen
Service Delivery Manager (Vic, SA, Tas) at Esri Australia
October 6, 2011, Peter was senior to Neil but didn’t manage directly
Neil was the Technical Lead on a project I managed to customise a web mapping application and to integrate it with VicRoads bid management system. As the Technical Lead, Neil was responsible for the architecture, design and development of the solution. Neil embraced the SCRUM agile methodology and also introduced improvements in tools and techniques to the team. Neil did a great job and played a major role in what was a very successful project. He worked well with both the client and the other members of the project team. Neil is passionate about software development and has high standards. I enjoyed working with Neil and would happily recommend him to anyone looking for someone in a similar role.
Alex Clark
Senior Business Analyst at REA Group
October 5, 2011, Neil worked with Alex in the same group
Neil is a highly motivated individual, leader, learner and educator.At Esri Australia he was held in high praise for the quality work he delivered by both clients and team members. Everyone likes working with Neil cause he is a team player and a good man that gets the job done.
Alan Harper
Head of Engineering at Clover.com.au
October 5, 2011, Neil was senior to Alan but didn’t manage directly
Neil is a great champion of Agile development practises and has been great at helping to educate business owners in why Agile provides them value. This combined with Neil's previous development background has helped come to a quick understanding of what is required & possible.
Peter Dunkin
Service Delivery Manager at Intelematics
October 5, 2011, Peter worked with Neil in different groups
Neil's professional performance was exemplary and a clear asset to Intelematics. His work ethics and commitment enabled him to bring a depth and quality to his work that were highly regarded. Neil displayed an ability to grasp new concepts, customer requirements and expectations and translate these into meaningful development products. Personally, I found Neil easy to work along side and an excellent colleague to seek advice and recommendation from. I would have no hesitation in recommending Neil for any position for which he is considered qualified.
Erik van Eekelen
Innovation & Technology Leader
October 5, 2011, Erik worked with Neil in different groups
When I worked at PlayUp, Neil and his team were often used as a great example of how an Agile team and Product Owner should work together, or actually: just be one team. Neil defined the strategy for one of the most successful products of the company, and he was able to translate that strategy to a release- and iteration plan that resulted in a successful early release. Next to that, I also like to work with Neil because he speaks his mind and can motivate his opinions really well. In summary: I definitely recommend hiring him!
William Madden
VP Engineering at REMERGE - App Retargeting
October 5, 2011, William reported directly to Neil
During our time at PlayUp, Neil and I worked together on the GameJ product. First as a Business Analyst/Scrum Master, then as a Product Manager, Neil demonstrated a great deal of skill managing the evolution of our software project, and fine-tuning the operation of our team. I found him easy to work with and very personable. I highly recommend Neil for any such work in the future.
Fred Wu
Head of Engineering at MyXplor
October 5, 2011, Neil worked with Fred in the same group
Neil is a strong and focused product owner and scrum master. He knows extremely well how to run an efficient and productive team. He understands the importance of taking feedback from not just the users but also the team members. He genuinely cares about the product as well as the people he work with. He's an excellent person to work with or to work for.
Toby Hede
Technology, Architecture, Programming
October 5, 2011, Neil worked with Toby in the same group
Neil is one of the most rigorous and dedicated Agile practitioners I have had the pleasure of working with. As an Analyst and Product Owner he brought keen insight to our team and was instrumental in our project's successful delivery, overcoming a number of technological and organisational challenges. Neil's devotion to the process of continuous improvement formed the foundation of our team's culture and success.
Anthony Burgon
Senior Engineering Manager at Envato
October 5, 2011, Neil worked with Anthony in the same group
Neil is a focused and passionate practitioner when it comes to envisioning and delivering capability. Having worked with Neil on projects directly, he is able to help people get the most out the given resources. He is smart, and able to get things done, either in a leadership role, or advisory/management role. Neil is a skilled practitioner of Agile Scrum, and has refined his method of working with teams during the entire life-cycle of a project. Neil is a finisher, and a pleasure to work with. Highly recommended.
Huy Hoang
Software Engineer / Architect
October 5, 2011, Neil worked with Huy in the same group
I had a pleasure to work with Neil in an exciting project at Playup. In this project Neil started as a Business Analyst but quickly became the Product Manager. Neil proved that he is a real agile guy and and be able to deliver valuable product in short time frame. I really like his strong opinion but can also listen and encourage team members to contribute good ideas. I don't hesitate to recommend Neil to any Business Analyst, Product Manager, or Scrum Master role and hope that I can work with him one day.
Andrew Zielinski
Software Consultant
October 5, 2011, Andrew worked with Neil in different groups
Even though I worked on a different team, our team benefited from Neil's drive to promote the agile process across the organisation. Neil's passion and his ability to get the best out of his team would make him an asset to any company.
Giovanni Arsénius
Digital Transformation | Agilist | Quality Engineering Coach | DevOps & Automation | Certified ScrumMaster
October 5, 2011, Giovanni worked with Neil in different groups
Neil is an effective leader with articulate communication skills critical to bringing together diverse teams and projects. He brought tremendous energy and passion to the projects he worked on. Moreover, his dedication and work ethic, perseverance to succeed and ability to find creative solutions to tough problems set him apart. He would make an excellent addition to any project team.
Tracy Ferguson
Delivery Manager Online Consumer Digital
October 5, 2011, Tracy worked with Neil in different groups
Neil has a well earned reputation for quality and comprehensive work as a business analyst amongst peers and senior managers.In addition to his ability to fit in with agile teams and capture user stories, he delivers and brings with him a sense of fun to the team and those he works with.
Steve Taylor
Programmer at Australian Bureau of Meteorology
June 17, 2009, Neil worked with Steve in the same group
Neil was patient and considerate in helping bring me up to speed with a complex code base and did a lot to ease my transition into working at Intelematics. He was unfailingly helpful and showed solid software design sense and a professional attitude. I would be very happy to work with him again if our paths crossed in the future.
Peter Dunkin
Service Delivery Manager at Intelematics
December 2, 2008, Peter worked with Neil in different groups
I have worked with Neil for over 2 years and have found his work ethic and commitment to be exemplary. His IT skills are excellent and Intelematics have utilised his experience and innovation toward our overall corporate success. Neil brings a keenness to our work place along with good humour. At all times it has been a pleasure working with Neil.