Scrum Master - Sandton at Oneplan Underwriting Managers (Pty) Ltd

Project Planning and Management

• Manage a well-defined project management process and champion ongoing process improvement initiatives to implement best practices for Project and Process Management.
• Manage project lifecycle.
• Manage project execution to ensure adherence to budget, schedule, and scope.
• Define project scope and schedule while focusing on regular and timely delivery of value.
• Supporting stakeholders in planning sprint iterations.
• Develop or update project plans for information technology projects including information such as project objectives, technologies, systems, information specifications, schedules, funding, and staffing.
• Monitor or track project milestones and deliverables.
• Confer with project personnel to identify and resolve problems.
• Submit project deliverables, ensuring adherence to quality standards.
• Prepare project status reports by collecting, analyzing, and summarizing information and trends.
• Assign duties, responsibilities, and spans of authority to project resources.
• Direct or coordinate activities of project resources.

Process Definition and Module Development 

• Leading the team and organisation on how to use Agile/Scrum practices and values.
• Support the process of business model rethinking by analyzing processes, practices, and procedures using prescribed methodologies.
• Build competency with Project teams and Operations teams in developing project metrics.
• Provide leadership with meaningful performance metrics and status reports utilizing dashboards and other tools.
• Identify risks proactively, drive timely mitigation, and escalate to management appropriately.
• Work with Business Analysis and document various business processes with flowcharts, manuals and other documentation outlining current practices.
• Facilitating discussion, decision making, and conflict resolution.
• Assisting with internal and external communication, improving transparency, and radiating information.
• Supporting and educating the Development team, especially on grooming and maintaining the product backlog.
• Responsible to facilitating daily scrum, sprint planning, sprint demo and retrospective meetings.
• Assessing the Scrum Maturity of the team and organisation and coaching the team to higher levels of maturity, at a pace that is sustainable and comfortable for the team and organisation.
• Building a trusting and safe environment where problems can be raised without fear of blame, retribution, or being judged, with an emphasis on healing and problem-solving.
• Facilitating getting the work done.

Solution / Technical Architecture

• Uses appropriate tools, including logical models of components and interfaces, to contribute to the development of systems architectures in specific business or functional areas.
• Produces detailed component specifications and translates these into detailed designs for implementation using selected products.
• Within a business change programme, assists in the preparation of technical plans and cooperates with business assurance and project staff to ensure that appropriate technical resources are made available.
• Provides advice on technical aspects of system development and integration (including requests for changes, deviations from specifications, etc.) and ensures that relevant technical strategies, policies, standards and practices are applied correctly

Change Management

• Collaborate with technical experts and business units to determine the best possible reporting mechanisms.
• Be a liaison between Information Technology and internal business units which includes Operations, Claims, Human Resources, Finance and Compliance.
• Collaborate with technical staff to determine system specifications and requirements.
• Counsel and advise users on system capabilities and processes.
• Manage and coordinate all change activities within project.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Establish and execute a project communication plan.
• Schedule and facilitate meetings related to projects.
• Initiate, review, or approve modifications to project plans.
• Monitor the performance of project team members, providing and documenting performance feedback.
• Negotiate with project stakeholders or suppliers to obtain resources or materials.
• Identify the need for initial or supplemental project resources.
• Identify, review, or select vendors or consultants to meet project needs.

Work collaboratively

• Build a culture of respect and understanding across the organisation
• Recognise outcomes which resulted from effective collaboration between teams
• Build cooperation and overcome barriers to information sharing, communication, and collaboration across the organisation
• Facilitate opportunities to engage and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to develop joint solutions

Self-Management

• Follow through to ensure that personal quality and productivity standards are consistently and accurately maintained
• Demonstrate consistent application of internal procedures
• Plan and prioritise, demonstrating abilities to manage competing demands
• Demonstrate abilities to anticipate and manage change
• Demonstrate flexibility in balancing achievement of own objectives with abilities to understand and respond to organizational needs

Minimum Academic, Professional Qualifications & Experience required for this position

Preferred Qualifications:

• Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Professional (CSP) or Certified Product Owner (CSPO)
• Qualification in Project Management (PMP) or related discipline
• Prince Certification
• Agile and Waterfall (SDLC)
• Minimum 3 years’ experience as a Scrum Master or in a similar role.
• Project management experience preferred, with at least 3 years using Lean/Agile methodologies