Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Certification
References
Timeline
Generic

Marcel Jaff

Senior Scrum Master
Durham,NC

Summary

I believe in the mushy stuff of values and cultures. That is why I value Individuals and Interactions over processes and tools. Over the last 6yrs, I have built strong and long-term relationships with all the teams with which I have worked. Helping them in their maturity journey from Forming to Performing. Would you like me to do the same for your organization?

Overview

13
13
years of professional experience
6
6
Certifications

Work History

Senior Scrum Master

Pitch Technologies LLC
Dallas, Texas
08.2022 - Current
  • Used Agile Metrics such as Cycle time, Percentage defect leakage into production, Burndown Chart, Velocity, Capacity and Predictability ratio for decision-making on how to improve my team
  • Facilitated all Scrum Events (Daily Scrum, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, Product Backlog Refinement/Grooming) which ensured that working software is available at the end of the Sprint
  • Facilitated the estimation of the User Stories by the development team using the Planning Poker and Fibonacci sequence while taking the complexity, effort/volume, and uncertainty into account
  • Scheduled formal peer-to-peer lunchtime presentations to help convert Conservers and Pragmatists to join the Agile movement
  • Brought fresh perspectives to the team through keen observation from outside the team so as prevent Groupthink
  • Helped the team remove impediments of any kind to ensure that they focus on delivering their sprint goal

Lead Scrum Master

Matrix Resources
Atlanta, GA
03.2022 - 08.2022
  • Encouraged self-organization in the development team because the best architectures, requirements and designs emerge from self-organizing teams
  • Role-modelled transparency and openness in all agile ceremonies which ensured that all aspects of the scrum process are visible to all the stakeholders
  • Facilitated all Scrum Events (Daily Scrum, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, Product Backlog Refinement/Grooming) which ensured that working software is available at the end of the Sprint which is our primary measure of progress
  • Facilitated Team bonding activities so that the probability of unhealthy conflict arising among team members was reduced
  • Used Agile Metrics such as Cycle time, Percentage defect leakage into production, Burndown Chart, Velocity, Capacity and Predictability ratio for decision-making on how to improve my team
  • Protected the development team from outside obstacles so that they can concentrate on delivering working software by the end of the Sprint
  • Helped the team remove impediments of any kind to ensure that they focus on delivering their sprint goal
  • Continuously maximized learning opportunities on Agile (e.g., visit user groups, attend conferences, read books, write blogs, etc.) to improve my knowledge and be empowered to serve my team
  • Facilitated User story writing sessions so that the Product Owner can prioritize them in preparation for Product Backlog Refinement team
  • Guided the team in making decisions based on the scrum empirical process control to optimize predictability and manage risk.

Scrum Master

FM Global
Johnston, RI
06.2020 - 03.2022
  • Supported multiple journeys during which I facilitated meetings with Chapter Leads
  • Worked on the Value Measurement Task Force to develop the first ever framework for measuring value in FM Global
  • I have been very instrumental in driving positive change in the organization towards agile by meeting and persuading reluctant managers to adopt agile
  • Encouraged self-organization in the development team because the best architectures, requirements and designs emerge from self-organizing teams
  • Role-modelled transparency and openness in all agile ceremonies which ensured that all aspects of the scrum process are visible to all stakeholders
  • Promoted face-to-face communication as it enabled the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within the Scrum team
  • Facilitated all Scrum Events (Daily Scrum, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, Product Backlog Refinement/Grooming) which ensured that working software is available at the end of the Sprint which is our primary measure of progress
  • Facilitated Team bonding activities so that the probability of unhealthy conflict arising among team members was reduced
  • Used Agile Metrics such as Cycle time, Percentage defect leakage into production, Burndown Chart, Velocity, Capacity and Predictability ratio for decision-making on how improve my team.

Senior Scrum Master, Product Owner

Pitch Technologies LLC
Dallas, Texas
12.2018 - 05.2020
  • Who was new to Scrum so that he could be able to effectively manage the Product Backlog and Product Backlog Items
  • Facilitated the Development team to resolve Dependencies in a SAFe environment that way the teams in the ART can be better aligned
  • Organized training sessions for new members with zero knowledge of SAFe ahead of the PI to ensure that they are productive during the PI planning
  • Coached Kanban, Scrumban, and ScrumXP teams in applying practices like Pair Programming, and Refactoring in a SAFe environment to help the Agile Release train deliver business value by the end of the iteration
  • Trained, coached, and mentored my teams from forming to performing stage in their agile maturity journey
  • Collaborated with other scrum masters through community of practice to leverage experiences and re-apply within my team
  • Promoted healthy conflicts within the team as excellent opportunities for them to mature and grow on their path to becoming a high performing team
  • Trained the Development team to split Epics, User Stories etc
  • Using the SPIDR approach so that they can be small enough to be completed in one Sprint
  • Encouraged participation in communities of practice to overcome resistance to transitioning from Scrum to Waterfall
  • Scheduled formal peer-to-peer lunchtime presentations to help convert Conservers and Pragmatists to join the Agile movement
  • Led the team in performing Root Cause Analysis using the Ishikawa or Fishbone technique to discover what is preventing the team from reaching the Sprint goal
  • Ensured my team participated actively in Program Backlog Refinement sessions ahead of the PI Planning which increased their efficiency during PI planning
  • Facilitated ceremonies for distributed teams without losing the expected collaboration and team bonding as obtainable in a co-located team
  • Promoted the use of Agile software engineering practices such as: Behavior Driven Development (BDD), ATDD (Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD), and Test-Driven Development (TDD) because continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility
  • Coached the team to use Agile Games during our Inspect and Adapt events as well as Sprint Retrospectives
  • Encouraged the team to consider the best Continuous Integration and Automated Build software development practices to develop cohesive software more rapidly
  • Facilitated User Story Writing Sessions which eliminated the possibility of turning Product Backlog Refinement meetings into User Story Writing Workshops.

DevOps Engineer

Verizon Business
Cary, North Carolina
01.2018 - 12.2018
  • Implemented continuous delivery pipeline involving Jenkins and Ansible to complete the automation from commit to deployment
  • Assisted developers with establishing and applying appropriate branching, labeling conventions using GIT source control
  • Expertise in coordinating and supporting merging processes with GIT source control
  • Experience with build tools like Maven for writing pom.xml for new applications and improvising the existing build scripts
  • Implemented, maintained, and supported reliable, timely and reproducible builds
  • Supported Development team with troubleshooting build failures and antifactory repository maintenance in nexus
  • Knowledge of Configuration management tool, Ansible to deploy critical applications, automate repetitive tasks and proactively manage changes
  • Created, modified, and customized playbook modules to fit in infrastructure requirements

Scrum Master

Cisco Systems
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
06.2017 - 12.2017
  • Empowered my team members to be accountable for the tasks that they committed themselves to thereby ensuring overall efficiency of the team
  • Ensured that every Product increment(artifact) meets the Definition of Done (including Peer Code Review, User Acceptance Testing) to minimize percentage defect leakage into production and technical debt
  • Ensured that all events at the team and the Program level followed a cadence to reduce complexity
  • Created Information Radiators for the team to help it stay focused on what really needs their attention and promote transparency
  • Facilitated the estimation of the User Stories by the development team using the Planning Poker and Fibonacci sequence while taking the complexity, effort/volume, and uncertainty into account
  • Helped the Product Owner to make sure that each User Story in the Product Backlog meets the Definition of Ready which includes: 3 W’s, 3 C’s (Card, Conversation, Confirmation) and the INVEST Model so that it can become part of the Sprint Backlog during Sprint Planning
  • Assisted the team in continuous improvement so that the team does not stay stagnant even if they are meeting the sprint goal
  • Brought fresh perspectives to the team through keen observation from outside the team so as prevent Groupthink
  • Coached to the team to use Agile Games during our Inspect and Adapt events as well as Sprint Retrospectives
  • Helped the team to keep a sustainable pace of development without accumulating Technical debt.

Junior Scrum Master

Pitch Technologies LLC
Dallas, Texas
01.2010 - 05.2017
  • Promoted face-to-face communication as it enabled the most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within the Scrum team
  • Encouraged self-organization in the development team because the best architectures, requirements and designs emerge from self-organizing teams
  • Role-modelled transparency and openness in all agile ceremonies which ensured that all aspects of the scrum process are visible to all the stakeholders
  • Facilitated all Scrum Events (Daily Scrum, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, Product Backlog Refinement/Grooming) which ensured that working software is available at the end of the Sprint which is our primary measure of progress
  • Facilitated Team bonding activities so that the probability of unhealthy conflict arising among team members was greatly reduced
  • Used Agile Metrics such as Cycle time, Percentage defect leakage into production, Burndown Chart, Velocity, Capacity and Predictability ratio for decision-making on how to improve my team
  • Protected the development team from outside obstacles so that they can concentrate on delivering working software by the end of the Sprint
  • Helped the team remove impediments of any kind to ensure that they focus on delivering their sprint goal
  • Continuously maximized learning opportunities on Agile (e.g
  • Visit user groups, attend conferences, read books, write blogs, etc.) to improve my knowledge and be empowered to serve my team
  • Facilitated User story writing sessions so that the Product Owner can prioritize them in preparation for Product Backlog Refinement team
  • Acted as the Scrum Referee for the team so that Scrum Values and Practices are correctly implemented
  • Guided the team in making decisions based on the scrum empirical process control to optimize predictability and manage risk.

Education

Bachelor’s Degree - Economics

University of Missouri

Skills

Development team trainings

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Certification

SAFe Scrum Master

References

Available upon request.

Timeline

Senior Scrum Master

Pitch Technologies LLC
08.2022 - Current

Lead Scrum Master

Matrix Resources
03.2022 - 08.2022

Scrum Master

FM Global
06.2020 - 03.2022

Senior Scrum Master, Product Owner

Pitch Technologies LLC
12.2018 - 05.2020

DevOps Engineer

Verizon Business
01.2018 - 12.2018

Scrum Master

Cisco Systems
06.2017 - 12.2017

Junior Scrum Master

Pitch Technologies LLC
01.2010 - 05.2017

Bachelor’s Degree - Economics

University of Missouri

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Marcel JaffSenior Scrum Master