Who is Julien Mazloum (@jmazloum) ?

I believe Julien Mazloum is a great addition to our Agile community. Having met him several years ago in Beijing, I truly value his passion and vision. With that tireless passion, Julien has been one of the driving forces in bringing Agile development to China. He is a strong supporter of the growth and maturity of Agile. Julien has devoted himself to Agile by supporting the growth of Agile coaches within China and by inviting Agile coaches from outside China to come in to share their experiences. I’m grateful to know Julien. I’m proud I survived one of his Peking Duck dinners! And I am happy to have the honor of introducing him in the “Who is Agile?” book

Jean Tabaka

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?

I love acting. Comedy to be more specific. Since I was kid in fact. I was and still am a big fan of Louis de Funes. What amazes me the most in an actor is the strength of representing all possible bad aspects of everybody’s personality, all these things that we all want to hide. I just love the characters who show all of these aspects in a humoristic way. All at once. I was co-producer and actor for 4 years with a non-professional theater company (La TRAC). Amazing experience of team work, passion and achievement. The only reason I stopped my involvement with this company that was in some way my family is because I decide to move to China but that is already another story.

If you had not been in IT, what would have become of you?

  • A mathematician or a clown/humorist. But I have to say these jobs are much harder work than IT.
  • Most probably an entrepreneur of some sort. Anyway, these two things are really important for me:
  • Being able to “create things” every day.
  • Making people feel good – especially kids. To some extent that explains why evolving into a coach makes sense to me.

What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?

What I am doing now, both personally and with my company (OutSofting) : Living in China and making a successful business while promoting Agile development there. This includes being husband, a father, a coach and an entrepreneur who wishes to do like any startup entrepreneur (transform his startup into a sustainable business).

What drives you ?

I would say 2 things:

What is your biggest achievement?

Hearing students of my courses tell me how using Agile development positively changed their lives and reconciled them with their job and their profession.

What is the last book you have read?

The fifth discipline fieldbook. For a book written in 1994, it is just a shame that most companies still do not apply anything of this. I also feel bad, [not)hing of this was taught](//thinkexist.com/quotation/nothing_that_is_worth_knowing_can_be_taught/255809.html in the MBA classes I took in 2005-2006. All of this seems so natural for anybody helping in an Agile transformation but yet… we are still far from applying this in the corporate world

What question do you think I should also ask and what is the answer?

Why did I choose software development? Because I find it amazing and exciting to have such a quick loop between an idea and the realization of this idea. Quicker than in any other discipline.

Whom do you think I should ask next?

June 2012

Beijing, China