Who is Martin Cronje?
Martin was proposed by Mark Pearl.
Here is what Mark has to say about Martin:
I have known Martin for a few years now. My first real conversation with him was when I was preparing a workshop on BDD for a scrum gathering and Martin offered to explain the concepts to me over breakfast. Since then I have had in-depth conversations with Martin on a range of agile topics, from scrum and kanban to structuring code so that it lends itself to change. Martin has a depth and breadth of knowledge on agile concepts that makes him a worthy candidate for Who is Agile.
What is something people usually don’t know about you but has influenced you in who you are?
I grew up in a house with stories about Beethoven, Van Gogh and Steve Jobs. In many ways Steve Jobs was my dad’s icon. My parents were lecturers and two grandfathers were professors in sociology and chemical engineering.
Mom was an art teacher, artist and ran numerous art related business from running an arts school for kids to making clothes and teaching fashion. The net result is that I can mix paint, use a sewing machine and draw. My dad was a pharmacology lecturer and Mac enthusiast and hobbyist programmer. I grew learning to program in HyperCard on early versions of the Mac whilst also playing with Photoshop and Illustrator since version 1.0. My dad was also an active participant of the Mac user group during the late 80’s early 90’s.
When it came to school, I never really fit in. For some reason there seemed to be an implicit link between sports and academic performance. I ended up hanging with the rebellious crowd and getting into all sorts of trouble. Until to today I am a bit of a rebel and I guess that is why Agile also appealed to me when it all got started.
What would have become of you, if you were not doing the job you do today?
Since I left school there were many pivotal points that could have branch into endless outcomes. Thinking about it, I think there are three major points for me:
I discovered the Internet during the final year of high school and ended up spending most time running and maintaining websites most notably a popular MP3 site. I was working with people in Germany and ended up hacking away until the early morning hours, going to school and sleeping in the afternoons. I even missed one or two final exams because I got carried away on my computer. The net result was that my high school grades are not great.
Then in the early stages of my career I started becoming bored with the Graphic Design aspect and focused my energy on being a programmer. Finally in 2005 I turned down a promotion to manager position in one of the largest consulting companies worldwide which started me on the path of creating my own business.
I have not looked back - that much - since.
What is your biggest challenge and why is it a good thing for you?
Balance. For the first 12 years of working I dedicated all my energy to my career. In 2011, I experienced a low with one the worst experience of my professional career. That ended up being the catalyst to finally find a balance between work and life. Now whether it is work or fitness, I tend to push myself to the absolutely limit. At least there is balance now.
I lost a close friend in 2012, which inspired me to live life to the fullest. Do not ever wait for someday. Do everything you ever wanted to do now.
Programming gives me a lot of joy and it has been very challenging remain technical throughout my career. Company’s push their developers into non-technical or non-implementation career paths’ whether it is management or Enterprise Architecture. I had to give up on a lot of opportunities in my career to stay technical. Luckily the road less travelled is a lot more fulfilling.
What drives you?
I am deeply passionate about the things I care about especially building pragmatic beautiful systems on an aesthetic and technical level. My biggest competitor is myself and I always feel that I can do what I do better.
The one thing that fuels me most is when I cannot do something that others can, or when someone says something cannot be done.
What is your biggest achievement?
Professionally I am particular proud of three specific projects that I lead, designed and implemented; First the procurement system for National Treasury, it was one of the first .NET systems in the country and won an award, then there was the 2004 National Provincial Elections systems and also designing numerous systems for the JSE including their integration platform.
I realised that I was working too much and decided to change things. I started mountain biking and ended up losing 35 kilograms, quitting smoking and becoming fit for the first time in my life. All of this finally led to starting nReality where Jacques (my business partner and co-founder) and I have strong value on balancing work and life.
Last and by far not least was marrying my wife, Manisha Bhoola. She is amazing.
Is there a piece of music that has a special meaning for you?
I have many memorable songs linked to different significant events in my life ranging from specific songs by Trivium, Metallica, Black Sabbath, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin to Black Keyes, White Stripes and Muse.
Voodoo Chile by Jimi Hendrix is my favourite song of all time and almost always makes me feel good.
In many ways Nothing Else Matters by Metallica describes the relationship my wife and I share. Her family did not really approve of us initially. We played a cello version by Apocolyptica of the song when my wife walked down the aisle.
Classical pieces - especially Beethoven’s symphonies - bring me peace.
What is the last book you have read?
Last book: Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit - Mary and Tom Poppendieck
Most inspirational (recently): Founders at Work - Jessica Livingstone
Most insightful (recently): The tipping point - Malcolm Gladwell
What question do you think we should also ask and what is the answer?
What would you do if you did not need money? Build more systems, teach more and do less consulting.
What is your favourite past-time? Mountain Biking and Games (Computer and Console)
Whom do you think we should ask next in South Africa?
Chris Naidoo - He is one of the pioneers of Agile in South Africa through his work in the community especially the Agile forum (formerly XP forum).
Whom do you think we should ask next, not in South Africa?
How would you define your relation to the South African Agile community?
I am an active participant in the community really enjoy teaching people about how to build great systems using the best processes, practices and techniques for the job.
It is great being a part of a community and knowing that there are other people that care as much - or more - than me about the craft and software engineering as the sum of the parts.
Johannesburg, September 2013
How to connect with Martin
Twitter: @martincronje
Linked In: za.linkedin.com/in/mcronje