Who is Zuzi Sochova (@agileprague) ?

I met Zuzi at the first edition of AgileEE in 2009, were she gave a presentation about scrum under extremely short conditions. I did a presentation directly after her in the same room. Usually I concentrate on my own presentation and don’t pay much attention to what is being said. And then she started talking about half a day sprints. Taking about extreme agile. Yes I heard Pascal Van Cauwenberghe talking about small sprints too, but this proved he was a leader and not a lone nut. There went my concentration…

Some time later she invited me to WebExpo, where she organized the agile part of a great conference. I was really pleased when she said yes to Who Is and I could learn some more about this smart women with great organizing skills. And again I learned more then I could wish for. Enjoy her answers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?
I’ve always wanted to have the hair of bright color, but all the time I was afraid to go for such colors so I was experimenting with just light tones. And then, one day I went to a hairdresser and left with real bright red hair color. I was kind of scared at first, but after a while, I realized it was really me and from that time I’m changing the hair colors almost every month.

If you would not have been in IT, what would have become of you?
I guess I would like to be a photographer. Or a dive master. But seriously, I had chosen IT and I still like it. It’s fun. Working with developers and testers on daily basis is a creative work. I like software, it’s easy and fast to try out your ideas and prove them by prototyping, a thing that is not possible in any other industry.

What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?
My biggest challenge is to run my own business. In order to start it, I had to learn how to find people to cooperate with, which skills I need myself and which is better to find elsewhere. I would say the biggest lesson learned so far was to accept that I have to let some businesses pass away if they don’t fit, in order to get the right ones later on.
Speaking more general, the biggest challenge is to keep doing things in my way, even though the rest of the people say I should not. Do what I want and believe in, not what I’m expected to do.

What drives you?
The biggest satisfaction and motivation to go on for me is seeing the success of my work. If I help individuals, teams or companies to be better, more efficient and flexible or just have less stress and more fun, it’s the best bonus I can ever get.

What is your biggest achievement?
About six years ago, I had been working at one huge US company for 6 months. After a while I was able to succeed in the different culture and to fit the team there.  In the end, I started the long-term cooperation with that company back from the Czech Republic and it’s still successfully running even without me 🙂

What is the last book you have read?
The last book I have read is called End of Punk in Helsinki (Konec punku v Helsinkach). It’s a Czech book, I’m afraid there is no translation planned yet.

What question do you think I should also ask and what is the answer?
My favorite question is ‘where do you want to be in 10 years?
Just imagine one of the nice islands somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, white sand, beach, coconut trees, and myself, lying in a hammock with my new 23rd generation iPad, driving my own business. However, why should I wait all 10 years to make it true? 😉

Who do you think I should ask next?
I will suggest Ola Ellnestam as I’m really interested in his answers

If you like stories like this, please buy our Who is agile book. It contains answers from different people and in the near future will contain an answer from Zuzi on another question.