DAVID FOSTER

A servant leader coaching and leading software delivery teams on the Agile Release Train (ART) using the Lean Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) for the $4.5m Human Resources project, the AT&T Learning Management System (LMS), Personal Learning Experience (PLE).

• Significant experience optimizing flow of value through Agile Release Train, developing working agreements for ART alignment for program portfolio which involves streamlining processes, eliminating bottlenecks, and ensuring effective collaboration among team members.
• Successfully plan and facilitate Program Increment (PI) planning events, maintain PI schedules, and synthesizing team PI objectives into program PI objectives. Coordinate other train-level events including ART sync, Scrum of Scrums, System Demos, Backlog reviews, Feature reviews, and Inspect & Adapt workshops.
• Consistently promote Agile mindset within team and business partners, which provides continuous improvement and advancement of Agile within organizational practices .
• Actively collaborate with Lean Agile Center of Excellence (LACE), Agile Coaches, and other Scrum Masters to develop and implement coaching plans across release train, ensuring delivery of high-quality products.
• Employ meaningful metrics to track ART progress and make strategic adjustments. This resulted in enhanced feature delivery, user story acceptance beyond 100%, defect minimization by 6 – 12 per Program Interval, average ART velocity of 255, Flow Predictability between well above 100% resulting in increased business value delivered 138%.
• Serve as primary contact for escalation, supporting Scrum Masters and Product Owners/Product Managers in resolving impediments and enhancing team performance and productivity.
• Collaborate effectively with Product Management, Product Owners, and other stakeholders to manage risk and dependencies, address critical bottlenecks, and align execution of features and capabilities.
• Manage environment change requests to minimize downtime to users.

Program Manager for the Personal Learning Experience (PLE) learning management ecosystem.

• Program manage end-to-end software development and delivery of multiple scrum teams (40+ resources) including management of product backlog, defects, software release deployments, change management, and tier-3 product support.
• Collaborate with leadership, business partners and architects to develop and drive PLE strategy and program timelines.
• Lead and coach Scrum Masters, Product Owners and lead software engineers using Agile ceremonies to ensure successful delivery of product enhancements.
• Manage client expectations, product delivery dependencies, and scope creep by offering MVP solutions.

Supported Capabilities Evolution (CE), the skills pivot program for management employees in AT&T Technology Operations (ATO) organization.

• Scrum Master of 6-person Learning Team responsible for defining and managing competencies and course curricula for 106 ATO roles and 34 Specializations.
• Launched role-based curricula to 50K ATO managers across multiple phases.
• Collaborated with business unit leaders, subject matter experts, Human Resources, AT&T University, and third-party training vendors to develop training strategies and programs in alignment with ATO strategy.
• Managed backlog of learning-related scope items and enhancement requests for delivery via iterative releases, which supported broader CE program roadmaps.
• Maintained data for competencies and course curricula associated to ATO roles and Specializations accessible via Personal Learning Experience (PLE) portal

Supported Sourcing Front Door for Software Development & Engineering organization.

• Collaborated with hiring managers, suppliers, and business partners to develop sourcing strategies, solutions, and contract requirements.
• Ensured supplier contract governance, compliance, and fiscal controls.
• Managed contractor onboarding and off-boarding including access management.
• Provided consultation and reporting for hiring managers and sourcing teams.

Contributed to strategy and managed delivery of employee development programs to strengthen competencies and behaviors needed to support IT initiatives. Spearheaded Agile Boot Camps for 5,600+ employees, orchestrating 40+ live sessions, managing budget and resources, securing logistics, equipment and supplies. Garnered support from 50+ executive speakers and instructors, while leading the training team and mentoring local support.

• Managed creation, delivery, and execution of Big Data Boot Camp for 6,000+ employees, Launched Security First online training curriculum, and Technology Talks in partnership with related Centers of Excellence (CoE).
• Served as liaison between senior leadership, clients, vendors, and learners to define requirements and scope, develop, and deliver improved learning products and processes.
• Product Owner for development of strategic training management portal for registration, scheduling, and reporting.

Managed remote teams with 27 direct reports providing 24x7 level 2 application and system support for mission-critical, enterprise-wide client/server and mainframe systems.

• Achieved $450K cost savings by streamlining and automating processes, and implementing best practices and operational standards.
• Managed multiple complex software and hardware implementations and system upgrades, which were delivered on schedule and within budget.
• Collaborated with senior leadership to define long-term goals and strategies for organization and provided monthly operational support metrics.

Managed 24x7 technical staff and support operations for 300+ production midrange servers utilizing multiple technologies, and served as primary contact for escalations related to application installation, configuration, performance, and disaster recovery.