ScrumMaster Ulrika Park recently joined the SmartBear team to facilitate the agile software development project method in our SmartBear-Sweden office. At the beginning of the month, we issued a press release to welcome Ulrika to the team, highlight her past successes in all things Agile, explain what she'll be doing here at SmartBear, etc. 

Now, we'd like you to hear from Ulrika first-hand!

After personally talking with Ulrika about being a more Agile team, I instantly felt like I had a much better understanding of why these development methods have become such a hot topic in the last few years. What helped the most was that she was able to explain all of the complex methods in a straightforward way that even an Agile n00b (like myself) could understand.

"If you can imagine having very strict clothes, like very tight, and very strict and not being able to move, that's one way of working - with heavy processes, heavy regulations and a lot of constraints," she explained. "Agile is sort of the sporty way of doing systems development. You have looser clothes, and obviously it's easier to move in any direction you want - to sit down or stand up. And you can still look nice in more casual clothes."

Now, I know that some people would enjoy sitting down and reading five or six books on Agile methodologies over the next three months. But just in case you're too busy to do that, here's a 5-minute video in which Ulrika provides insight into the challenges and benefits of becoming a more agile development team. To hear more of what Ulrika has to say, follow her on Twitter @ulrikapark, check out her first SmartBear blog post, or check out her personal blog.