Scrum master/Project Manager

HAWANATU KARGBO

Greenbelt, ***** Maryland 240-***-**** ********.*****@*****.*** LinkedIn

CAREER SUMMARY

Goal-oriented and certified Scrum Master/PMP with over 10 years of experience facilitating Agile transformations and driving high-performing teams within complex, scaled Agile environments. Skilled in coaching and mentoring cross-functional teams, implementing SAFe and Scrum methodologies, and ensuring seamless collaboration across stakeholders to deliver value-driven solutions. Expertise in backlog management, risk mitigation, and removing impediments to enhance team productivity and alignment with business objectives. Proficient in leveraging Agile tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, and Rally to track progress and optimize delivery workflows. Adept at fostering a culture of continuous improvement, promoting accountability, and achieving project milestones efficiently and effectively.

CORE COMPETENCIES

Agile Framework Expertise

Servant Leadership

Agile Transformation Leadership

Team Coaching and Development

Scrum Event Facilitation

Backlog Prioritization

Stakeholder Collaboration

Risk Management

Agile Metrics Analysis

Conflict Resolution

Cross-Team Coordination

Change Management

Continuous Improvement Advocacy

Agile Tool Proficiency

Strategic Communication

SAFe Framework Implementation

Dependency Management

Customer-Centric Focus

TECHNICAL SKILLS

PROJECT TOOLS: Atlassian Suite (Jira, Jira Align, Jira Premise, Confluence, Trello, Bitbucket, Lucid Chart) Rally, and Azure DevOps (ADO).

DATA VISUALIZATION: Power BI, Eazy BI, and Tableu.

COLLABORATION TOOLS: Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Project, Visio, Teams, and Outlook), Webex, Zoom, Google Meet, Miro, SharePoint, Aha, and ServiceNow.

FRAMEWORK/METHODOLOGIES: Waterfall and Agile Framework (Scrum, Kanban, Lean, XP, and Scaled Agile/SAFe).

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Agile Project Manager III/Scrum Master 01/2023 to 01/2025

Universal Service Administrative Company Washington DC

Facilitated agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and sprint reviews, fostering team collaboration and alignment to deliver high-quality deliverables ahead of schedule.

Key Responsibilities:

Drove continuous improvement by mentoring cross-functional teams on agile best practices, scaling Scrum frameworks such as "Scrum of Scrums," to align large project teams, and delivering seamless integration for complex initiatives.

Optimized project execution and release management by coordinating deployments, ensuring compliance with change control procedures, and effectively communicating progress through data-driven reporting to stakeholders at all levels.

Empowered teams to identify and eliminate blockers, aligning with product managers and stakeholders to deliver customer-centric solutions, resulting in improved efficiency and accelerated delivery of value-driven project outcomes.

Developed and reported team status and metrics to various stakeholders.

Actively managed stakeholder partnerships and mitigated risks.

Developed and maintain project management plans, including project timelines, budgets, and people allocation.

Enhanced cross-team collaboration to ensure timely project delivery, resulting in a 20% increase in efficiency.

Led agile transformation initiatives supporting IT modernization efforts, including the Healthcare Connect Fund and Telecom Programs, accelerating the deployment of critical infrastructure to underserved and rural populations.

Championed transparency and accountability by developing and tracking team metrics, ensuring alignment with organizational goals, and driving impactful project outcomes that enhanced healthcare accessibility in underrepresented regions.

Participates actively in agile program level ceremonies and supports the team in identifying and coordination of dependencies to ensure timely completion of work items.

Collaborated with the Product Owner, IT department, and stakeholders to outline Jira Cloud migration strategy and timeline.

Ensured clear communication with the team regarding the need for the Jira Cloud migration, potential benefits (like improved performance, better integrations, and cloud security), and any expected disruptions.

Facilitated training sessions for the team on the key differences between Jira Server (Prem) and Jira Cloud, including new features, navigation, and best practices for working with cloud-based Jira.

Provided insights using Agile metrics (velocity, burndown charts) to track Jira cloud migration progress.

Scaled Agile Scrum Master (SAFe) 05/2020 to 01/2023

MasterCard New York NY

Collaborated with Release Train Engineers (RTE), Product Managers, and cross-functional teams to drive end-to-end delivery of prioritized features, ensuring seamless integration across multiple teams and technologies through SAFe principles.

Key Responsibilities:

Led Agile Release Train (ART) ceremonies, including PI Planning, Iteration Reviews, and System Demos, to ensure alignment between stakeholders, engineering teams, and product owners, driving transparency, and delivering measurable outcomes.

Managed complex, multi-disciplinary projects by planning requirements, mitigating risks, resolving cross-team dependencies, and maintaining high delivery velocity in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Optimized release schedules and milestones through proactive coordination, fostering team alignment, and ensuring readiness for release demos, resulting in the timely delivery of high-value increments.

Developed and reported meaningful project status updates, metrics, and performance indicators, providing actionable insights to internal and external stakeholders, ensuring informed decision-making throughout the Agile delivery lifecycle.

Streamlined workflow management, tracked key performance metrics, and mitigated risks and impediments to ensure efficient execution of SAFe Agile practices, achieving organizational objectives, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Facilitated alignment of dependencies between the program team and third parties, release managers and other teams outside of the train.

Actively contribute to the Mastercard’s SAFe and Agile community and knowledge base.

Enable cadence and Synchronization across multiple teams so individual team backlogs and solutions are understood, resolved, and integrated.

Senior Scrum Master 04/2019 to 04/2020

CDW Vernon Hills IL

Facilitated Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and reviews, to drive collaboration, continuous improvement, and the successful delivery of high-impact solutions aligned with organizational goals.

Key Responsibilities:

Spearheaded the implementation of SAFe practices across multiple teams, ensuring seamless alignment with enterprise objectives, promoting transparency, and fostering a culture of collaboration within Agile Release Trains (ARTs).

Coached and mentored cross-functional Scrum teams on Agile principles and best practices, enabling consistent delivery of value, improved velocity, and enhanced stakeholder satisfaction.

Collaborated closely with Product Owners to refine and prioritize backlogs, ensuring features and user stories were aligned with strategic objectives, and delivering measurable business value.

Proactively identified and removed impediments while resolving team conflicts, significantly enhancing team morale, productivity, and ability to deliver on sprint commitments.

Leveraged data-driven insights by tracking and analyzing Agile performance metrics, enabling leadership to make informed decisions, and driving continuous process optimization across teams.

Tracked and reported on key performance metrics, leveraging data to inform decision-making and improve team delivery processes.

Engaged with leadership to promote Agile adoption and provide insights on team performance and progress against strategic objectives.

Ensured seamless collaboration between developers, cloud architects, and DevOps engineers to maximize AWS capabilities.

Acted as a bridge between technical teams and business stakeholders to ensure AWS adoption aligned with company goals.

Successfully guided teams in delivering high-availability, scalable AWS solutions using Agile methodologies.

Project Manager/Scrum Master Coach 07/2017 to 04/2019

Humana Louisville, KY

Provided servant leadership to Agile teams, guiding the delivery of high-impact, complex projects by fostering collaboration, removing impediments, and enabling the seamless execution of business-critical objectives.

Key Responsibilities:

Built and maintained strong cross-functional relationships across Agile teams, leveraging facilitation and leadership skills to align team deliverables with organizational goals, and delivering measurable business value.

Blended traditional project management principles with Agile frameworks, driving iterative delivery, enhancing team efficiency, and ensuring a balance of agility and predictability across Epic and Feature-level initiatives.

Supported Product Managers and Owners in refining customer expectations, managing stakeholder communications, and identifying and mitigating cross-team dependencies, ensuring on-time delivery of value-driven solutions.

Championed Agile principles in program-level ceremonies, enabling teams to identify dependencies, manage risks, and maintain a sustainable pace, resulting in consistently high-quality deliverables.

Partners with development, testing, and production release teams to understand issues, remove impediments, and resolve issues.

Develop a comprehensive project plan, timeline, and resource allocation strategy.

Ensure smooth collaboration between stakeholders, teams, and external vendors.

Identify risks and address challenges that arise during the project lifecycle.

Scaled Agile Scrum Master (SAFe) 09/2014 to 06/2017

Aetna Vienna, VA

Led and coached multiple Agile teams within the SAFe framework, driving cross-team collaboration, aligning objectives with strategic priorities, and delivering high-value solutions on time and within scope.

Key Responsibilities:

Mentored team members and stakeholders in Agile principles, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement, resulting in measurable performance enhancements.

Facilitated Agile ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives, to ensure alignment on goals, optimize delivery cadence, and enhance team accountability.

Collaborated with Product Owners and stakeholders to prioritize backlogs and align deliverables with organizational objectives, achieving a 25% improvement in delivery timelines.

Tracked and reported on team performance metrics, providing insights to leadership on progress, challenges, and areas for improvement.

Identified potential project risks and impediments, proactively working with teams to develop mitigation strategies.

Assisted in the management of product backlogs, ensuring prioritization aligns with business objectives and customer needs.

Conducted training sessions and workshops to promote Agile best practices and enhance team capabilities.

Fostered collaboration across departments to ensure seamless integration of Agile processes within the organization.

Advocated for and implement continuous improvement initiatives to optimize team performance and project outcomes.

Guide the team toward achieving project goals.

Develop a comprehensive project plan, timeline, and resource allocation strategy.

Ensure smooth collaboration between stakeholders, teams, and external vendors.

Identify risks and address challenges that arise during the project lifecycle.

Act as the primary point of contact for stakeholders and keep everyone informed on project status.

EDUCATION

MD Master of Science

Kaplan University Hagerstown, MD

MD Bachelor of Science

Bowie State University Bowie, MD

CERTIFICATIONS

Project Manager Professional (PMP), Project Management Institution

Certified Scrum Master (CSM), Scrum Alliance

Certified Leading SAFe 6.0, SAFe Studio

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