With over 16 years of continuous growth and challenge in Endava, Barry has been part of the team that helped the organisation grow to its current size. Nowadays he is our Head of Delivery Units, a role that helped him switch the perspective and taught him that it is never too late to learn new skills and knowledge in Endava. Let us take you through a heartwarming journey of one of our most appreciated colleagues.

Tell us about your journey in Endava. 

I joined Endava in January 2003 as a Senior Project/Programme Manager when we were circa 50 staff so things were very different in those days of early Endava (or should I say Concise). It was clear even then that there was a determination in the company to build something special.

One of my first assignments was to spend a month working in New York City implementing software lifecycle delivery processes for a significant finance banking organisation. My client facing delivery roles continued, and I went on to becoming one of our first Client Partners, now called Delivery Partners, managing numerous clients over the years.

In 2006, we formed Endava, and the real journey began. It has been such a fantastic experience being part of a team growing the company to its current size. By 2010, I took on the role of Group Head of Programme and Project Management Discipline for the next 6 years, which allowed me to work with such a great bunch of leaders, many of whom are now DU Managers and Delivery Managers. Of course, this wasn’t my only role – that would be too easy - I still had clients to manage!

In 2014, my next challenge appeared……I was asked to lead two of our business verticals within our commercial client facing business units (AGUs) in our Media, Publishing and Retail businesses. This was my primary role for the next three years and was an enriching experience, working with excellent sales and delivery teams. In 2017, I moved into my current position of Head of Delivery Units, which has given me an opportunity to learn the other side of our Delivery operations and taught me it is never too late to learn new skills and knowledge in Endava.

Which were your main drivers in these past 16 years?

What I love about being at Endava is that if you want to move your career into a specific direction you can, you just need to let someone know about it! I have had some great opportunities at Endava and have been able to work with many excellent people and teams. I have always tried to create opportunities for others to develop themselves and their own careers, and that is how we have continued to grow our people and culture at Endava.

My advice is don’t ever constrain your goals or think your career has to take a particular path. I’m a positive person by nature, so I always look for positive outcomes in every situation. I have been lucky enough to be part of a management team that has helped to grow Endava. This has been the most amazing journey and one that I am very proud to be part of. My proudest moment was being there to hear the bell ring at the New York Stock Exchange as we publicly traded for the very first time.

How would your colleagues describe you in one sentence? 

I hope they describe me as someone true to Endava values, someone who gets things done, a team player, always smiling and positive, a trusted partner, fun to work with – BUT they probably describe me as the smiling silver fox who likes to play guitar! I love the quote ‘everyone smiles in the same language’ - body language says so much about you.

Name some books/tutorials/speeches that had an effect on your career path. 

I guess the first book to have had a major impact on my IT career was back in my software developer days, the IBM PL/1 and COBOL program language manuals. I always remember IF-THEN-ELSE-ENDIF….. Happy days! This is going to sound a real cliché, but The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni completely resonated with what I have believed all my career – that organisational health wins every time. It reminded me that we all have a role to play and that together we are stronger working in teams.

Who is Barry outside of work? 

People who know me well will know that I am passionate about music and that I have more guitars than is healthy (9 at the last count). I play electric and acoustic guitar, bass guitar and keyboards. I love to write and produce music, and I am currently creating my own music studio at home :) I love going to music concerts, spending time with my wife Donna and my (now grown-up) children Paige and Cole, especially when we get to take holidays together - how times change. These days we have become a regular virtual WhatsApp family! Another passion of mine is football, and I have always enjoyed staying fit either by playing or coaching football, running youth football teams along with other exercise such as running and cycling. At weekends I still enjoy cycling and walking. Photography has always been a passion of mine, and I do enjoy sharing photos of my travels and keeping up to date with friends' photos on Instagram.

Tell us how your passions have contributed to your day to day job. 

I love being part of a team, whether it's a leadership team, bid team, delivery team, sports team or playing in a band, and Endava has allowed to do all of these and to be part of some of the greatest teams. I also get to combine my passions at Endava, in 2009 I formed the 'legendary' Endava Band :), which after a couple of years became ‘Jen and the Men’. We have been invited to play at most Endava London Xmas parties since then and performing on stage with my bandmates always gives me a real buzz. This typifies Endava, inside and outside of work we have a great culture of forming teams and delivering to the best of our abilities. It is such a great feeling of creating something special with your teammates.

What advice would you give yourself if you were starting work at Endava today? 

Be positive – decide what you want to achieve and go for it! Do not constrain yourself in your personal goals, challenge yourself to be better and to develop others around you.