Job Seeker – Scrum Master
Category: Community Board
By Janice
14/09/2022
CV of Scrum Master Michelle Okonta
Profile
Scrum Master (PSM) with understanding of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), leveraging project management skills (PRINCE2), agile methodologies and best practices. Instrumental in accelerating the digital transformation of organisations. My experience has ranged from design and feature development / implementation using cloud-based technology for digital transformation, enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) projects. I have a demonstrable understanding of agile software development process. I’m very good at facilitating ceremonies with a focus on delivering customercentric products and features with continuous improvement at the forefront of my approach.
Knowledge of Lean/Kanban methodology, modern software culture/delivery such as Behavioural Driven Development (BDD). Excellent at managing various business stakeholders, with timely and efficient feedback loops on team progress and fallbacks on both planned work and technical debts. I also collaboratively work with Product Owners to provide a vision and strategy to efficiently accomplish my team’s roadmap and goals, enabling a culture of continuous process improvement through coaching, mentoring and providing constant support, that optimises team morale and efficiency.
Areas of Expertise
| Agile Development & best practices | PSM Certified | User Acceptance Testing (UAT) |
| Scrum as a Framework | Effective User story writing | Project Management (PRINCE2) |
| Atlassian Jira & Confluence | Stakeholder Management | Facilitating scrum ceremonies/events |
| Risk Management | Digital Transformation Projects | Jira query Language (JQL’s) |
| Effective coaching on how to estimate and maintain good Jira hygiene | Improving Teams’ agile maturity over time | Improving Teams’ agile maturity over time |
| SDLC Projects | ||
| Modern Software | ||
| Modern Software | ||
Employment History
January 2021 - Date Scrum Master (Vaniah Ltd)
Responsible for ensuring Agile principles are followed and facilitating all Agile ceremonies to ensure team is working with an Agile mind-set and utilizing Scrum practices effectively
- Facilitate all Agile ceremonies: Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospectives, and Product Backlog Refinement sessions.
- Ensure development team practice core agile principles of collaboration, prioritisation, team accountability, and visibility
- Implement industry best-practice for software engineering, including Agile methodology, UI/UX design, code review and applications programming interface (API) testing
- Coach team to higher levels of maturity and independence by improving their processes and ensuring they adhere to the Scrum framework
- Facilitate discussion, decision making and conflict resolution across a cross- functional team
- Ensure user stories are 100% ordered, defined, and ready to be worked on by the team
- Identify complex impediments and assist team in identifying a forward-plan on their sprint commitments
- Review metrics and other key performance indicators to drive continuous improvement for the sprint teams
- Track and report project progress to various stakeholders and management staff
- Communicate clear expectations, manage team performance and build high morale among team members
- Collaborate with product owner on an ongoing basis to groom and manage product backlog and sprint activities
- Spearhead productivity improvements and reduction of waste through mentoring, resolving impediments and tracking team metrics
- Evaluate activity progress to ensure it follows current digital initiatives and technology roadmap
- Ensure the goals, scope and product domain are understood by the scrum team
- Leverage Jira and confluence to produce and define business and technical requirements, track requirements and enhance visibility
February 2019 – December 2020 Scrum Master [Optima Corporation Ltd]
Provided coaching and support and helped drive Agile/Lean practices to deliver value across the organisation
- Coached scrum team composed of product owner, software developers and software testers on Agile principles and values
- Navigated Scrum events: Sprint Planning, Daily Stand-ups, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospectives
- Tracked sprint metrics and maintained dialogue with team on performance, challenges, accountability and recognition
- Helped scrum team set deadlines, resolve issues and monitor work progress
- Manage and report on the tasks and activities assigned to the Scrum team
- Held regular backlog refinement sessions for development team
- Ensured scrum team achieved goals and delivered objectives following scrum principles
- Coordinated with product owner and development team to prioritise deliverables
- Maintain and track sprint backlogs and prioritisations
- Ensure that inter-team risks, impediments, and blockers are identified, communicated and resolved
- Utilised Jira to monitor sprint outcomes and progress
January 2017– October 2018 Procurement & Contract Assistant [NHS Digital]
Supported the commercial management of contracts and procurement activities within the department.
September 2014 – December 2016 Procurement Officer [Oando PLC]
Ran the process and change transformation project within the department with focus on supplier relationship management (SRM), inventory management and project management.
January 2011 – August 2014 Procurement Analyst [Oando PLC]
Supported transaction planning and processing efforts of all procurement activities, meeting customer expectations for efficient and effective service delivery.
Education
- Master of Science (Economics), International Business, Energy & Petroleum (Commendation)
University of Aberdeen Scotland, UK
- Bachelors of Business Administration, Operations Management Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA
Certification
- Professional Scrum Master (PSM I), 2022
- MCIPS Professional Member, 2017
- PRINCE2 (Projects in Controlled Environments)Foundation and Practitioner Certificate, 2011.
Reference
Available upon request
Contact Details:
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For more information contact Janice@companyconnecting.com
