Humans
#trivagotales in depth: Meet Pavlína
“I recently celebrated my 6th anniversary at trivago. Looking back at all those years, I must say it has been quite a ride. I can hardly imagine another company where I would learn so much and which would allow me to discover my potential to such an extent.
I used to believe that a study field and a first professional experience determine one’s entire career. It was quite a frustrating feeling. To be honest when I enrolled in the University of Economics Prague to study international management I did not have a clue what my passion was. Luckily I joined the right company where I was encouraged to develop my talent not a career path.
I started at trivago as an intern in the Country Development team in 2013. Throughout the years, I have taken over more responsibility and I finally became the lead for our Rest of World region. In the end of 2018 I made a career shift joining the Hotel Search pillar as a Product Owner. After 6 months I changed my role again. In April 2019 I joined the Organizational Agility team as a Scrum Master/Agile Coach.
I get many questions about my role changes and I am very happy that people ask me. The more I explain the storyline the more excited and confident I feel about it. The experience to coordinate market expansions, lead a team and finally manage product development fostered my understanding of the different puzzle pieces that create value at trivago. Having such a generalist profile, I started thinking about the most enjoyable aspects of my job. Finally, I realized that my passion was to support and guide teams and individuals.
Humans are amazing creatures. However, the complexity of the world and of our mind often prevent us from using our full potential. This has always bugged me. But then I discovered that there are certain principles and tools which can guide us and which can remove barriers for efficient cooperation and performance. Many of those tools and principles are applied with Agile.
I was very curious to join the Organizational Agility team and to find out how I can create value through supporting the teams at trivago. I knew it was a misconception that only software development can benefit from Agile but to be very honest I was not sure how to apply frameworks like Scrum in nontechnical teams. The OA team did a great job in onboarding me and explaining the essence of our role. The agile methods and frameworks (like Scrum or Kanban) are simple to learn but difficult to master. Real mastery lies in situation awareness and the ability to evangelize the agile mindset to a diverse audience. This aptitude together with the expertise of tools and methods makes an Agile Coach an invaluable asset for any team.
I had a chance to run some sessions for teams which are new to the agile methods. There is always a bit of doubt initially but the reactions after some time are priceless. Very simple methods can be incredibly powerful and can move the team to the next level. Seeing the incremental improvements of teams and individuals gives me great energy which reassures me that this role is a step in the right direction.”
– Pavlína, Agile Coach
