Company

At Humanizing Work we are committed to building a movement and community around the idea that work should fit humans—not the other way around. 

Here’s a bit of our history:

2008: Richard Lawrence founded the original Humanizing Work company to do training and coaching in Agile Software Development.

2012: After years of informal collaboration, Bob Hartman and Richard merged Humanizing Work and Agile For All under the Agile For All brand.

2013: Humanizing Work returned as the name of the annual conference for alumni of Agile For All classes. Each summer a group of Agile practitioners and coaches gathered in the Colorado mountains for a week of learning and connection. The Humanizing Work conference was, for many participants, the highlight of the year. 

2018: By now it was clear that Humanizing Work was more than an event. It was a growing community and movement that helps humans and their organizations thrive. 

2019: Richard and Peter Green launched the Humanizing Work Show to explore the ideas represented by the name. Recording the first 10 episodes of the show confirmed for Peter and Richard that Agile Software Development is just one expression of a bigger human movement.

2020: Economic and social upheaval emphasized more than ever the growing need for human-friendly systems and structures in work. Against that backdrop, Peter and Richard, along with their friend and colleague Angie Ham, decided to split from Agile For All to relaunch the Humanizing Work company. 

The Humanizing Work company will take on the stewardship of the Humanizing Work conference and community from 2020 forward (and they’ll still include our friends from Agile For All and from previous conferences).

The Team

Richard Lawrence Photo of Richard Lawrence

Richard’s superpower is bringing together seemingly unrelated fields and ideas to create new possibilities. Drawing on a diverse background in software development, engineering, anthropology, design, and political science, Richard trains and coaches people to collaborate more effectively with other people to solve complex, meaningful problems.

Richard is a Scrum Alliance Certified Enterprise Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer, as well as a certified trainer of the accelerated learning method, Training from the Back of the Room. His book, Behavior-Driven Development with Cucumber, was published by Addison-Wesley in 2019 (for more information, visit bddwithcucumber.com).

When he’s not working with clients, you’ll often find Richard cooking, playing music, practicing Muay Thai, or flying down a mountain on his mountain bike.

Peter Green Photo of Peter Green

Peter helps leaders discover how to create the outcomes they care about the most. He draws on a unique combination of deep empathy and keen insight developed by an almost stubborn insistence on staying actively involved in seemingly disconnected fields, including the creative arts, business, psychology, leadership, organizational design, and philosophy. Peter majored in music composition at Arizona State University. He is an in-demand trumpet player and recording engineer.

At Adobe Systems, Peter led an Agile transformation that enabled the shift to a subscription business model. He co-developed the Certified Agile Leadership program for the Scrum Alliance. He has trained, coached, and advised dozens of organizations to create outcomes that range from leadership development, to creating vision and strategy, to creating a culture of innovation, to clarifying and validating customer segments and needs, to reinventing business models and products, to creating high performing, Agile teams.

Peter is a Certified Scrum Trainer, a graduate of the ORSC coaching system, a certified Leadership Agility and Leadership Circle coach, a certified Innovation Games practitioner, and the co-founder of the Humanizing Work company. He is an avid reader and idea-combiner. He is a firm believer in the power of range and a growth mindset. He spends his working hours dedicated to nudging the world of work towards a more human-centric, meaningful, and prosperous future. He spends his other waking hours enjoying time with his wife and five kids, running, hiking, playing golf, and making music and visual arts.

Angie Ham Photo of Angie Ham

Angie is one of the three original co-creators of the annual Humanizing Work event. She brings over 20 years of professional experience across fields including biotechnology, higher education, non-profit interest groups, and most recently, overseeing operations at Agile For All. While the fields are varied, the work within them has been the same: building systems, process, programs, events, community, and culture. While Angie is usually found working behind the scenes to make things happen, she is most excited by being a part of cultivating environments where individuals and communities grow.

Outside of work, Angie is a die hard fan of the Die Hard movie franchise, volunteers with several lovely groups and causes, enjoys storytelling through photography, and longs to smoosh her face into the faces of all the puppies in the world (young and old).

Laura HamiltonPhoto of Laura Hamilton

Laura has been a lifelong proponent of community building. She has consistently worked to support organizational infrastructure by connecting, seeing, and listening to people. With over 15 years of operations experience in both non-profit and for-profit spaces, she has a keen sense of how to create and implement operational efficiency based on feedback from internal personnel, external partners, and customers. Like a true-crime detective, Laura observes spoken and unspoken organizational dynamics to pinpoint opportunities for process improvement.

After work hours, Laura can be found honing her detective skills when reading crime fiction novels or listening to true-crime podcasts. She also enjoys scenic walks with her two pups, Zara and Jazz, and spending quality time with family and friends.