Abal Zaidi

adgrg5@r.postjobfree.com

SUMMARY: An experienced scrum master with extensive knowledge in software development lifecycle (SDLC), within multiple domains. Passionate about agile methodologies; scrum, Kanban, SAFe and XP. Great facilitator and communicator

Key Accomplishments:

Certified Scrum Master

Experienced Certified Scrum Master with extensive knowledge in Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) within multiple domain such as Banking, Finance, Retail, Gaming, & data collection domain.

Leadership in facilitating the five Scrum Ceremonies Daily Stand-up, Sprint Planning, Backlog Grooming, Epic and Story Estimation, Sprint Review and Demo, Retrospective and Able to work with multiple teams both co-located and Distributed.

Actively participated scrum of scrum meetings with program manager.

Served as Scrum Master for the project and ensures team maintains focus on quality and continuous delivery with some support from coach.

Collaborated with stakeholder groups across the organization to ensure business and technology alignment. Proposed solutions meeting defined specifications.

Successfully completed scrum overviews sessions with management to help them by into the scrum framework.

Managed a high-volume workload within a deadline-driven environment.

Resolved inquiries in any given week and consistently met performance benchmarks in all areas (speed, accuracy, volume).

SKILLS:

Critical thinking, Self-starter, Detail-Oriented, Backlog Refinement, Continuous Integration/Automation,

ATDD/BDD, Jira, Confluence/Team Track, Safe, Visual Studio, Kanban, XP, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint,

Excel. Exceptional Time Management, Ability to absorb technical information quickly. Multi-tasker Able to

recognize value, Decisive

EXPERIENCE:

03/2019 – Current

Transunion, Chicago, Illinois

Scrum Master

Responsible for two Agile Scrum teams.

Successfully guided two development teams through transition from waterfall to Agile development.

Coached team members on Agile processes and facilitated planning meetings and retrospectives. Maintained task board and produced daily burn down charts.

Tracked and communicate team velocity and sprint/release progress to management and affected teams.

Made sure task boards were being updated to ensure transparency and effective communication.

Coached team members on agile principles and providing general guidance on the methodology

Engaged with other Scrum Masters to increase the effectiveness of the application of Scrum in the organization.

Researching Agile techniques and shared findings with the team.

Effective communication with my team to make sure they always have what is needed to get us a successful sprint

Engaged with Program Management Office to ensure project goals and requirements are being met.

Removed impediments and protected team members from interruptions and distractions to maximize productivity. Encouraged and implemented process improvements. Created team-building opportunities.

Worked closely with Product Owners, coordinating product backlog grooming and story estimation.

Maintained storyboards, organized charts within Confluence/Team track and influenced best practices to team

Held retrospective meetings to guide cross functional teams improving future sprints for success

Mediated conflicts, fostering team and coached individuals improving team dynamics

Prioritized product backlog for grooming and sprint planning while product owner was absent

Collaborated with stakeholders and product owner developing release plans

07/17 –11/18

JP Morgan Asset & Wealth Management

Westmont, Illinois

Scrum Master

Facilitated scrum events/ceremonies: daily stand-up, sprint planning, sprint review/demo, and retrospective meeting.

Assisted with internal/external communications, shared information on the task board to help improve transparency.

Facilitate the removal of impediments for the team by targeting the issue internally in the team or escalating to the right company personnel.

Established relationship with Product owner and other stakeholders to engage them in collaboration with our development team.

Collaborated with the product owner on backlog refinement

Effective communication with my team to make sure they always have what is needed to get us a successful sprint.

Helped team to solve problems rather than provide solutions

Removed impediments by finding the right personnel to remove the impediment.

Made sure task boards were being updated to ensure transparency and effective communication.

Served as scrum master for on-shore and off-shore development teams

Helped teams’ transition from waterfall to Agile

03/14 – 06/17

Choice USA, Gilberts, Illinois

Scrum Master

Empowered the team to make system and process improvements captured in sprint retrospective meetings.

Brought ideas from professional facilitation, coaching, conflict management, mediation, and so on to help the team become a high-performance team.

Developed and followed agile project management plan (Agile Ceremonies). Facilitated build requirements log (product backlog) with cost estimates and priority.

Conducted Scrum Daily standup, Product backlog refinement, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review & Sprint Retrospective meetings.

Facilitate agile/scrum ceremonies for remote and onsite teams

Managed a high-volume workload within a deadline-driven environment.

Resolved inquiries in any given week and consistently met performance benchmarks in all areas (speed, accuracy, volume).

Coached teams on how to prepare user stories, groom stories and transparently write acceptance criteria

Determined the team capacity (velocity) from historical data. Created Work Break down structure (user stories) and corresponding activities (tasks).

Monitored the project progress and radiated the information to stake holders. Identified and mitigated team risks and impediments (Blocking Issues, Critical Defects) on daily basis.

Communicated the progress to senior management through 'Burn down Charts'. Monitored the Quality thru metrics and mentored team thru the project management processes

10/13 – 03/14

Capital One, Mettawa, Illinois

Business Analyst/Test Lead

Involved in preparing the high-level Test Plan, developed Use Cases and Test Cases in accordance to the

functional specifications.

Collaborated with the project team: product owners, software developers, QAs to validate the business

requirements.

Prepare scenario-based test cases, peer review test cases and execute test cases.

Created Product Definition Document, Compliance Doc & Billing document for most critical Project.

Conducted and followed up daily meetings with Dev team, stake holders and operations

Worked with Business partners and the application development team in gathering and documenting the

Business requirements

Performed manual and automation testing (VBScript) to check the functionality of the applications.

Involved in testing of Apps on Mobile devices.

Prepared and submitted weekly execution status report.

05/12 – 10 /13

WMS Gaming, Itasca, Illinois

Test Engineer

● Prepared & executed Regression tests using HP Quality Center.

●Created various scenarios in Load Runner controller for performing baseline, benchmark, stress tests and endurance tests.

●Tested Case and Tested Script creation using HP Quality Center.

●Prepared & executed Regression tests using HP Quality Center.

●Involved in game app testing on Apple iPad.

●Tested web based, desktop applications and server-based applications.

●Suggested product improvements to Business Analyst, Project Manager and Non-IT Teams.

●Updated Test Cases for the new functionality to be implemented for the next build.

●Involved in Build Verification testing and End to End Testing.

●Prepared and submitted weekly execution status report to the QA manager.

EDUCATION:

●Bachelors in Technical Management, DeVry University, Addison Illinois

●Associate in Computer Science, Elgin Community College

●Trained in HP Automation/Quality Center from Advanced Computer Technology, Glenview, Illinois

CERTIFICATIONS:

Certified Professional Scrum Master

Issuing authority Scrum.org

Certification or license Issues Aug 2020

Certified SAFe® 4 DevOps Practitioner

Issuing authority Scaled Agile Inc

Certification or license Issued Jul 2019

Certified SAFe® 4 Product Owner/Product Manager

Issuing authority Scaled Agile Inc

Certification or license Issued Oct 2019

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

●Chicago Quality Assurance Association (CQAA) – Member

●Agile Project Leadership Network – Chicago – Member

Contact this candidate