VTPMO Case Studies - VTPMO: Your One-Stop IT Solutions & Staffing Hub

Customers: RightStar and Federal Reserve Banks

• Spearheaded collaborative efforts with various FR organizations across multiple locations, facilitating their SAFe enterprise agile transformation utilizing Jira Align, Jira, and Confluence. Engagements included orchestrating portfolios, hundreds of Agile Release Trains (ARTs), and Teams in cities such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Richmond, Kansas City, and more.
• Implemented and administered the enterprise agile ecosystem framework through Jira Align & Jira configuration, streamlining SAFe practices and fostering alignment between business and technical teams on a unified platform.
• Led the migration of thousands of users from legacy systems (including Jira server, Rally, Clarity, and Azure DevOps) to the new ecosystem framework on AWS GovCloud, utilizing Jira Align, Jira Software, and Confluence.
• Provided consultation on leveraging Jira and Jira Align data lakes for generating custom reports using Power BI or Tableau, including the development of Jira JQL, dashboards, and Power BI reports.
• Conducted extensive training sessions, totaling over 370 hours, covering topics such as Jira Advanced Roadmap Plans, best practices for ecosystem framework usage aligned with SAFe, and role-based training for various stakeholders.
• Evaluated and recommended Jira add-ons and plug-ins conducive to Scaled Agile practices and integration with Jira Align.
• Established an Enterprise Agile Alliance to ensure consistency in SAFe best practices and optimize the utilization of the enterprise ecosystem framework, collaborating closely with agile coaches.
• Authored PI [Big Room] workflow checklists and conducted training sessions for PI events, closely collaborating with key stakeholders to ensure successful execution.
• Developed custom hierarchies in Jira Align for Large Solution Trains, Product, and Application taxonomy, fostering alignment across organizations, portfolios, and programs.
• Coached leaders and stakeholders on Value Stream Mapping (VSM) workshops and configured Lean Portfolio Management (LPM) structures in Jira Align for FRB organizations.
• Collaborated with the Transformation Office on Lean-Agile Center of Enablement (LACE) framework and activities, and assisted in establishing Communities of Practices (COPs).
• Contributed to enterprise tools integration efforts, integrating Jira and Jira Align with Clarity, ServiceNow, and Workday, and participated in recurring security audits and compliance activities.
• Engaged in agile health assessments using AgilityHealth and SAFe Enterprise methodologies to drive continuous improvement initiatives.

• Leveraged Jira Align & Jira at Visa to orchestrate the transformation journey of 10 portfolios, sixty-three product groups, nine shared services, 125 Agile Release Trains (ARTs), involving over eight thousand individuals.

• Authored role-based training materials for various stakeholders including Portfolio Managers, Product Managers, Product Owners, RTE/STE, Scrum Masters, Architects, Team Leads, and Agile Delivery Teams, utilizing Jira Align and Jira.

• Conducted training sessions and office hours on Agile best practices and the effective utilization of Jira Align, Jira, and Confluence, facilitating the transition of teams into the Visa Enterprise Agile Framework.

• Led by example in demonstrating the benefits of the new Scaled Agile framework and related toolchain, showcasing quick quality results and metrics to alleviate resistance and foster acceptance during the transformation journey.

• Provided coaching and support to ARTs across various phases including Pre-PI, PI planning events, post-PI tracking, STE/RTE sync, Scrum of Scrums (SoS), PO/ART sync, retrospectives, Inspect & Adapt sessions, backlog management, forecasting, capacity planning, prioritizations, and OKRs management.

• Facilitated PI Planning readiness by driving Continuous Exploration processes to synthesize Vision, Roadmap, and Backlogs, and conducting Pre- and Post-PI Planning meetings, and summarizing Team PI Objectives into Program PI Objectives.

• Planned and facilitated PI events, directly coaching RTEs and supporting ART level processes and execution using Jira Align and Jira.

• Provided support and guidance to users at Portfolio, Program, Product, and Team levels on Jira and Jira Align functionalities, capabilities, and best practices.

• Configured and administered the Enterprise Scaled Agile Ecosystem Framework based on SAFe principles, leveraging Jira Align, Jira, and relevant add-ons for portfolios, product management, solutions, programs (ARTs), and teams.

• Contributed to the enterprise tools integration efforts, focusing on integrating Jira and Jira Align with Clarity and Workday.

• Assisted in the migration of hundreds of teams from legacy tools to the new Jira and Jira Align ecosystem framework.

• Orchestrated Agile coaching efforts as part of the Lean-Agile Center of Excellence (LACE), serving as a Portfolio, Product, Program, and Team Agile Coach.

• Provided coaching to executives, leaders, portfolio managers, product managers/owners, scrum masters, and Agile Release Trains (ARTs) across a portfolio comprising six (6) product groups, fifteen (15) programs, fifty-one (51) agile teams, and seven (7) ARTs, collaborating with other coaches as needed.

• Conducted Agile assessments to identify gaps and challenges, developing coaching roadmaps and backlogs to address them.

• Collaborated with CTO/CIO/Transformation offices throughout the SAFe-based transformation journey.

• Participated in Value Stream Mapping workshops to define Agile teams for various operations, services, and products.

• Authored and delivered Agile coaching workshops and materials aimed at establishing a common Agile paradigm, fostering employee engagement and collaboration, enhancing Agile adoption and maturity levels, and improving product delivery practices incrementally.

• Developed and delivered "Program Increment (PI) Planning/Execution Workflow Best Practices" workshops, covering PI activities and related tracking, dashboards, reports, and metrics using Jira Align and Jira.

• Facilitated PI Planning readiness through Continuous Exploration processes, guiding the synthesis of Vision, Roadmap, and Backlogs, and facilitating Pre- and Post-PI Planning meetings.

• Planned and facilitated PI events, providing direct coaching to RTEs/STEs and supporting ART level processes and execution using Jira Align and Jira.

• Provided firsthand consultation on Jira and Jira Align data lakes for external custom reports using Power BI or Tableau, along with developing Jira JQL, dashboards, and Power BI custom reports.

• Trained users on Jira Advanced Roadmap Plans and evaluated Jira add-ons and plug-ins suitable for Scaled Agile practices and integration with Jira Align.

• Offered coaching to ARTs and teams during various phases including Pre-PI and PI planning events, post-PI tracking, STE/RTE sync, Scrum of Scrums (SoS), PO/ART sync, retrospectives, Inspect & Adapt sessions, backlog management, forecasting, capacity planning, prioritizations, and OKRs development.

• Authored Lean-Agile knowledge base articles as part of LACE and provided coaching to Communities of Practices (COPs) for RTE/STE, Scrum Masters, PO/PM, and DevSecOps.

• Configured Jira Align and Jira for Enterprise, Portfolio, Solution, Program, Team, and Product levels.

• Completed Agility maturity assessments on value streams, product delivery flow, teams, workflows, tools, communication, and operations. Identified business and technical gaps and recommended the appropriate Scaled Agile transformation roadmap and backlogs to achieve the quality Product Delivery and Business Agility goals.
• Designed and architected Enterprise Scaled Agile-DevOps-APMO Delivery Portal (SaaS) using Atlassian product suite (Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket, Bamboo, Crowd) and add-ons (Advanced Roadmaps, Structure, BigPicture, eazyBI, AIO Reports and Timesheets, Xray).
• Customized Jira JQL filters and Dashboard.
• Demonstrated the Agile Delivery Portal to the State FSSA CIO and Deputy Director, which resulted in enterprise-wide adoption by the State business and technical staff and related vendors. The Delivery Portal provided alignment with strategic initiatives across the enterprise. The portal provided near-real time reports, dashboards, metrics, and reports.
• Conducted training and coaching workshops to focus groups (Executives, Managers and Leaders, Business Leaders, Agile Teams, Portfolio Managers, Product Owner, Product Manager, Scrum Master, and Release Train Engineer) to ensure successful Agile transformation and quality product delivery.
• Developed Agile Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and published to Confluence portal for online collaboration, continuous education, and relentless improvement.
• Participated in integrating Agile training classes into the State’s LMS (Learning Management System), which resulted in establishing Agile Center of Enablement (ACE) for continuous education and relentless improvement.
• Facilitated events: PI planning, IP iteration, Inspect and Adapt (I&A) workshop, system demos, scrum of scrums and PO sync (ART sync), risks identification and tracking, program objectives definition and planning, Epic decomposition to Capabilities and Features, backlog refinements, release planning, and retrospectives.
• Participated in Communities of Practices (CoPs).
• Improved overall program communications, reporting, and presentation quality with the State stakeholders, teams of teams, and third-party vendors.
• Implemented effective portfolio resource management across the program with reports and analytics to assist in accurate resource planning (capacity, estimates, actuals, variances).
• Completed EDW CMS certification based on CMS checklist artifacts, reports, and extracts submission to a secure file exchange server.