About Me - Chapter Lead

My name is Tym Blackwell, and I build teams and cultures that deliver exceptional products and sustainable growth. Over the last 20 years I have led teams across financial service, telecommunications, broadcasting, and not-for-profits in Australia and the UK. I believe the foundation of outstanding products is great people…

Whether as a Senior Marketing Manager, a Group Product Manager or a Head of Chapter Lead, that belief shapes everything I do. This includes how I build and develop teams, how I approach delivery, and whether it’s technology migrations, regulatory transformation, or executing marketing campaigns. I lead by creating the conditions for others to do their best work so that we can deliver the customer experience in the fastest and most logical way possible. Providing value to both the business and the customer.

Over the last few years, as ‘Head of’ roles became Chapter Leads, I noticed there was very little written online to help develop the role. Lots can be found on the traditional agile roles of Product Owner and Scrum Master that directly lead the squads or teams in product development but not on the Chapter Lead. The Chapter Lead is a management role that bridges the gap between strategic delivery and team development. This site shares the learning and strategies I have developed along the way and hopes to open up discussion on best practices and ways to improve—hopefully useful not just for existing Chapter Leads and for those thinking about a career in this area but for general management best practices.

The Chapter Lead role plays an invaluable strategic position within agile organisations and has been my most fulfilling role to date. As a team leader I have a dual focus on development and strategic improvement. I support and manage a team that works across different areas of the business. With a focus on development, the team continues to grow alongside the organisational values, enabling them to be productive in their roles and drive the required business outcomes.

I then work with the wider business to ensure we strategically resource ourselves to deliver and improve the customer products and processes. The two are closely linked, creating the right culture for improvement at a company level with a development focus at a team level to drive the agreed strategic direction.

While there are many styles of leadership, the servant leadership approach discussed on this website ensures that leaders stay close to their teams, understand the level of detail required to effectively manage issues with stakeholders while at the same time building measurable learning and development.

To try and categorise some of the thinking on the role, I have broken the information into the micro and the macro topic areas;

Servant Leadership – Your influence at a team level as a leader to upskill and drive learning and development

Company Culture – Your influence at a company level to drive culture and workforce development

If you would like to contribute your thoughts, make improvements, challenge my thinking, or just want to connect it would be great to hear from you.

Please get in touch via my LinkedIn profile

Tym