SAFe Scrum Master (SSM)

• Agile Transformation – introducing agile principles and transforming traditional IT departments into Scrum and Kanban teams

• IT Operating Model – redesigning the IT organization and introducing modern delivery structures and roles

• Flight Levels – implementing Flight Levels to align strategy, coordination and operational execution

• Leadership & Coaching – recruiting Agile Coaches and coaching Scrum Masters and IT leaders

• ERP Operations – acting as Interim Product Owner for the existing ERP landscape and ensuring business continuity

• ERP Transformation – supporting the migration from Microsoft Dynamics NAV to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as a Project Manager

• Operational Core (ERP) – establishing dedicated teams for ERP Support, Feature Development, and ERP Migration

• Modern Workplace – initiating the transition towards a Microsoft 365-based cloud workplace environment

• ConnectHub – establishing a dedicated team to drive integration and connectivity initiatives

• Warehouse Operations – building a cross-functional team to support logistics and warehouse-related capabilities

• Maintenance & Operations (M&O) – introducing a dedicated team focused on stable operations and continuous improvement

• AI Initiatives – identifying and promoting practical Artificial Intelligence use cases across the IT department

• As Interim Chief Digital Officer (CDO) for a leading industrial supplier with a strong e-commerce focus (often described as 'the Amazon for industrial goods') responsible for leading the digital and organizational transformation while reporting directly to executive leadership.

• Introduced agile principles and ways of working across the organization and transformed the traditionally structured IT department into cross-functional Scrum and Kanban teams focused on transparency, collaboration, and customer value delivery.

• Redesigned the entire IT organization by establishing a modern operating model, introducing new roles such as Product Owner, Scrum Master and Solution Architect and strengthening the organization through strategic hiring and targeted capability development.

• Recruited and onboarded Agile Coaches to accelerate the transformation and personally managed and coached Scrum Masters as well as IT department leaders to foster servant leadership, self-management and a culture of continuous improvement.

• Implemented Flight Levels practices based on Klaus Leopold to align strategic objectives, cross-functional coordination and operational execution across the organization.

• Introduced a ticketing system to increase transparency and enable data-driven decision-making, flow-based work management, and greater accountability at all levels.

• Established and supported multiple cross-functional teams, including the Operational Core (ERP) domain with dedicated streams for Support, Feature Development and ERP Migration, as well as teams responsible for Warehouse Operations, Maintenance & Operations (M&O), Modern Workspace and ConnectHub.

• Acted as Interim Product Owner for the operation and enhancement of the existing ERP landscape while supporting the migration from Microsoft Dynamics NAV to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as a Project Manager.

• Collaborated with the selected implementation partner to design and establish the project organization and target operating model for the ERP transformation, introducing agile delivery structures and ways of working.

• Facilitated the alignment between business, IT and the external vendor and played a key role in negotiating the contractual framework and delivery model to ensure a sustainable foundation for the transformation program.

• Initiated the strategic modernization of the workplace environment through the adoption of Microsoft 365 cloud capabilities, establishing the foundation for enhanced collaboration, scalability and future digital services.

• Launched AI initiatives to identify practical business use cases and promote the responsible adoption of Artificial Intelligence across the IT department.

• Encouraged self-management and empowered teams to take ownership of decisions, delivery and continuous improvement.

Project language: German

• Rework demand, development and operational organizational set up for the Solution Train
• Rework requirement refinement process flow from strategic theme to user story
• Introduction of visualization tools (Canvas) of work dependencies over different requirement levels and Solution Train leadership coaching

Due to founding another company during COVID, the managing director stepped back from day-to-day operations, which left the team without leadership for around 3 years.

My task was to train a new Product Owner, shape the developers and the Product Owner into a cohesive team, and coach this newly formed team into a state where self-organized value delivery for the customer would be possible again.

Because of the political situation in the US, the main customer of my client saw a drop in revenue, which made a change in the business model necessary for my client. I was allowed to support the transition from a service provider to an AI-first company with a broad customer base in a strategic advisory role, hire staff, and facilitate several C-level negotiations between my client and its new customers.

TASKS

• Training team and management in Scrum and agile ways of working
• Coaching a junior Product Owner up to PSPO II level
• Mediating conflicts in change processes
• C-level consulting and negotiation facilitation
• Developing and evaluating business models
• Leading the hiring process for 4 new employees

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Successfully coached Product Owner to PSPO II level
• Formed a cohesive Scrum team from a team without leadership
• Restored self-organized value delivery for the customer
• Successfully transitioned to AI-native development (Claude)
• Successfully changed the customer's business model

TOOLS & METHODS

• Team building
• NVC according to Rosenberg
• Conflict management
• Workshop facilitation
• Negotiation facilitation
• Leadership coaching
• Personio hiring

• Industries: Energy, Telecommunications, Manufacturing
• Transformation & Change: Supported complex IT and digital transformation programs as Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Change Manager and RTE Consultant at Siemens Energy (global SAFe rollout), E.ON (sales technology platform), Schneider Electric (S/4HANA transformation DACH) and Vodafone (Operational Excellence)
• Agile Roles: Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Product Owner, Business Analyst, RTE Consultant in cross-functional and scaled teams (SAFe, Scrum, Spotify Model)
• Procurement Excellence: Strategic purchasing consulting with a focus on cost optimization, supplier management, digitalization and organizational development, including building supplier scorecard models, AI-supported procurement approaches and process automation in purchasing
• Managed functional leadership of interdisciplinary project teams of up to 12 people in national and international settings
• Successful launch of several global ARTs at Siemens Energy with improved coordination across sites
• Increased change acceptance and established communication structures in the S/4HANA program at Schneider Electric
• Introduced agile methods, OKR frameworks and KPI dashboards at E.ON, increasing velocity and transparency
• Reduced purchasing costs through strategic sourcing and supplier optimization
• Implemented process innovations in close cooperation with IT and business teams

• Restarting and improving the Scrum process
• Reorganizing and structuring the product backlog in Azure DevOps
• Defining and implementing agile KPIs to measure team performance
• Introducing medium-term planning iterations to ensure delivery dates
• Coaching an advanced development team in finding flow

Goal: Coach a new agile team to implement and deliver the MVP of an AI-powered digital insurance service.

• Kicked off and coached a new cross-functional agile team as Scrum Master.
• Introduced a new Product Owner to the role with coaching, close collaboration and support with daily operations and backlog management in Jira.
• Facilitated the ideation, design and backlog creation process for the MVP, applying the appropriate tools and techniques (user journey mapping, impact mapping, story mapping, AI prototyping).
• Managed dependencies and impediments across multiple teams, resolving challenges rising from the use of both agile frameworks and traditional project management methodologies.
• Facilitated and supported planning and decision-making activities regarding the MVP delivery (roadmap creation, release planning, test management, translation of user feedback into product decisions)
• Continuously improved processes across multiple agile teams, closely collaborating with other Scrum Masters and cross-team roles (leads, architect, test manager).
• Designed and facilitated in-person and remote workshops as needed across multiple teams (agile practices, problem solving, process improvement, AI powered product development).

• Build an AI product end-to-end, hands-on across the full delivery cycle so I stay current on how software teams actually work: modern development, CI/CD, and shipping to production.

• Team coach for the "Mobile Platform" team
• Team coach for the "Wild Tangent" team
• Establishment of a continuous improvement process
• Product Owner consulting and support
• Training, workshops, and courses on agile practices and principles

Industry: digital sovereignty, public sector

Responsibilities:

• Project coordination (teams: consulting, development, testing, deployment/operations)

Products and standards:

• Jira, Confluence, Asana, Miro, Mural
• Open Source, Keycloak, Open Xchange, ownCloud

• Development of an AI-supported personality analysis based on the institute's SDWA4: online survey, AI-supported and automated evaluation, and email delivery
• Requirements analysis, prototype development, evaluation, derivation of a simplified SDWA4-light analysis, continuous improvement, design, Make automation, deployment

Implementation of anti-money laundering requirements in accordance with AMLA/KYC for an international large bank in Munich

Services provided:

• Clarification of the assignment, definition of the work package structure for the AMLA/KYC implementation project
• AI-supported project planning using my own AI workflow for project management
• Creation of the project management plan
• Resource and capacity planning
• Development of collaboration structures between IT service provider and bank client
• Alignment of responsibilities (RACI matrix)
• Management of 5 project members (core team)
• Project control, project monitoring, project reporting
• Communication management
• Escalation management
• Stakeholder management (11 stakeholders)
• Permanent member of the steering committee
• Project representation internally and externally
• Project reporting, management of decision-making bodies
• Project volume: 506 person-days (development effort)
• Risk management
• Quality management
• Organization and running of workshops

Methods: PMI PMBOK, EVM, GWG, DORA, BAIT, KANBAN, AML, AMLR, AMLA, GWG, KYC

IT environment: JIRA, Confluence, Sharepoint, Kantata Kimble, AI LLM Copilot, ChatGPT, anti-money laundering systems (in-house developments and SMARAGD)

• Introduction of Agile-CCPM in an IT project agency with a focus on PHP-based content management systems.
• Preparation and facilitation of workshops to establish a cross-agency multi-project management system.
• Coordination and support of the agency partners.
• Coaching of the methodological framework.
• Collection, evaluation, and use of organizational metrics to plan next steps.
• Environment: OKR, CCPM, Agile Coaching, Agile Planning, Agile Metrics, Workshops, Facilitation, Change Management, JIRA, Zoom, Slack, Miro.

• Transformation of the program organization from six subprojects into a scaled agile setup as RTE to stabilize the go-live date

• Organizational development by building virtual, agile, cross-functional teams and establishing metrics and performance indicators

• Coaching agile development and rollout principles for an SAP migration

• Training internal staff for new roles and toughening up effort estimates towards the steering board

• Switching to agile governance and reporting structures with a focus on end-to-end business processes

• Establishing the product owner role and promoting agile principles in the SAP development team

• Reduced delivery times through domain-based scoping and smaller cycle times

• More reliable delivery forecasts and increased delivery rates

• Earlier and more frequent feedback from business units, increased trust, and cost savings by eliminating duplicate structures

• The AVANZA project provides the deployment and procurement of a modern, reliable system for efficient access and sales and supports smooth operations at the Lötschberg & Simplon car shuttle.
• Operations are sustainably secured and the further development of the car shuttle business model is supported.
• Developed a study with an evaluation of possible solution options.
• Supported the decision on options, evaluated the RFI, prepared procurement, concept created based on the chosen option.