Jim Mirza

Jim (Raheel) is a Lean Agile Coach (SAFe), Release Train Engineer (RTE), Solution Train Engineer (STE), Scrum Master, Product Manager (PM)-Product Owner (PO) & Agile Program-Project Manager with 20 years’ experience.

Jim has focused on Digital Strategy, Value Stream Mapping (Operational & development) for launching & operating Agile Scrum Teams (as a Scrum Master), Agile Release Train’s-ART (as a Release Train Engineer-RTE) and Agile Program Manager for global Cross-Functional Agile Teams (Global Delivery Model Off-Shore/Near-Shore/On-Shore).

Jim gained his consulting experience while working for Delta Dental, Chevron, US Navy & Boeing Defense, Deloitte Consulting, Hewlett Packard (HP) Consulting, IBM Consulting, Arthur Andersen/Accenture Consulting, Electronic Data Systems (EDS) & A. T. Kearney Consulting.

Jim holds an MBA from the Stephen Ross School of Business, University of Michigan as well as an MBA from the University of Central Oklahoma.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

1. Hands-on Servant/leader roles: SAFe (5.0) Sr Scrum Master, Release Train Engineer (RTE), Agile Program & Project Manager, Product Manager (PM), Product Owner (PO) for Cross functional global Scrum Teams. Integrated Development & Operations (DevOps/DevSecOps) to streamline the Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CI/CD- Continuous Integration & Deployment).
2. Standing-up and operating PMO’s, EPMO’s and migrating them to Lean Agile Centers of Excellence (LACE) for efficient and effective projects/programs delivery, including moving from Projects to Products mindset.
3. Azure (DevOps) CI CD pipeline (AzDev) configuration/training and Cybersecurity work Products for Scaling the Backlog Hierarchy & Cadence for the Scrum & ScrumBan Agile Teams.
4. Collaboratively work closely with Executives, Managers & Leaders in “Scaling” & developing Business Value Streams, launching Agile Release Trains (ART), integration of Development with Operations DevOps/DevSecOps for setting Delivery Pipeline through to Releases.
5. Conducted Value Stream Mapping (Operational & Development) leading to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) backlog & Implementation Roadmap.
6. Data Centers cleansing, consolidation-integration & migration to the MS Azure CI/CD pipeline to enable Agility. Setting up of Data Lakes using Machine learning (ML) for upstream & downstream integration.
7. As a Release Train Engineer, Scrum Master & Agile Program Manager developed & released the Customer facing Data Lakes, including standing up of the “‘Data Supply Chain” (GDIA) pertaining to Big Data as a “Single Version of the truth” repository for Analytics – built on Hadoop platform to load all internal applications & external data supplied from third parties & partners.

Certifications, Skills & Tools:

MBA University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Michigan. 

MBA University of Central Oklahoma,

PMP, PgMP, Agile Transformation Facilitator, Agile Craft, SAFe Program Consultant SPC5.0, SAFe  Advanced Scrum Master (SASM); SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE), SAFe Product Manager / Product Owner (PMPO), COBIT, ITIL, CIRM (APICS), PMMM, Prosci/Adkar, TQM & ASAP (Accelerated SAP), Rally, Jira, SharePoint, Confluence. Agile Health Radar (AHR), Azure (DevOps) CI CD pipeline (AzDev) configuration/training for Scaling the Backlog Hierarchy & Cadence for the Scrum & Scrum-Ban Agile Teams.

Clients Served: 

Delta Dental, Chevron; Department of Defense (DoD & Navy) I hold Active Top Security/SCI Clearance (DISS); Deloitte; Arthur Andersen, A T Kearney, IBM, Morgan Stanley, J.P Morgan Chase, Anthem, Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), General Motors, Electronic Data Systems Corp (EDS), Motors, Ford Motors, Ford Mobility, Verizon Telematics, Lear, Consumers Energy, Kansas City Power & Light, New York State Department of Health & Human Services, McCain Foods, Ontario Pension Board, Riyad Bank, Saudi Electric,  Agricultural Financial Services, Cargill, A&P, Kroger, Mekong River Commission Secretariat, General Motors, Adam Opel, Hyla Steel, Mannesmann, Delco Electronics.

Delta Dental

Sr. Scrum Master, Cybersecurity Agile Program Manager & Agile Coach

April 2023– Present. California.

• Sr. Scrum Master for the Cyber Risk Management domain comprising of the Security Risk Management (SRM) & Cyber Risk Operational Assurance (CROA) Agile Teams.
• Participated in the PI Planning and the 12 weeks 6 PI Increment of 2 weeks each cadence. Conducted all ceremonies like the Stand-Up, Retrospectives, Sprint Planning & Release, Backlog grooming & Syncing the Epics to Features & User Stories (Jira & MS Azure CI/CD Pipeline, Miro).
• Hand-on & On the Job training in syncing the Hierarchy to the Cadence for Cybersecurity work products.
• Data cleansing, consolidation- integration & migration to the MS Azure CI/CD pipeline to enable Agility in the teams.
• Conducted Value Stream Mapping (Operational & Development) leading to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) backlog & Implementation Roadmap.
• Streamlined the PMO to be able to accommodate Agile Teams.

Chevron

Release Train Engineer (RTE), Scrum Master Agile, Agile Program Manager, DevsecOps-Cybersecurity Coach 

March 2022 – April 2023. California & Houston.

• Organized & facilitated the First onsite PI Planning (post Pandemic) for multiple ARTs comprising of global teams.
• Scrum Master & Agile Coach responsible for standing up four global Agile Teams (Australia, Singapore, Philippines, India & the USA). Completed 2 Program Increments & conducted 1 PI Planning osiite 
• The cross functional Scrum & ScrumBan teams comprised of SMEs like Risk Managers, Risk Analysists, Control Performers & Cyber Security & Compliance.
• Azure (DevOps) CI CD pipeline (AzDev) configuration/training for Scaling the Backlog Hierarchy & Cadence for the Scrum & ScrumBan Agile Teams.
• Integrated the Cybersecurity agile teams into the EPMO/LACE (Lean Agile Center of Excellence)
• Data Centers cleansing, consolidation-integration & migration to the MS Azure CI/CD pipeline to enable Agility. Setting up of Data Lakes using Machine learning (ML) for upstream & downstream integration.
• Conducted Value Stream Mapping (Operational & Development) leading to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) backlog & Implementation Roadmap.

Chevron.

Release Train Engineer (RTE), Scrum Master Agile, Agile Program Manager, DevsecOps-Cybersecurity Coach 

March 2022 – April 2023. California & Houston.

• Organized & facilitated the First onsite PI Planning (post Pandemic) for multiple ARTs comprising of global teams.
• Scrum Master & Agile Coach responsible for standing up four global Agile Teams (Australia, Singapore, Philippines, India & the USA). Completed 2 Program Increments & conducted 1 PI Planning osiite 
• The cross functional Scrum & ScrumBan teams comprised of SMEs like Risk Managers, Risk Analysists, Control Performers & Cyber Security & Compliance.
• Azure (DevOps) CI CD pipeline (AzDev) configuration/training for Scaling the Backlog Hierarchy & Cadence for the Scrum & ScrumBan Agile Teams.
• Integrated the Cybersecurity agile teams into the EPMO/LACE (Lean Agile Center of Excellence)
• Data Centers cleansing, consolidation-integration & migration to the MS Azure CI/CD pipeline to enable Agility. Setting up of Data Lakes using Machine learning (ML) for upstream & downstream integration.
• Conducted Value Stream Mapping (Operational & Development) leading to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) backlog & Implementation Roadmap.

US Navy-Boeing.

Release Train Engineer (RTE), Solution Train Engineer, Scrum Master Agile, Agile Program Manager, DevsecOps-Cybersecurity Coach 

June 2016 To March 2022. California & St. Louis.

• “Hands on servant Leader” Coach/Trainer & DevSecOps in the Government/DoD domain coaching and training all stakeholders including key vendors. In addition, played key agile roles like Solution Train Engineer (STE), Release Train Engineer (RTE), Scrum Master (SM), Product Manager (PM) & Product Owner (PO).
• I was the first Solution Train Engineer (STE) (SAFe) for the US Navy Agile Release Trains (ARTs) & Boeing Agile Release Trains (ARTs).
• Migrated the EPMO to a Lean Agile Center of Excellence (LACE) and as the Agile Program Manager provided leadership, training and budgeting for all in-flight projects and programs.
• This is a complex scenario & completed the Operational & associated Development Value Streams & the Architectural Runways for this very large & complex initiative.  Also stood-up & trained stakeholders for the Lean Agile Center of Excellence (LACE). 
• Scaled Up 11 Agile Release Trains (ART’s) into an Agile Solution Train.
• Utilizing Azure CI/CD Delivery Pipe in conjunction with Jira. Using Acceptance test Driven development (ATDD), Behavior Driven Development (BDD) & Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD).
• Developed & released Customer facing Data Lakes, including standing up of the “Data Supply Chain” (GDIA) pertaining to Big Data as a “Single Version of the truth” repository for Analytics – built on Hadoop platform to load all internal applications & external data supplied from third parties & partners.
• I have Active Top Security/SCI Clearance (TS/SCI). This was a requirement for this role.
• Completed the Value Stream Mapping based on Business Value & developed the Implementation Roadmap as well as launched large Agile Release Train (ART). First release during PI2. SAFe. (Major Healthcare clients).
• Lean Agile Program Coach & RTE for an enterprise-wide modernization program (Clients: Two large health Care providers). In addition, coached Internal Audit functions to increase efficiency & effectiveness of Internal Audits by operationalizing Scrum techniques (Large utilities & Financial Services firms).
• As an Enterprise Lean Agile & DevSecOps coach, Release Train Engineer (RTE), Scrum Master, Product Manager & Product Owner (PO) he has completed the deployment of multiple Releases and implemented the Minimum Viable Product (MVP), this included Digital Strategy, Value Stream Mapping,  Road-mapping, Launching & operating Agile Release Train’s (ARTs) and associated global Cross-Functional Scrum Teams integrated with Development and Security (DevSecOps) including the Continuous Delivery Pipeline (Continuous Exploration, Integration (CI) & Delivery (CD) leading to Releases and deployment of Features. Each Program Increment (PI) was 10 weeks (5 Sprints including Innovation & Planning (I&P) Sprint). 
• In addition, evaluated migrating applications to the AWS PAAS cloud to streamline the Continuous Delivery Pipeline (CI/CD- Continuous Integration & Deployment), testing and deployment.
• Agile Program Coached Release Train Engineer (RTE) for a large Agile Release Train (ART), Scrum Master & product Manager comprising of 25 Global scrum teams and planning for Program Increment PI3. Utilized SAFe V 5.1
• Coach & SME for scaling Agile frameworks to increase efficiency & effectiveness of Internal Audit (IA) functions. (Financial & Utilities industries)
• Coach and SME for Integrating Secure Development with Operations. (DevSecOps – DevOps). Utilize DevSecOps Framework for measuring maturity. (Internal Security Operations).
• Ford: Certified in the Ford Agile Transformation Facilitator (ATF). Lean Agile Hand’s-on coaching & on the job training (OJT) for transforming Auto Dealerships Applications using SAFe (4.5) framework while operationalizing Product Based Organizations – PDO’s (Clients: Large Auto Manufacturer & Telematics/ Internet of Things (IOT) provider)
• Ford: Worked with Ford & Verizon Telematics in IOT, mobile apps, cloud solutions as an Agile Coach, RTE (Program Manager), scrum master (scrum of scrums), Product Owner as well as organizational change enabler. 
• Ford: As a Scrum Master & Coach developed & released the Dealer facing GBMS system (ART), including standing up of the “‘Data Supply Chain” (GDIA) pertaining to Big Data as a “Single Version of the truth” repository for Analytics – built on Hadoop platform to load all internal applications & external data supplied from third parties & partners. 
• Ford: Deployed 8 releases in 30 months. Technologies & Tools: Rally, SharePoint, Clarity, TDD, BDD, ATDD.
• Ford: Integrated development with Operations (DevOps) to setup the Continuous Delivery
• Telematics: Develop & implement roadmap for post-Acquisition Integration for the Products & Technology work-streams for three telematics acquired entities (16 global sites). Internet of Things (IoT) domain. 
• Telematics: Completed Scaling utilizing SAFe4 (validated with SAFe 4.5) for the two acquired companies to develop product backlog for the Product & Technology Domains. Coached Telematics (IOT) Scrum teams for joint applications development in a Post M&A environment. Post M&A Integration Roadmap Development (Playbook) of Smart Mobility acquisitions
• Technologies & Tools: Jira, Confluence, Agile Craft, Java, XP, XL, Focus, TDD, BDD, ATDD.
• Conducted Value Stream Mapping (Operational & Development) leading to the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) backlog & Implementation Roadmap.

Deloitte Consulting.

Lean Agile DevSecOps Coach, Release Train Engineer (RTE), Scrum Master, Product Management, Agile Program Manager   

May 2005 To June 2016. Costa Mesa California.

• Release Train Engineer and Scrum Master for Anthem & Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) in the health Care Domain for the Enrolment, Claims & Payments Workstreams.
• As a PMO manager & Agile Steering team member responsible for designing & rolling out the Agile Project Delivery Methodology & Playbook. As an Agile Coach & Scrum Master he managed the first Agile Project utilizing a combination of Agile & Waterfall development "Hybrid" methods to engage the Product Owner, cross functional teams & deliver the solution in multiple iterative releases resulting in significant increase in customer satisfaction, higher adoption rate and expedited solution releases delivered in a lower budget vs. planned. 
• Lear Corporation: Implementing Procure-to-Pay (P2P) SaaS (Software as a Service) cloud-based solutions for these $18.2 billion (annual revenues) global automotive suppliers of seating and electrical systems. Integration with SAP SCM.
• Consumers Energy: PMO Manger responsible for implementing/monitoring Project Delivery Methodology & Playbook. The PMO is comprised of 65 PM's and about 150 in-flight projects worth over $100 million budgets per year (Capital - O&M). 

• MBA University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Michigan. 
• MBA University of Central Oklahoma,
• PMP, 
• PgMP, 
• Agile Transformation Facilitator, Agile Craft, SAFe Program Consultant SPC5.0, SAFe Advanced Scrum Master (SASM); SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE), SAFe Product Manager / Product Owner (PMPO), COBIT, ITIL, CIRM (APICS), PMMM, Prosci/Adkar, TQM & ASAP (Accelerated SAP), Rally, Jira, SharePoint, Confluence. Agile Health Radar (AHR), 
• Azure (DevOps) CI CD pipeline (AzDev) configuration/training for Scaling the Backlog Hierarchy & Cadence for the Scrum & Scrum-Ban Agile Teams.