Sterling Kroll | Freelancer Resume

Sterling Kroll Email:-Mobile: - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sterling-kroll-79bb0223/ Professional Summary I am a seasoned IT Project Manager with a proven track record across multiple IT industries over the past 12 years. I enhance team productivity, stakeholder satisfaction, risk management, dependency management, and drive for team success through expert application using Agile methodologies and SAFe practices. I excel in servant leadership and Agile training, significantly boosting organizational agility and project delivery efficiency. I am skilled in data-driven decisions, collaborating and monitoring teams' performance, project delivery, and fostering collaborative environments like ERPs. Methodologies, Processes, and Compliance ● Strategic planning, Strong leadership, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Scrum, Kanban, Timeline & financial drive, Team building, goal-oriented, Collaboration, Continuous improvement, removing impediments, Documentation, Training, facilitation, and Communication across teams, managers, directors, and executives. Tools ● SAFe Scrum, SAFe RTE, Agile Scrum, Kanban, Scrumban, Waterfall, Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment (CI/CD), Test-Driven Development, sprint planning, backlog refinement/grooming, daily stand-up, sprint review, sprint demo, retrospective, inspect & adapt, scrum of scrums, user stories, dependency management, risk management, communication, status progress towards goals and KPIs, velocity planning, capacity planning, sprint burndown and burnup tracking, Jira, Jira Dashboard, Jira system admin, Jira query language (JQL), Confluence, Power BI Dashboard, MIRO, Microsoft Office (MS word, excel, PPT, project, outlook, publisher, Teams), Slack, Zoom, WebEx, Google Meet, Google Docs, Smartsheets, user testing, data-driven decision-making, software development life cycle (SDLC), product development life cycle (PDLC), stalwart, curious, adaptable Skills and Languages ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● SAFe Agile Framework Methodology Servant Leadership Scrum Master Agile metrics, risk, and dependency management Adaptability Negotiator Team leadership Time Management Strategic Planning Collaboration Continuous improvement ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Work History Avalara - Agile Coach, Scrum Master, Product Manager Stalwart Positive attitude Team player Dependability Problem-solving English - fluent Polish - Intermediate HTML and CSS - Intermediate Strong Facilitation Communication Drive for results Seattle, WA 08/2021 - 09/2024 ● Collaborated with top management to craft a dynamic agile strategy, enhancing our organizational agility and driving impactful growth to drive team productivity by 10-20%. ● Developed customized training materials for adopting Agile best practices, ensuring relevance to organizational needs. ● Negotiated with product and business teams on their priorities to deliver the largest ROI work first. ● Boosted stakeholder engagement by delivering dynamic bi-weekly status updates and actively integrating their feedback into every project iteration. ● Empowered team members to self-organize, boosting morale and overall job satisfaction. ● Facilitated conflict resolution within teams to maintain momentum toward project goals. ● Oversaw projects and tracked metrics in Jira to centralize data, reflect progress, and enable data-driven decision-making. ● Scrum coordinated four teams, facilitating all scrum ceremonies, implementing Agile best practices, identifying areas for team improvement, tracking metrics, and managing dependencies. Capital Group - Lean Agile Practitioner, Scrum Master San Antonio, TX 11/2019 - 08/2021 ● Promoted a positive work environment by encouraging open communication among staff and enhancing teamwork through team-building events focused on process improvement. ● Improved efficiency within the practice by proactively identifying bottlenecks in workflow processes and implementing targeted improvements using Agile best practices. ● I organized department-wide Program Increment Planning sessions to discuss cross-team dependencies and identify potential risks. ● Facilitated dynamic Scrum of Scrums meetings to tackle roadblocks head-on and share exciting progress updates, ensuring seamless coordination and collaboration across teams. ● Tracked portfolio progress using metrics and used outputs for making data-driven decisions in Jira. ● Demonstrated strong time management skills, allowing for the timely completion of daily tasks while providing excellent care to clients. ● Developed strong working relationships with colleagues and external partners to facilitate effective collaboration on shared goals. ● When COVID happened, I organized my teams to work fully remotely. I ensured that all tools and applications were available for the team to fulfill their responsibilities successfully. By eliminating the necessity of traveling to meetings, we increased team performance by 10%. Wells Fargo - IT Project Manager San Antonio, TX 02/2018 - 07/2019 ● Streamlined project delivery by 10% by implementing Agile methodologies and improving collaboration among team members. ● Fostered dynamic collaboration among team members to tackle complex technical challenges efficiently and creatively. ● Managed cross-functional teams to ensure efficient allocation of resources and project completion. ● I have identified the plans and resources needed to achieve the project's goals and objectives. ● Used Trello to track progress with each geographic location to handle the complexities of locations and upgrades. USAA - IT Project Manager, Scrum Master, and Mainframe Systems Engineer San Antonio, TX 01/2007 - 01/2018 ● Developed detailed project plans, outlining clear objectives, timelines, and deliverables for IT projects. ● Successfully navigated and oversaw project budgets to ensure alignment with our goals and timely delivery of key results. ● Negotiated contracts with vendors that led to cost savings and maintained a high level of service. ● Mentored and trained staff in best practices, fostering a culture of continuous improvement. ● Coordinated system integration efforts by collaborating with vendors and internal teams for seamless transitions. ● Improved system performance by identifying and resolving technical issues promptly, reducing outages. ● Evaluated new tools and technologies for possible integration into existing infrastructure environments. ● Analyzed system requirements and developed tailored solutions that met or exceeded client expectations. ● Coordinated with stakeholders throughout all stages of the project lifecycle. ● Successfully navigated the complexities of compliance and efficiency by renegotiating contracts and implementing innovative replacements, resulting in an impressive $25M savings on upgrades! ● Tech-led efforts to automate manual processes, saving time and errors while improving system availability. ● Led multiple efforts to improve user HOST systems to allow for newer technologies to interact with legacy systems, including one effort that enabled developers to use modern tools like Eclipse to interact, develop, and compile code to run on the Mainframe. ● Managed the effort to build, upgrade, and roll out a new desktop software version to 25,000 users without a major incident throughout migration. ● Individually led the effort on hardware consolidation, coordinating hardware and software changes with the vendors and software product placements to save USAA $15M annually in maintenance and software costs. Volunteer work ● Collaborated with other nonprofit organizations to develop joint initiatives like hurricane relief that benefited the broader community. ● Supported efficient operations at a homeless shelter, preparing meals and organizing supplies. Education and Certifications ● University of Phoenix, MBA - 2012 ● Brigham Young University Idaho, Bachelor of Science in Information Technology - 2006 ● Project Management Institute - Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) - 2015 ● Certified Scrum Master (CSM) through Scrum Study - 2013 ● ITIL 3 Certified (PMLG) - 2012 ● Eagle Scout (BSA) - 1999