Eric S. Garza, SA, SASM, CSM®, RTE, SDP

www.linkedin.com/in/eric-s-garza

361-***-**** ad2t5v@r.postjobfree.com

Senior Scrum Master / Release Train Engineer

A seasoned and accomplished professional known for my transformative leadership style, I possess a proven track record of creating and guiding high-performance teams to achieve exceptional results. As an empathetic leader, my excellent communication skills enable me to inspire and motivate individuals across all levels, from junior developers and agilists to executive leadership. My strengths encompass diverse areas, including business analysis, agile methodologies, process improvement, and end-to-end product development and delivery.

With extensive technical expertise and a deep understanding of agile principles, I have been instrumental in driving successful agile transformations and maturation processes. My ability to blend technical knowledge with agile methodologies has consistently delivered outstanding outcomes for projects and teams under my guidance.

Skills Summary

Industry Experience:

P&C Insurance, Utilities, Technology Products Distribution

Competencies:

High Level of Emotional Intelligence, Leadership Development, Business & Technical Analysis, Essential & Full SAFe, Scrum, Retrospective & Risk Management, System Architecture, Analysis & Design for Product Development, DevSecOps Mindset

Certifications:

Certified SAFe 5 Release Train Engineer, Certified SAFe 5 Advance Scrum Master, Certified SAFe 5 Agilist, Certified SAFe 5 DevOps Practitioner, Certified Scrum Master, ICAgile Certified Professional

Languages:

SQL, C/C++, Python, PHP, Perl, Java & JavaScript

Software/Tools:

VersionOne, Azure DevOps, Jira, GitLab, Miro, Mural, Confluence, Visio, Excel (macros and functions), Eclipse, MS Teams

Databases:

DB2, UDB, MS SQL Server

Operating Systems:

Windows, Unix

Professional Experience

Senior Consultant (Release Train Engineer, Senior Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Product Owner)

(04/2022 – 01/2024)

Daugherty Business Solutions, Remote

Served as an agile leader, driving practical agile transformation techniques and practices for client's cloud development teams.

Led scaled agile transformation guiding three Cloud Platform teams on an agile release train.

Facilitated PI and sprint planning ceremonies along with backlog refinements, sprint demos, inspect & adapt, and retrospectives on a regular cadence.

Spearheaded program roadmap development with metrics-driven insights for the implementation of security tools within the software development lifecycle.

Provided coaching across program leadership, product management, architecture, and developers.

Fostered collaboration for high-ROI feature delivery taking an economic approach.

Acted as Business Owner for the Agile Transformation Community of Practice, fostering continuous learning.

Utilized metrics for informed decision-making and played a key role in developing measurement strategies for assessing agile practices' impact.

Senior Agilist (Senior Scrum Master, Agile Coach)

(02/2021 – 04/2022)

Cognizant – Digital Engineering, Remote

Served as a Senior Scrum Master of multiple scrum teams on an agile release train consisting of nine scrum teams. Coached and mentored other scrum masters, product owners, and release train engineers within the program to ensure continuity of SAFe and program practices for the client.

A trusted conflict resolution expert and agile leader that facilitated knowledge sharing sessions for continuous improvement for individuals and team cohesion.

Formed a strategic partnership with program leadership for collaborative agile transformation initiatives.

Contributed to decision-making aligning agile practices with organizational objectives.

Facilitated PI and sprint planning ceremonies along with backlog refinements, sprint demos, inspect & adapt, and retrospectives on a regular cadence.

Monitored scrum teams' progress, adapted strategies based on metrics, and expedited value delivery.

Held a position of trust within the agile community, actively expanding knowledge and talent acquisition for organizational success.

SAFe Agile Scrum Master (Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Release Train Engineer)

(05/2020 – 01/2021)

Apex Systems / CPS Energy, San Antonio, Texas

Served as a Scrum Master of multiple scrum teams on an agile release train, I was responsible for ensuring teams follow Essential SAFe principles and practices while driving team motivation to achieve and exceed their goals.

Enhanced agile practices through continuous coaching, fostering a culture of learning and improvement.

Collaborated closely with key stakeholders to define and prioritize program epics and features, ensuring alignment with organizational goals.

Monitored scrum teams' progress through metrics analysis and adapted strategies for expedited value delivery. Facilitated essential scrum ceremonies, ensuring valuable communication within and across teams.

Facilitated PI and sprint planning ceremonies along with backlog refinements, sprint demos, inspect & adapt, and retrospectives on a regular cadence.

Partnered with the project manager to maintain budget adherence and contribute to effective resource allocation, aligning program initiatives with financial constraints for overall success.

Lead Software Developer & Integrator (Systems Architect, Scrum Master, Developer, Technical Lead)

(03/2016 – 10/2019)

USAA, San Antonio, Texas

Championed the transformation of waterfall and agile development methodologies to a Full SAFe® configuration.

Collaborated with portfolio, solution, and program levels to establish a backlog of epics, features, and stories to feed into agile teams for iterative development.

Planned program increments and iterations with product owners, scrum masters and release train engineers.

Identified enablers prior to program increments to adequately incorporate into quarterly plans and mitigate the risk of unplanned work within a planned increment.

Defined Program Increment objectives across agile teams and release trains.

Launched and directed two proof-of-concepts with separate vendors to determine the most cost-effective investment for future digital growth.

Established and coordinated several agile teams to execute said proof-of-concepts.

Organized and standardized, with other systems architects, the process in which agile release trains would measure and grade each vendor.

Prepared and presented a comprehensive report in less than 5 months to the executive management team that communicated the findings for each vendors’ capabilities and shortcomings.

This resulted in a plan to move forward strategically to expand the company’s digital capabilities for the next 10+ years.

As a systems architect, I supervised the design work for strategic development to ensure each feature was scalable, expandable, and maintainable.

Architect domain leader responsible for a release train consisting of 10 scrum teams which consisted of an average of 7 developers each.

Communicated across lines-of-business to ensure architectural and strategic alignment across the enterprise.

Facilitated weekly reviews to analyze each agile teams’ design approach to approved or make recommendations for modifications to meet our architecture guidelines.

Leader in the planning and migration of legacy applications and services into architecture that would lend itself to our future as a 100% DevOps shop.

Learned how invaluable consistent communication with team members can be for not only the quality aspect of our work, but also to help motivate and build team morale.

Senior Software Developer & Integrator (Technical Lead, Developer, Project Manager)

(05/2007 – 02/2016)

USAA, San Antonio, Texas

Delivered a multimillion-dollar financial reporting project with a tight deadline.

Analyzed and directed changes to software development teams' implementation strategies on a highly complex and risky financial project.

Successfully delivered software under a tight deadline, preventing a costly project delay that could have resulted in significant financial losses.

Demonstrated the ability to unify diverse project teams with varying commitments, fostering collaboration towards a shared objective.

Achieved a senior-level position within 3.5 years of graduating from college, where I took the lead on one of the initial agile projects. This project successfully streamlined a significant business process, transitioning from traditional paper-based methods to real-time electronic delivery of auto and property claim assignments.

Assembled a dedicated development team and personally selected an architect to work under.

Collaborated directly with the customer to gather business requirements and iteratively develop solutions over a two-month period, ensuring alignment with the proposed deadline.

Successfully delivered business capabilities on time, gaining insights into vendor interactions, prototyping for customer demos, and recognizing the value of iterative development with direct business communication.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, Texas

Certifications

Certified SAFe® 5 Advanced Scrum Master Credential ID: 385*****-**** Scaled Agile, Inc.

Certified ScrumMaster® Credential ID: 001154428 Scrum Alliance

Certified SAFe® 5 Agilist Credential ID: 832*****-**** Scaled Agile, Inc.

Certified SAFe® 5 Release Train Engineer Credential ID:215*****-**** Scaled Agile, Inc.

Certified SAFe 5 DevOps Practitioner Credential ID:960*****-**** Scaled Agile, Inc

ICAgile Certified Professional Credential ID: Credential ID ICAgile

Certified SAFe® 4 Agilist Credential ID: 408*****-**** Scaled Agile, Inc.

Contact this candidate