Sr Scrum Master

Backlog Management Practices

• Works with Product Managers & Product Owners and team members to learn and practice healthy backlog management and prioritization practices
• Facilitates the execution and improvement of backlog refinement
• Prepares for and facilitates release planning with teams
• Assists in dependency management and cross team coordination
• Responsible for improving quarterly intent planning and associated processes to develop and drive vision, roadmap, backlog and pre- and post- quarterly intent planning
• Facilitates periodic synchronization meetings, including delivery teams at the program level
• Monitors and tracks planning, completion and implementation metrics
• Provides data and informational updates to help all stakeholders track planning / implementation progress
• Summarizes team planning objectives, publishing and communicating for visibility and transparency

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Lean / Agile Ceremony Facilitation

• Facilitates continuous improvement and the development of a learning culture on teams
• Facilitates ceremonies, collaboration, communication, and conflict management
• Teaches new team members Agile-Lean values, principles, methods and frameworks, practices, and process
• Influences the organization in the removal of organizational impediments and development of healthy Agile practices
• Mentors Product Owners and team members in agile practices and continuous improvement

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Delivery Team Support

• Helps identify and mitigate impediments to the team's Flow & Service Level Expectations
• Acts as a buffer between external distractions to minimize disruptions – champions "Stop Starting – Start Finishing” behaviors
• Assists in the coordination of operational issue resolution
• Facilitates team development, mediates conflict, and encourages healthy team dynamics.
• Fosters team responsibility, self-accountability, transparency and self-organization
• Leverages coaching skills to help the team learn to solve its own problems

Advice and Guidance

• Introduces and encourages team to explore healthy Agile development practices, focus on quality and technical excellence, predictable delivery, automation, and continuous delivery
• Teaches and encourages a balanced backlog that delivers valuable features for customers, reduces technical debt, provides business value, and enables product sustainability
• Helps the team to develop, capture, and analyze metrics to facilitate team improvements
• Promotes transparency through healthy communications and data integrity

Change Management

• Plans, designs and implements activities to transition the organization and people to the required future state.
• Identifies and implements change via influence.
• Utilizes proven methodologies, such as ADKAR, Lewin's model, McKinsey, etc. to lead and influence team and organizational change management.
• Demonstrates systems thinking skills in regards to how change will affect their teams and the organizational process, as a whole.

Qualifications:

• Must live in the Atlanta Georgia area.
• Bachelor's degree and 2-5 years of working experience as a Scrum Master.
• Working experience in more than one of the following Lean-Agile methods or frameworks: Kanban, Scrum with Kanban, Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), Lean applied to Knowledge Work.
• Working experience with Agile scaling frameworks, preferably SAFe.

Responsibilities:

• Coaches the Lean-Agile mindset.
• Coaches team in Kanban principles and practices.
• Facilitates continuous improvement.
• Assists upstream Kanban management and options selection.
• Helps team manage and improve flow leveraging limiting WIP, risk hedging (classes of service), feedback loop improvements, and establishment of outcome focused policies.
• Facilitates transparency of metrics, impediment removal, collaboration, and coordination.
• Facilitates & supports establishment of continuous learning & continuous improvement.

Desirable:

• Scrum Master certification or equivalent certified professional (Desired for lower level – required for higher).
• Kanban Management Professional (KMP) or equivalent and higher.
• Professional Scrum with Kanban (PSK).
• SAFe Agilist Certification.
• Experience and knowledge working with Lean-Kanban product technology and services teams.
• Kanban or equivalent certification – Kanban Management Professional (KMP) or higher.
• Professional Scrum with Kanban (PSK).