George W. Akech

*** ** ***** ***** **. Bentonville, AR, 72712

Cell. 317-***-****

E-mail:ac6qpv@r.postjobfree.com

Resume for: Senior Project Manager

Summary of Qualification

Professional agile project manager with over 10 years of experience in various facets of project management from prototype to release. Knowledgeable in applications of scrum, waterfall, and agile methodologies, and skilled in developing processes that facilitate continual progress and team achievement. Previously led different teams to deliver project(s) that span across one or more business units. Manage resources, schedules, financials and control guidelines throughout the full systems development life cycle. This includes management of issues, risks and project change requests to ensure successful and on-time project delivery. Contribute to process improvement initiatives as it relates to improving project delivery and requested services. Coached teams ranging in size from 10 to 50 people and successfully completed projects ranging in budgetary scale from $300,000 to $1.5 million. Dedicated to applying principles of agile management to projects and tasks.

Iam an accomplished servant-leader capable of delivering large-scale software and Web development projects on time and on budget by effectively collaborating, facilitating, leading and coaching multiple Scrum teams. Expert at driving the adoption and enforcement of Scrum rules, removing impediments and fostering self-management. Capable of bringing overwhelming enthusiasm and awareness to projects, applying expert judgment to the removal of impediments, keeping teams focused and delivering success in rapidly evolving and dynamic environments.

Competence

Developing and managing Budgets

Staffing, Coaching and Supervision

Resource Management and Project Management

Planning and Process Improvement

Performance Management

Attention to Detail

Monitoring and analysis of project metrics

Vendor Management

Supervision

Product/Project management

Agile/Scrum methodologies

Use of Jira and Confluence

Strategic Planning

Process documentation

Understand Front end, Backend and API features

Prioritizing/Multi-Tasking

Project budgeting

Process improvement

Quality Assurance

Automated/Manual Testing

Streamlining Effort

Product Development

Documentation skills

Project status

Performance testing

Proactive

Team Player

Relevant Experience

1.Wal-Mart Labs and Sams Club. - Bentonville, Arkansas - 1/1/2011 –3/19/2018

(i)Position: Senior Project Specialist- Wal-Mart Labs – 1/1/2011 – 2/28/2014

Responsibilities

Building Cross-Functional Relationships between teams

Corporate process improvement and efficiencies through Quality Demand Management

Problem Analysis, Solving & Negotiation

Program Roadmaps, Project Requirement and Quality Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring, Controlling, and Implementation

People and Team Building, through coaching and mentoring across departments and pillars

Research, resolution, and implementation of products to increase customer interaction and satisfaction

Manage a portfolio of complex initiatives that span one or multiple lines of business

Provide on-site leadership for project team by building and motivating team members to meet project goals, adhering to their responsibilities and project milestones

Manage all aspects of multiple related projects to ensure the overall program is aligned to and directly supports the achievement of strategic objectives

Report on project success criteria results, metrics, test and deployment management activities

Work creatively and analytically in a problem-solving environment demonstrating teamwork, innovation and excellence

Participate in establishing practices, templates, policies, tools and partnerships to expand and mature these capabilities for the organization

Prepare estimates and detailed project plan for all phases of the project

Procure adequate resources to achieve project objectives in planned timeframes

Manage the day-to-day project activities and resources and chairs the project management team meetings

Provide status reporting regarding project milestones, deliverable, dependencies, risks and issues, communicating across leadership

Understand interdependencies between technology, operations and business needs

Coach, mentor, motivate and supervise project and program team

Some of the work done include:

Associate productivity improvement

Enhancement of cash register applications

Enhancement of harzmat applications

Enhancement of Records and archive management applications

AMEX financial application for MX Stores

Standing up basic development environment for application prototyping

(ii)Position: Scrum Master – Sams Club – 3/1/2014 – 3/19/2018

Responsibilities

Dynamic and hands on Scrum Master with experience managing large enterprise software development projects that meet demanding time restraints and exceed expectations.

Works with and coaches teams with the planning, managing and delivery of capabilities and associated deliverables in support of organizational objectives.

Lead teams in using agile methodologies including Scrum to improve team effectiveness.

Facilitate iteration (sprint) planning, lead work within individual sprints, and coordinate retrospectives and demos.

Assist key business users (product owners) with backlog creation and prioritization.

Ensure cross functional team coordination (GUI designers, analysts, developers, and testers).

Lead daily sprint stand-ups and resolve conflict.

Maintain and publish Agile metrics (e.g. velocity and burn-down).

Coach, mentor, and evangelize Agile best practices across the organization.

Manage project external dependencies by working with outside teams.

Strategically work complex issues where analysis of situations or data requires in-depth evaluation of variable factors.

Includes planning, plan creation and ongoing management, execution and implementation.

Coaches activities to maintain progress, mutual interaction, and tasks of various parties in such a way that reduces the risk of failure, maximizes benefits, and minimizes costs.

Builds, develops, and grows business relationships with stakeholders at multiple levels and multiple locations. Maintains continuous alignment with defined strategic business objectives.

Coaches, mentors, motivates and coordinates project team members and contractors, and influences them to take positive action and maintain accountability for their assigned work.

Proficiently organized and facilitated daily scrum, sprint reviews, retrospect, sprint and release planning.

Collaborated closely with product owner on backlog grooming to keep product backlog relevant and prioritized, ensuring acceptance criteria were agreed upon and stories were ready for sizing.

Effectively tracked team’s progress including burn down, velocity and release forecasting.

Worked with other scrum masters in cross functional units to prepare and facilitate potentially shippable increment planning sessions.

Promoted continuous improvement and helped teams increase productivity and foster innovation

Contributed to product roadmap planning, project scheduling and release management

Identify and remove team impediments to enhance productivity and efficiency.

Train new members and transition to agile framework with Scrum to enhance team skill levels

Monitor and Manage dependencies on other teams and external projects to ensure potential issues are resolved

Manage MVP releases.

Some of the work done using Scrum and Kanban include:

Application for club membership enrollment and renewals

Application for remote membership enrollment and renewals

Enhancement of existing membership applications.

Store number expansions

2.PDS Technical Services – State Farm Corporate South Offices - Bloomington, IL: - 4/1/2005 – 11/30/2009

Position: Project Coordinator

Responsibilities

Plan the project

- Develop overall project management plan and individual plan for each t process and knowledge areas.

-Acquire resources (time, budge, equipment and project members) required to complete the project

-Perform risk identification and analysis– qualitative and quantitative and develop risk response planning

Track activities in the project management plan.

-Monitor the progress and make adjustments as necessary to ensure the successful completion of the project

-Establish a communication schedule to update stakeholders and other senior managers on the progress of the project

-Update the plan to reflect the work completed with the team on a regular basis to ensure that it meets the project standards

Monitor and Control the project activities

-Monitor time, budget and scope changes against baselines.

-Report schedule and budget actuals and variance to customers and senior management on a weekly basis.

-Prepare and send out project status reports to stakeholders on weekly basis

Evaluate the project Progress and provide weekly updates

-Ensure that the project deliverables are on time, within budget and at the required level of quality

-Evaluate the outcomes of the project as established during the planning phase.

3. Ball State University : - 1/1/2010 – 31/12/2010

Full Time Graduate Student

Graduate Student in Department of Statistics

Graduate course - MA in Applied Statistics.

Academic Qualification

1.Bachelors: (i) BS - Computing Science - University of Greenwich, London UK

(ii) BS - Mathematics and Education - University of Nairobi, Kenya..

2.Graduate studies – Applied Statistics, Communication and Natural Sciences – Ball State University, US.

Certification and other training

(i)Dale Carnegie – Communication and Human relation

(ii)Leadership Immersion

(iii)PM 101, 201, 301

(iv)Certified Scrum Master – 2009.

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