Scrum Master Continuous Improvement

Kavitha Jajapuram

Ph: 302-***-**** email: *********@*****.***

Summary of Qualifications

Accomplished Scrum Master and Project Management Professional with over 15 years of experience across Financial, Healthcare, and Technology sectors. Adept at leading high-performing Agile teams, driving process improvements, and delivering business-critical solutions. Proven expertise in Agile methodologies, Scrum framework, stakeholder management, and cross-functional collaboration. Highly skilled in facilitating sprint planning, backlog management, and continuous improvement to ensure optimal team productivity and project success. Strong communicator with a track record of coaching teams, managing complex projects, and executing strategic initiatives to drive efficiency, mitigate risks, and exceed business objectives.

Professional Experience

Scope Infotech, Inc.

GPSS-SERVIS (State Exchange Resources Virtual Information System)

Scrum Master 03/2022 - Present

As Scrum Master, I guide Agile practices, facilitate Scrum ceremonies, and drive team collaboration, ensuring successful project delivery while maintaining a focus on continuous improvement.

Key Achievements & Responsibilities:

Evaluate Business Needs & Design Solutions: Collaborated with stakeholders to assess business requirements and assist in the design and implementation of solutions that align with overall business objectives.

Project Lifecycle Oversight: Acted as a primary member of the project team, overseeing and documenting key decisions throughout the project lifecycle to ensure alignment and timely delivery.

Leadership of Scrum Team: Led the technical Scrum team in prioritizing features, user stories/tasks, and tracked team velocity to drive consistent progress and meet sprint goals.

Collaboration with Product Owners: Worked closely with Product Owners to identify priorities, facilitated Feature/Sprint Reviews, and led backlog refinement sessions to ensure alignment with business priorities.

Elicitation of Requirements: Conducted interviews, document analysis, use case evaluations, and workflow analysis to gather specific requirements, ensuring that solutions meet the true needs of stakeholders.

Liaison Between Stakeholders and Development Team: Served as the primary liaison between internal and external customers and the software development team, ensuring clear communication and accurate requirement translation.

Critical Evaluation & Conflict Resolution: Critically evaluated information from multiple sources, resolving conflicts and distinguishing between user requests and their true needs for effective solution development.

Collaboration on Project Tasks: Worked with team members on tasks with clear deliverables and defined time frames, ensuring timely execution and quality outcomes.

Accountability Management: Maintained accountability for all project items, ensuring all tasks were completed on time and met defined quality standards.

Risk Assessment & Security Oversight: Supported risk assessment activities for SERVIS, ensuring that no security issues or findings were reported during project implementation

JP Morgan Chase & Co

Risk Reporting - Credit Cards, Sr. Business Analyst /Contractor Lead/Project Manager/Scrum Master 05/2016 – 02/2022

In this role, I played a key role in leading Agile initiatives, facilitating Scrum ceremonies, managing the UAT process, and ensuring successful collaboration between IT and business teams. I was responsible for driving the delivery of strategic projects, enhancing reporting capabilities, and improving operational efficiency.

Key Achievements & Responsibilities:

UAT Management: Led User Acceptance Testing (UAT) efforts, ensuring the validation of business requirements for Cards and Auto reports. Coordinated with QA teams to develop system integration test scripts and managed the testing lifecycle.

Stakeholder Communication & Collaboration: Served as the liaison between business end-users and IT teams, ensuring clear communication and translating business requirements into technical specifications.

Scrum Ceremonies Leadership: Facilitated daily Scrum meetings, sprint reviews, and retrospectives for multiple teams, promoting collaboration and accountability throughout the project lifecycle.

Backlog Refinement & Prioritization: Worked closely with Product Owners to identify priorities, refined the backlog, and ensured features were clearly defined and aligned with business needs.

Risk & Issue Management: Identified and mitigated risks, escalated blockers to leadership, and ensured successful project delivery on time and within scope.

Process Optimization: Conducted process improvement initiatives to streamline operations, reduce waste, and increase productivity across teams.

Defect Tracking & Resolution: Utilized JIRA to track defects and worked with IT teams to ensure issues were addressed promptly, keeping the project on track.

Reporting & Documentation: Managed the risk reporting validation checklist, ensuring accurate documentation of evidence artifacts and adherence to project protocols.

Team Leadership & Coaching: Facilitated collaboration among teams of 30+ people, coached multiple Scrum teams, and created a productive and transparent environment for both business and development teams.

System Integration & Data Analysis: Worked with SQL scripts and data sourcing during UAT to ensure data accuracy and the proper flow of information between systems.

Continuous Improvement: Actively supported continuous improvement initiatives, tracked sprint metrics, and suggested process changes to improve efficiency and overall project delivery.

Collaboration Across Functional Areas: Coordinated design, development, and testing efforts across various functional teams, ensuring the delivery of high-quality features that met business requirements.

Leadership for Multiple Teams: Managed multiple teams across different functions, ensuring alignment with sprint goals, product vision, and organizational objectives.

Anthem Inc, Sr. Business Systems Analyst/UAT Lead 01/2009 – 04/2016

At Anthem, I played a key role in managing UAT processes, conducting business analysis, and ensuring that business and technical teams were aligned to implement high-quality solutions for the healthcare industry. I facilitated testing, process improvements, and system integration to support efficient project delivery.

Key Achievements & Responsibilities:

UAT Management & Leadership: Led the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) efforts for complex projects, overseeing all phases of testing (SIT/UAT/RT/PROD) to ensure all features met business requirements.

Business & Functional Requirements Elicitation: Conducted in-depth business analysis, including process mapping and re-engineering, to capture business requirements and provide clear functional specifications for IT teams.

Collaboration with Stakeholders: Acted as the primary liaison between business stakeholders, development teams, and QA, ensuring requirements were accurately translated into technical specifications and aligning efforts with business goals.

Test Planning & Execution: Created comprehensive test plans, test cases, and tracked defects, ensuring that UAT and system integration tests were executed per business requirements.

SQL Query Development & Data Analysis: Wrote and executed complex SQL queries to perform data analysis, ensuring the integrity and accuracy of data during the ETL testing effort for the healthcare system.

System Integration & Data Mapping: Collaborated with data modelers to define and change the data model, ensuring seamless integration of clinical data (HL7, CCD, claims data) into Anthem’s systems.

Test Artifacts & Defect Tracking: Prepared test artifacts, performed peer reviews, and used tools like JIRA to track defects and ensure that resolution was aligned with project timelines.

Process Improvement: Identified areas for process improvement through analysis and suggested re-engineering efforts to enhance overall operational efficiency.

Cross-Functional Team Leadership: Coordinated and managed the activities of onsite and offshore teams, ensuring that business requirements were met and that testing was completed within established timelines.

Data Mapping & Documentation: Developed detailed data mapping documentation between source and target systems, ensuring consistency in the data flow across multiple platforms.

Quality Assurance & Mentoring: Provided guidance and mentorship to junior team members, helping them develop their skills and adhere to quality standards during the testing process.

Continuous Communication with Management: Created and presented project presentations to senior management, ensuring that they were informed about testing progress, issues, and results.

Facilitated Cross-Team Collaboration: Acted as a liaison between IT and business teams, ensuring effective communication and fostering collaboration to meet business needs.

Healthcare System Integration: Ensured the integration of patient clinical data, including claims data and inpatient/outpatient data, into Anthem’s system for enhanced data accuracy and improved patient health records.

ICICI Bank Ltd, Team Manager, Team Leader, Quality Auditor 03/2003 – 12/2008

At ICICI Bank, I was responsible for managing team performance, improving operational processes, and ensuring high-quality service delivery across multiple teams. My role involved monitoring performance metrics, coaching teams, and implementing process improvements to enhance efficiency.

Key Achievements & Responsibilities:

Team Leadership & Performance Management: Led 6 teams with 120 associates, overseeing performance, conducting regular reviews, and ensuring that all associates met or exceeded service level agreements (SLAs).

Process Improvement & Automation: Identified opportunities for process automation and re-engineering, successfully implementing solutions that increased operational efficiency and reduced manual errors.

Coaching & Training: Conducted mock calls, team meetings, and training sessions to improve associate performance, ensuring that service standards were consistently met.

Quality Auditing & Monitoring: Monitored and audited associate calls to ensure compliance with quality standards, providing detailed feedback and implementing corrective actions to improve performance.

Resource Management: Managed resource scheduling and forecasting, ensuring that the teams were appropriately staffed to meet workload demands and maintain service levels during peak times.

Performance Reporting: Prepared and presented team performance reports to senior management, identifying areas for improvement and providing recommendations to enhance team productivity.

Collaboration Across Teams: Acted as a liaison between senior management and associates, ensuring clear communication of goals, priorities, and expectations across departments.

Continuous Improvement & Waste Reduction: Promoted a culture of continuous improvement, leading initiatives to reduce waste and improve team productivity through Lean methodologies and Six Sigma principles.

Service Quality Monitoring: Ensured that teams adhered to SLAs and maintained service quality standards by conducting regular audits and offering coaching to improve call quality and customer satisfaction.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Worked closely with corporate banking and retail banking teams to align operational processes and improve service delivery across departments.

Feedback & Performance Enhancement: Provided actionable feedback to associates on call quality and service delivery, fostering a collaborative environment that supported high performance and continuous improvement.

Education

Master of Business Administration (MBA), Project Management

University of Northern Virginia 2010

oSpecialized in project management methodologies, strategic planning, and organizational leadership to drive business success.

Master of Science (MS), Information Technology

Kuvempu University, India 2006

oFocused on systems integration, data management, and the application of IT solutions to improve business operations and efficiency.

Certifications

Certified Scrum Master (CSM)

Scrum Alliance 2024

oExpertise in Agile methodologies, team facilitation, and driving continuous improvement in high-performance Scrum teams.

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