SUMMARY:

• ­­­Proven Confidential - 50 Lean-Agile Transformation Coach, Program Manager and Big-5 Consultant, passionate about Lean-Agile-DevOps product development, & systems thinking to optimize value delivery.
• Outstanding strategy, leadership, teaching, coaching, mentoring, training, facilitation, road mapping, communication, team building, analytical, and collaborative skills, all of which builds-upon/improves the culture, among other things.
• A trusted advisor to both Business and IT, successfully applying OCM disciplines, common sense and a wealth of hands-on experience.Highly competent applying lean-agile across SDM/SDLC, SAFe, TOGAF-ADM, CSM, Kanban, IC-Agile, ITIL, DSDM, as well as Launching/ Supporting Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and applying corporate maturity models, frameworks and methodologies.
• Lean-Agile Leader, Featured Speaker, Trusted Coach.
• 25+ years coaching, managing and completing programs in ERP, Security Remediation, CRM, Insurance Auto/Fire/Life/Health, Financial, DW/DM/BI, e-commerce, etc. multi-discipline, multi-vendor/matrix teams across the globe.
• Very polished, brings IT & Business together using agile/lean/systems thinking for success.
• Works with & presents up to VP, Board & C-Level.
• Focused on the customer, improves quality and builds trusted relationships with key stakeholders. Knowledge areas include:
• Lean/Agile SAFe Team/Program/ enterprise adoption/ transformation with lean-agile thinking
• Leading work-sessions (requirements, design, BPR, JAD/RAD, Security strategy, etc.)
• Featured Speaker for many lean-agile events
• Coaching, teaching, guiding and mentoring
• Business Arch/Capabilities/Value Streams
• Shared Services and DevOps Improvement
• Evaluations/Assessments via agile maturity models (SW-CMM/CMMI, IC Agile, SAFe, AHF, DevOps)
• Regulatory (Finance, Utility, Insurance, SOX) governance - refinement and application
• Ecommerce/Web/UX/UI efforts
• Organizational Change Management (OCM)
• Enterprise Data Warehouse/Data Marts/BI
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• On/Near/Off-site & Offshore Resource Mgt
• Optimization/standardization

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

METHODOLOGIES/FRAMEWORKS: SAFe, DevOps, Lean, Agile, Scrum-CSP, CSM, SSM, POPM, CSPO, Kanban, Lean Start-up, ATI-AHF, DSDM, XP, BDD/ ATDD/ TDD, Selenium, TQM, CI/CD, Docker, GIT, Maven, Jenkins, BPR, 6-Sigma, OCM (ADKAR & Kotter), SDLC, PMBOK, Covey’s 7 Habits, ITIL, Risk Mgt, TOGAF, COBIT, SOX, Fed Acq Reg (FAR), Teach/Coach/ Mentor Lean/Agile Product Dev, Agilecraft, Version One, Jira/Confluence, Rally, TFS, /Systems Thinking, Design Thinking.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Confidential, Riverwoods, IL

Lean-Agile Program Coach

Responsibilities:

• Taught/coached agile-lean Implementation Champions to apply scaled agile framework thinking Mindset, Values, Principles, DevOps, and Technical Practices into the coming personal loans Discover Management System DMS Transformation Program
• Convinced Key players of the importance of Innovation and Planning iteration, including running Inspect and Adapt at the Program Level and actually prioritizing improvement items into the Program and Team backlog in real-time
• Introduced product management visioning, epic and feature level thinking and road mapping into personal loans business and IT
• Mentored team agile coaches, architects, scrum masters, RTE, Program Mgrs., etc. on roles/responsibilities for each
• Introduced refinements to System Demos, CI/CD, automation test + pipeline, architectural runway concept, as well as approach and benefits of establishing a DoJo for the DPL Transformation Program
• Provided deeper insight into DevOps & “CALMR” thinking in the Enterprise with the Personal Loans Focus, and tied it to concepts of Architectural runway to ensure enough capacity was allocated every iteration to support the needed automation
• Coordinated, developed, & presented agile foundations courseware as team of Sr. Agile coaches to key change agents and Leaders affecting over 1000 people in the largest Program/Wave to-date
• Guided key thought leaders in applying value stream thinking from SAFe to design the new train and all related roles, structure, cadence and events

Confidential, IL

SAFe Instructor and DevOps Consultant

Responsibilities:

• Featured speaker for agile topics including requirements, team building, agile budgeting and scheduling, mindset/values/principles/practices, agile anti patterns, etc.
• PMI-Chicagoland Dinner event with 4,000+ members and 350+ attending
• PMI Central Illinois chapter PMI-CIC with nearly 1,000 members, and 75+ attending
• Springfield lunch-and-learn group events
• Lean-Agile Speaker at numerous Meetups
• Conducting public-listed and Private SAFe certification courses RTE, DevOps, Leading SAFe, SAFe Scrum Master, SAFe Advanced SM, POPM with attendees coming from 6 different States
• Consulting with local business and conducting on-site SAFe courses under contract
• Started Agile Meetup in Springfield with first event held successfully in July

Confidential, Bloomington, IL

Lean-Agile-Product Developer

Responsibilities:

• Applied “Essential SAFe” as one source of lean guidance, including prioritized steps and self-assessments
• Advised on BDD, CI/CD/DevOps, Test Automation, Story and Feature writing functional and technical, metric design, Scrum/XP to improve alignment, transparency and early value delivery across the Program
• Applied thinking from LEAN, Prod Dev flow-small batch workflow, Deming, TOC, ITIL, TOGAF and SAFe to implement fast learning cycles with iterations and formulate improvements across vendors, offshore and co-located teams for the Solution Train
• Advised on strategy for initial Metrics and productivity charts, and the steps to maturity in this space
• Coached RTE, SM, PO and PMs to adjust and improve ART sync, Scrum of Scrums, and Product Owner meetings over many iterations
• Optimized processes at team, program and LOB level using value-stream thinking, DevOps culture, as well as applying Lean Principle, Agile Manifesto & SAFe values and principles
• Consultant to DoJo Instructors, sharing experience/knowledge for application within the LOB's and enterprise.
• Instructor leading/facilitating workshops and providing just-in-time guidance/coaching across scrum and Kanban teams, Product Mgt Team, PO, SM, shared teams, spanning palette and Leadership levels

Confidential, Milwaukee, WI

Sr. Lean-Agile-DevOps Coach

Responsibilities:

• Applied Lean Product Development and Systems thinking to Confidential Program to setup and manage the Kanban of backlog from Portfolio and Program to team level for early and often value delivery
• Served as SM for various teams within the program as needed over life of the effort, and simultaneously coached at Program level throughout the engagement - Brought focus on Higher Quality and frequent integration with iterative System Demos
• Taught/applied Road-mapping/story-mapping, Epic-Feature-Enabler-Story writing and WSJF approach to manage backlogs efficiently, improve collaboration among teams and ensure clarity of assignments with no overlap
• Managed Team & Program level demos, Program Increment cadence and big-room planning, with emphasis on having and meeting Definition of Done at all levels to involve stakeholders and ensure accelerated roll-outs with greatest business value
• Recommended staffing approaches to support overall effort at team, program and value stream levels
• Created effective status reporting to Executive leadership based upon standard Microsoft TFS information
• Facilitated continuous integration CI, DevOps mindset, retrospectives at team & program level as well as automation test and deployment as agile and lean accelerators to ensure consistent best velocity and quality

Confidential, Minneapolis, MN

Sr. Lean-Agile-DevOps Enterprise Transformation Coach

Responsibilities:

• Worked with peer coaches to improve the agile workload intake process using SAFe Product Portfolio Management (PPM) mindset and techniques along with Release Management based upon developing on cadence and releasing on demand from Business perspective
• Provided inputs based on SAFe principles to better align training materials, release cycles with synchronized sprint cadence and leadership involvement
• Taught Team Quick Starts (TQS), a 2-day course, with up to 60 folks at a time. TQS provides initial knowledge base for teams new to agile to understand/operate in an agile manner. This is followed by team-focused chartering, which I also lead, to officially launch the teams and set the stage for coaching/mentoring as well
• Worked on team to advance the state of Software Engineering/Dev-Ops/XP practices, refinements to materials/content on Wiki, and organization of coming improvements based upon coaches white-boarding sessions & feedback from teams
• Chartered agile teams with an emphasis on User Story Mapping and Release planning

Confidential, Menomonee Falls, WI

Sr. Lean-Agile Enterprise Transformation Coach

Responsibilities:

• Supported efforts to best in corporate approx. 400 offshore resources in agile processes
• Worked closely with architecture to ensure that Epics/Features/Stories are well written to integrate with the Capabilities-based view of the business
• Worked on DevOps improvements to institute the continuous integration philosophies and abilities
• Shared ideas with contracting to refine MSA and SOW contract wording and the relevant exhibits to ensure that agile concepts are clear and that correct behavior/mindsets are achieved within contracted support
• Mentored SMs on a consistent level of performance in areas including running the Scrum ceremonies, the use of tools, small batch mindset, story writing consistency, servant leadership and continuous integration concepts
• Conducted maturity assessments/surveys based upon SAFe and the PMO agile maturity models, and applied the inspect-and-adapt process to improve standard stories, refine training materials, and provide tailored coaching as needed
• Observed/managed/coached/oversaw the newly formed Scrum teams, reinforced the good, and gently steered that which needed better alignment with agile values, techniques, principles, mindsets and mechanic

Confidential, Chicago, IL

Consultant - Sr. PM & Lean-Agile

Responsibilities:

• Applied suitability criteria to identify, select best-fit projects for Scrum, start-up and oversee Scrum teams
• Introduced Behavior Driven Development (BDD) concepts to the EPMO for consideration on testing improvement program, with an emphasis on successful User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
• Introduced Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to the EPMO leadership. Explained the Project, Program and Portfolio levels along with the principles and various roles outlined within SAFe to PM-peer level, middle managers and the Director in the PMO. I was then recommended to provide “Introducing SAFe” presentation to the enterprise agile process group and IT Exec Council
• Advised and mentored PMs managing Scrum projects - writing/refining stories including acceptance criteria, proper roles/behaviors for the 3 Scrum roles
• Mentored and coached PMs on the use of Scrum/XP and over agile techniques within their pilot agile teams. Guided team members in applying story pointing and task-level capacity planning for use in Sprint planning and progress tracking. Shortened Sprint Planning and Mid-Sprint sessions by nearly 33%. Also taught concept of definition of done for story readiness and story completion
• ­­Introduced Kanban to security program as a more efficient way to accomplish the highest value initiatives (2- factor authentication, SIEM, Single Sign-on, etc.) at the earliest possible time, and make the most efficient use of key team members’ limited availability

Confidential, Chicago, IL

Client Services Manager

Responsibilities:

• Developed, refined and presented proposals to key and potential future clients supporting ideation, staffing and delivery of agile training, coaching and implementation
• Addressed architecture services, business operations, governance and budgeting with scaled agile approach

Confidential, Naperville, IL

Agile Transformation Coach

Responsibilities:

• Introduced agile concepts and explained options for application in the US Confidential company to the CEO
• Advised CEO on executive and team level team staffing approach based upon my observations
• Introduced materials/concepts from IC Agile, SAFe and DAD on top of DSDM to supplement chosen framework and help ensure robust understanding and application of agile concepts and lead the cultural change
• Oversaw agile/DSDM training-needs analysis and outlined, scheduled and managed training approach for executive and team-level members. Received thanks from many involved as the level of understanding and enthusiasm increased as a result of the training and start-up of the new agile approach
• Via casual 1-1 meetings and other approaches, positively guided and converted the biggest doubters to being solid advocates/performers in the agile transformation
• Led team-level sessions to teach process for story writing, to include the 3 C’s (Card, Conversation, Criteria), along with the use of Behavior Driven Development (BDD) for completion of high-quality acceptance criteria and proper story sizing
• Designed an integrated Communication plan so that the various Department heads and VP’s would not overload the Clinics with communications regarding incremental changes, but rather consolidate & rationalize messages to the Field

Confidential, Chicago, IL

Delivery Manager, Agile Integration Manager

Responsibilities:

• Facilitated sessions with Confidential and Confidential Directors to discuss approaches to integrate Scrum, lean and general agile values and principles into the architecture methodology, and the delivery approach
• Applied iterative approach to identify most urgent needs and deliver critical solutions first, including “ready to enroll’ and “ready to pay” and other key business capabilities
• Managed on-time, quality delivery of all artifacts produced by the various release teams. Ensured quality via both informal one-on-one mentoring of PM’s, BA’s and Test managers, as well as regular and engaged involvement in formal Peer Review events
• Recognized by the Program Architect as a critical person in contributing to the success of NGen - one who aggressively, yet collaboratively moved things forward by getting all the right people from all the right organizations, to make key decisions, accomplish high-value follow-up actions, and delivery quality

Confidential, Riverwoods, IL

Sr. Program Manager, Agile eCommerce Coach

Responsibilities:

• Observed teams and complimented proper Scrum application, while asking questions (Socratic approach) about areas that needed improvement
• Coached the Scrum Master to have a better attitude with the Product Owner as relates to daily interaction for prioritization and Kanban approach to feature implementation, architecture stabilization and bug fix
• Facilitated definition and development of improved IT services & artifacts including service design, release notes, service logs, incident routing charts, and service catalogue to better meet business customer’s needs

Confidential, Bloomington, IL

Sr. Program Manager

Responsibilities:

• Provided coaching for the Scrum masters and Product Owners, as well as overall consulting for the leadership team.
• Helped encourage formation of communities of practice, and refined scrum of scrum approach to better manage the over-all effort
• Facilitated program increment and sprint planning sessions with team, architects, product management & business/product owners to ensure that all functionality/ capabilities were identified /delivered per priority
• Facilitated multi-team retrospectives, established organizational sprint cadence, and brought discipline to team processes for stable velocity and higher quality
• Upgraded ecommerce capabilities in several South Eastern States. Updates allowed customers to bind quotes and complete sales for Auto insurance during on-line visit, without the need to contact an agent. Worked closely with Agency to understand workflow and replicate business processes in portal
• Worked with vendor Thoughtworks and selected PMs to pilot Scrum for small projects in the insurance portfolio
• Applied agile concepts including iterative approach & component development to Data Warehouse program - utilized IBM’s Insurance Application Architecture (IAA) as business framework to design the system
• Developed and taught PMP/PMBOK classes focused on various Knowledge Areas within Central IL Chapter to help others prepare for PMP Certification Test

Confidential, Decatur, IL

Sr. Program Manager, Business/IT Consultant

Responsibilities:

• Managed RFx program to select a Confidential to manage all Confidential and Confidential activities via integration with the re-engineered SAP System covering all operations and its Global suppliers and customers.
• Applied agile concepts to manage upgrades to Confidential Velocity system that controls access to all manufacturing facilities globally.
• Established a Scrum of Scrum approach with UK, Singapore, Shanghai, Germany and Poland to coordinate stories, priorities and releases across 7 Confidential with no disruptions to global ops
• Major contributor to training and reference portal (“ Confidential ”) that presents project management processes in an integrated fashion across PMBOK, Architecture, Governance and ITIL