Sarfraz Aaron

Scotiabank

Responsible for ATM technology product planning and technology product adoption. This includes managing the technology product throughout the Product Lifecycle, gathering and prioritizing product and user requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with engineering, to deliver technology products that enable success for digital solutions.

Key duties include and not limited to:
- Define technology product strategy and roadmap 
- Gather and prioritize technical product features
- Deliver product backlog with well-defined and prioritized product features
- Develop the core positioning and messaging for the technology product
- Work with external third parties
- Champion a high-performance environment and contribute to an inclusive work environment

Senior Technical Product Manager

As a Scrum Master, worked on various projects for the Canadian Banking line of business within Scotiabank.

Key duties included:
•	Facilitated scrum events (daily scrum, backlog refinement, sprint reviews, sprint retros, and sprint planning)
•	Facilitated trouble-shooting meetings between cross-functional teams
•	Facilitated scrum of scrums for multi-team projects
•	Worked across various bank’s line of business teams to enable agile work styles
•	Recorded, tracked and monitored timelines and tracked the team’s delivery (performance)
•	Set up, configured, maintained, and updated Jira and Confluence tools
•	Reported on team performance metrics, velocity, burndown charts, # of impediments, lead & cycle time
•	Constantly looked for ways to optimize team delivery flow
•	Always looked for ways to coach the team to allow them to reach their highest potential, and champion change
•	Facilitated & conducted effective working sessions to drive problem-solving
•	Effectively worked  through conflict and de-escalates difficult situations
•	Diplomatically navigated the complex and controversial discussion

Senior Scrum Master

Agile Leaders

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YouTube Channel: @sarfrazaaron

Learn from an expert with 30+ years in the IT industry spanning experience across Financial Institutions to Telecommunications industries.

- Building resume
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- Comprehensive videos on Scrum Framework and how to be an effective Scrum Master
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Founder & CEO

Equifax

Part of the multi-million and multi-year Equifax Transformation Program that gave better insights to help clients make decisions regarding credit & lending worthiness of their customers. The Program's focus was to rebuild the existing products on the Google Cloud (GCP) to benefit from key Cloud Capabilities, for example, Always On, Scalability, Automation & Repeatability, Pipelines, Hot Deployments and Real Time Data Access, to mention few.

Key duties included:
•	Provided agile leadership and train, assess agile maturity, and constantly raise the bar to improve the team's velocity and efficiency
•	Led multiple scrum teams (3 in some cases) in parallel using Kanban and Scrum Boards
•	Proactively managed risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies at various levels ensuring they were identified, coordinated, mitigated, called out and resolved – using Microsoft Excel and Project
•	Used Confluence to create reporting and updates for management as well as used it as a central location for all the product artifacts
•	Provided hands-on management and mentor teams in all aspects of scrum, for example: facilitating daily stand-ups, backlog refinement, sprint planning, sprint reviews, sprint retro, dependency meetings between teams, collaboration, iterative solutioning, managing flow, calculating velocity, limiting work in progress, etc.
•	Ensured that all user stories were properly broken-down and created using predefined Definitions of Ready, Done and the Acceptance Criteria
•	Participated in quarterly Program Increment (PI) sessions where workload was identified for the next 3 months/quarter, and dependencies identified across various Lines of Businesses/Scrum Teams/Products
•	Worked with the Cloud Teams/Site Reliability Engineers (SRE) to have the Development, QA, UAT and Production environments setup & ready with CI/CD for continuous integration and deployment

Interac Corp.

As a Senior Project Manager, oversaw and delivered complex products in the digital & mobile side of retail in an agile environment. Interac Corporation is the only company that handles all debit-based transactions in Canada. One of the key products that Interac Corporation owns is the E-TRANSFER (Canadian inter-bank funds transfer) that was released on a quarterly basis to all Financial Institutes (FI).

Key duties included:
•	Built relationships with project partners, removing roadblocks, and driving the work of an innovative team
•	Planned and executed projects under Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) guidelines, overseeing the day-to-day operations through the application of best practices in project management principles and methodologies, while contributing to strategic direction
•	Worked with cross-functional teams to deliver complex projects that required careful planning, an eye on the budget, great team collaboration, constant risk mitigations and excellent reporting to Management
•	Expedited issues resolution, negotiating, and influencing people at all levels to ensure project goals were met, while being accountable for ensuring deliverables were achieved and maintained at a high quality
•	Provided administrative oversight of the resources throughout the life cycle of the project
•	Highly detail oriented with the desire to go deep into the project’s subject matter while maintaining an understanding of the bigger picture
•	Continually built trust and relationships within the delivery teams and the business stakeholders

Senior Project Manager

Direct Line Group

Direct Line Group PLC is a United Kingdom insurance company, formed in 2012. The company own number of insurance subsidiaries providing various insurance products as well as roadside assistance and vehicle recovery.

Used Agile (Scrum) to manage and deliver fraud capabilities in AWS Public Cloud as part of Fraud Analytics Program in the following areas:
•	Built new fraud detection capability in AWS Public Cloud using in-house algorithms/models to flag & investigate fraudulent claims. The cloud infrastructure was based on AWS CloudFormation (CI/CD: Code Pipeline, Code Deploy, RDS, GitLab, VPC Peering), Jenkins, S3, SAS (ETL) and PostgreSQL
•	Developed processes to load data from multiple on-premise source systems and fed this into the AWS Public Cloud to enable better fraud detection and distribution of work across the fraud team
•	Developed various enhancements & upgrades to existing systems within the AWS Public Cloud 

Key duties entailed:
•	As a Scrum Master diligently applied Scrum principles, practice and theory to manage the project delivery
•	End to end project management for design, build and release of the selected technology solution
•	Effectively managed risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies and change requests. Ensured quality assurance mechanisms were in place so that products/deliverables adhered to agreed requirements. Ensured that technology solution requirements were defined, delivered and monitored following agreed standards, architectures, and governance
•	Supported benefits realization and achievement of target business outcomes
•	Built high performing, collaborative project teams. Coordinated and managed virtual teams

Canadian Tire Corporation

Played key role in the Canadian Tire’s major transformational program which involved on-premise applications migration to the GCP public Cloud and automation of on-premise server operating systems (OS) patching and remediation of incidents. The program developed new operations within the Cloud and created capabilities within the organization, for example, provisioning infrastructure using Terraform tool and using Rundeck tool to orchestrate Ansible scripts to patch server OS.
Key pointers for the program:
•	Technical transformation - worked with executive business stakeholders as it related to business process changes
•	Worked in a constantly changing fluid environment
•	Agile delivery model used tools such as Jira Issue Tracking and Confluence Team Collaboration
•	Used orchestration & CI/CD Pipeline tools like Jenkins, Rundeck, Ansible, Terraform and Spinnaker

Senior Agile Cloud Project Manager

Part of the Scotiabank’s multi-million Cloud Enablement Initiative to re-platform on-premise applications to the Azure public Cloud and to transform the application teams. Key duties included:
•	Led and drove new Cloud based programs as a PM, deriving efficiencies and adding value by reducing the Time-To-Market (TTM) timeframe
•	Agile mindset and coached where necessary, helping diverse teams with non-Cloud experience
•	Worked closely with technical SMEs & business to define criteria for Cloud candidate applications, taking into consideration the impact of customer data in a public Cloud & the flow of information between applications hosted on-premise and Cloud
•	Used Atlassian suite such as Jira and Confluence to manage Backlog, Epics & Stories and Sprints etc.
•	Worked with key Cloud service providers / integrators to ensure high availability, secure and reliability for the Cloud enabled applications across Cloud multi-regions
•	Applied DevOps principles and Cloud Models, such as Standard, Automated and Dynamic
•	Established Centre of Excellence Centre (CoE) Lab to help Scotiabank application teams to gain knowledge of Cloud architecture, create and govern patterns and recipes for development best practices and to provide professional consultancy to other departments
•	Worked on ways to calculate & track Return on Investment (ROI) and benefit realizations for migrating on-premise applications to the Cloud

Munich Re Canada

•	Implemented a third party (Concur, a SAP company) Cloud based Expense Solution (SaaS) by working with business users and a vendor to capture, agree and finalize the requirements
•	Carefully planned training and implementation of activities
•	Implemented a third party (PNMSoft, a UK company) workflow-based tool called Sequence by working closely with business and a vendor to setup and successfully execute a proof of concept (POC)
•	Managed the build of the new production environment infrastructure for the new tool deployment, making sure all Security Risk & Vulnerabilities Assessments were completed and signed off
•	Ensured proper training, monitoring & support was in place before the project was closed

Project Manager

Shoppers Drug Mart

1) Project Management Office (PMO) Harmonization - As part of the acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart by Loblaw, project managed an initiative to harmonize key PMO artifacts from both Loblaw and Shoppers Drug Mart. Worked closely with teams from both organizations to understand & gather artifacts, processes and procedures to evaluate and assess.
2) Merger & Acquisition Data Compliance - As part of the acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart by Loblaw, project managed an initiative to consolidate and transfer data from 70 Executive members’ computer devices to Deloitte’s server as directed by the Federal Competition Bureau. Setup a temporary lab to undertake computer data extraction and storage activities.
3) IT re-organization – Project managed activities to update internal systems and processes as a result of an IT re-organization.
4) Contingent Workforce Process Improvement – Executed an initiative to establish contingent workforce process from on-boarding to off-boarding contract resources. Successfully implemented processes to handle & track: Resource Demand; Resource Register; On/Off Boarding; Vendor Management; PO & Invoice Management.
5) Application Managed Services (AMS) - Managed key outsourcing vendors (NTT Data, TCS and Infosys) to deliver quality IT projects using onshore and offshore resources. Also acted as the primary governance focal point, creating a closer partnership.

Vendor Manager

IBM Canada Ltd.

1) Strategic Outsourcing Initiative - Worked with Strategic Global Delivery Services across all sectors and competencies to assist IBM customers to achieve their financial targets by moving existing work undertaken by IBM North American teams to one of IBM Global Delivery Center (GDC).
•	Participated in discussions with IBM Delivery Project Executives (DPE) and PMO during the project Initiation phase to do risk analysis associated with work identified to move to GDC and to finalize the project scope
•	Managed & collaborated over 20 offshore and 10 USA/Canadian resources to ensure customer incidents queues were monitored, prioritized, assigned, tracked and reported in a timely manner
•	Reviewed contracts/SLA to ensure IBM did not breach contractual agreements/SLA in terms of support and restrictions
•	Project managed the smooth transition of existing IBM customer work to GDC by working closely with stakeholders, customers, USA/Canadian and offshore teams in a professional, timely and within the regulatory and compliance criteria – effective management of conflict resolution
2) Sun Life Financials Account – As part of Sun Life Financials (SLF) project team managed upgrading of IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) clients and MS SQL database from SQL2000 to SQL2008.

Over a 30-year IT career, I've transitioned from full-time roles to contracting and back to full-time management. My path has taken me through the banking, insurance, and retail sectors, accumulating a wealth of experience.

As a Scrum Master and Agile Project Manager, I've honed my skills in guiding teams through complex projects, both in cloud and on-premises environments. I hold certifications like CSM, SAFe Scrum Master, and PMP, and have led diverse Scrum teams.

What sets me apart is my commitment to mentorship. Having navigated my career without a mentor, I understand the challenges of forging your path. Now, I'm focused on sharing the insights and practical skills I've gathered. Through my YouTube Channel (@sarfrazaaron), I provide resources tailored to aspiring and current Scrum Masters. Whether you're struggling in a corporate environment or preparing for your first interview, my goal is to equip you with the tools and knowledge for success.

I offer targeted advice on effective team management, navigating complex projects, and improving agile practices. My approach is grounded in real-world experience, aiming to help you overcome challenges and excel in your role.

I’ve condensed all my learnings into a series of videos on Scrum Mastermind to help you succeed as an Agile professional.
- Have a winning resume
- Speak confidently about Agile and Scrum
- Nail the interview
- Boost your confidence in any setting
- Manage multiple teams like a pro

A comprehensive selection of videos to help you in your career and learning:
youtube.com/@sarfrazaaron

LendUS

Scrum Master

Movement Mortgage

First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation®

SAFE certified Scrum Master with over seven years hands on experience working in the financial service industry. Team driven Scrum Master knowledgeable in task prioritization, risk management and workflow organization. Areas of expertise include servant leader, conflict resolution, communication, facilitation of Scrum ceremonies and collaboration with stakeholders and multiple team members across different geographical areas. I have exceptional Analytical Skills as well as problem solving abilities while being highly adaptable. Dedicated servant-leader with strong ability to teach, coach and mentor team members.

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The Battle

Sarfraz Aaron

Nicole Johnson

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