Who is Cara Turner?
Cara was proposed by Annu. However she was already on this list as she is very active in the local community.
Karen had the following to say:
I can’t exactly remember when I first met Cara, but I do remember the first time she visited me at home. It turns out Cara used to live in my house many years ago! Very weird coincidence! Cara is passionate about facilitation, and she has a soft spot for complexity science too.
What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?
I changed schools & university every 2-3 years (5 schools and 2 universities), which taught me a lot about different teaching and learning styles, and how they influence each other. I doubt I’d have been so aware of that if I hadn’t been exposed to such a variety of environments.
What would have become of you, if you were not doing the job you do today?
I studied Fine Art and wanted to become an artist - and later an artist blacksmith. I only left the field because I didn’t have the sales skills needed to earn a living as an blacksmith, and it’s something I see myself going back to in later years.
What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?
To limit my own work in progress, and reduce queues. Learning how to prioritize for myself and focus on things I really value is helping me understand product ownership from a whole new perspective.
What drives you?
Boundless curiosity. And a determination to see things done well.
What is your biggest achievement?
With codeX we’re changing IT education in South Africa. We’re applying the project-based approach of agile teams to equip our coders with real world, agile developer skills. It’s really exciting to address both the skills shortage and the digital divide with a high quality offering. I’m also very focused on bringing structured creative thinking into agile teams, to facilitate more breakthrough thinking. It’s a long-term project, with a lot of space to grow.
Is there a piece of music that has a special meaning for you?
This is a hard question! “Imidiwan” by the Tuareg band Tinariwen will always remind me of my first holiday on my own. It’s a reminder to me of how much more we are able to do when we face our fears and overcome them.
What is the last book you have read?
The Universe Versus Alex Woods (Gavin Extence); currently To Sell Is Human (Daniel Pink). Although I must confess I’ve recently discovered audiobooks, so I actually listen to them instead :-)
What question do you think we should also ask and what is the answer?
What’s interesting in agile in Cape Town?
There’s an increasing number of really interesting thinkers, and I think a growing richness in agile knowledge. There seems to be a big focus on doing product ownership and management well, but there’s also everything from complexity to lean to user experience.
There also seems to be a growing number of focused communities - SPIN and SUGSA have been going for a while; RubyFuza, ScaleConf, PyCon and the CodeRetreats over the last couple of years show the growing dev communiities, and now RailsBridge CapeTown. It’s very exciting to be around.
Whom do you think we should ask next in South Africa?
Pavel Dabrytski. And if you have him, Cliff Hazel, Mark Pearl, Mark Nilsen and Annu Augustine
Whom do you think we should ask next not in South Africa?
How would you define your relation to the South African Agile community?
Win/win - the best possible relationship!
I love how much I learn from everyone - it’s a great, diverse community of passionate people with very different perspectives - and I love being able to help create events that make a difference to the community.
Cape Town, April 2013 and updated in Jan 2015
How to connect with Cara
Twitter: @cara_faye
Linked In: za.linkedin.com/in/carafaye