Kenilworth, England, United Kingdom
An IC Agile certified Agile Coach (ICP-ACC) currently coaching, mentoring, training, and supporting large, globally distributed software development teams. Experienced and certified in Scrum, Kanban, DSDM/AgilePM and SAFe. Focusing not only on processes and techniques but also on the human and communication factors that enable an Agile mindset. An active member of the Agile community, including guest lecturing at Coventry University and speaking at the Agile Alliance 2023 conference in Edinburgh on the dangers and misunderstandings posed by teams having a little, but not enough, knowledge of Agile.
- Led Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) implementation within Technology/Software Engineering, identified Agile Release Trains (ARTs), trained multiple teams, facilitated PI Planning, and fulfilled the role of RTE for one of the ARTs. - Established best practices and trained teams in estimation, prioritisation (WSJF), addressing technical debt and effective, improvement focused retrospectives. - Mentored teams to improve communication and coordination at Scrum team and Scrum-of-Scrum level. - Guided teams and senior leadership to make appropriate use of metrics to drive continuous improvement. - Guided teams and stakeholders in use of Definition of Ready and Definition of Done to address delays progressing work. - Team and organisation design – recruitment, coordination of multiple third-party off-shore providers. Introduced time-zone aligned teams and improved the working relationships between providers. - Improved coordination and collaboration between software engineering and product management teams and individuals. - Migrated team from Jira to Azure DevOps and trained teams on Azure DevOps. - Configured Aha! and Azure DevOps integrations and trained Product Management team.
- Coordinated the timely response from multiple divisional CIOs to investors during due diligence phase of the sale of Kantar. - Assisted in the in implementation of Office of CIO function at the parent company. - Defined agile project governance practices and ensured they were followed. - Implemented consistent project reporting and reviews. - Set-up an Agile Guild to improve sharing of agile learning across Kantar Insights teams. - Worked with outsource partner (HCL) on improving joint Agile ways of working. - Led a team of eighteen project managers and Scrum Masters in UK, USA and Poland. - Recruitment and onboarding of new PMs and Scrum Masters. - Maintained Project Portfolio, prioritisation, resource allocation and portfolio budget. - Established a PM Practice Community bringing together PMs from all Kantar divisions. - Conducted P3M3 self-assessment and used this as the basis for improving Kantar Insights division’s project management maturity.
- Scrum Master on a Search & Social data analytics solution involving teams in Mexico & India. - Coached teams to improve retrospectives and address issues that were causing delays. - Mentored team in improved estimation approaches, improved predictability, and velocity. - Implemented Scrum & DSDM (AgilePM from Agile Business Consortium) on projects that lacked discipline and sound, proven practices. - Provided Business Analysis and Agile coaching on a Business Process Improvement project using IBM Business Process Management (BPM). Ultimately recommending the initiative be discontinued. - Successfully led the development and implementation of a global data processing and statistical analysis tool. - Guided the data science team in the adoption of, and effective use of Scrum practices.
- Successfully led the implementation of a global job estimating system that required coordination across multiple recently acquired Kantar divisions. - Conducted requirements gathering, stakeholder engagement and conflict resolution across the diverse, previously competing divisions. - Led development teams in USA and Argentina. - Worked closely with North America CEO and other C-suite executives.
- Responsible for transactional database, data warehouse and BI projects. - Rescued, and successfully delivered a Data Warehouse project. - Led the project team from a newly acquired company in Austin, Texas. - Contributed database design and performance enhancements to a supplier’s new product.