Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Certification
Languages
Timeline
Generic

Shylaja Sridhar Rao

Summary

Dynamic Agile Specialist with a proven track record at IBM, excelling in team facilitation and stakeholder communication. Adept at driving continuous improvement and fostering collaboration, I leverage my expertise in Scrum and emotional intelligence to enhance team performance and deliver high-quality outcomes. Committed to empowering teams through effective coaching and problem-solving.

Overview

12
12
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification

Work History

Process Innovative Specialist

IBM
Chennai
09.2023 - Current
  • Lead and facilitate Scrum ceremonies (Daily Stand-ups, Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective) for a distributed team across multiple time zones.
  • Drive continuous improvement of Agile processes, ensuring teams follow best practices, and remove impediments that affect performance and productivity.
  • Foster collaboration between cross-functional teams (developers, product owners, business analysts, etc.). To meet project objectives and timelines.
  • Serve as the primary liaison between the product owner and development team, ensuring clear communication of requirements and priorities.
  • Mentor and guide teams in Agile principles and the Scrum framework to ensure self-organization, accountability, and ownership of the development process.
  • Actively support teams in maintaining a healthy, transparent, and predictable Scrum process.
  • Successfully managed the overseas transition and integration of new team members based in Ireland, ensuring smooth onboarding, knowledge transfer, and process alignment.
  • Conduct regular retrospective sessions, driving actionable insights, and implementing process improvements to enhance team performance and delivery.
  • Collaborate with senior management to remove any blockers and drive organizational change toward Agile adoption.
  • Ensure that all Scrum processes are being followed and continuously improved upon to align with the team’s goals and project objectives.

Senior Analyst

HCL
Chennai
09.2021 - 04.2023
  • Facilitated daily Scrum meetings, Sprint Planning, Sprint Reviews, and Sprint Retrospectives, ensuring clear communication and adherence to Agile principles.
  • Worked closely with Product Owners to ensure backlog items were clearly defined, prioritized, and well understood by the development team.
  • Guided the team through the Scrum process, ensuring proper sprint execution and delivery according to agreed timelines and scope.
  • Proactively identified and removed obstacles (impediments) to ensure continuous flow and high team productivity.
  • Fostered a culture of transparency, collaboration, and accountability within the team to ensure all members contributed to project success.
  • Encouraged team collaboration, self-organization, and ownership of tasks, while maintaining a focus on delivering high-quality, high-value outcomes.
  • Supported Agile maturity by educating team members on Scrum practices and Agile principles, helping them transition from traditional to Agile methodologies.
  • Provided regular progress reports and metrics to stakeholders, ensuring visibility into sprint progress, team velocity, and blockers.
  • Played a key role in maintaining a healthy and motivating work environment, boosting team morale, and overall productivity.

Business Operations Associate

Accenture
Chennai
02.2020 - 09.2021
  • Facilitated Scrum ceremonies, including Daily Stand-ups, Sprint Planning, Sprint Reviews, and Sprint Retrospectives, for newly formed Agile teams.
  • Worked closely with the Product Owner to help manage and prioritize the product backlog, ensuring that user stories were well-defined, understood, and actionable by the team.
  • Supported the development team by removing impediments, improving team communication, and fostering a positive, collaborative team culture.
  • Assisted in the education of the team on Scrum principles, roles, and responsibilities to ensure alignment with Agile best practices.
  • Fostered a culture of self-organization and accountability, enabling the team to take ownership of their deliverables, and continuously improve processes.
  • Ensured that Scrum processes were followed, helping the team to meet deadlines and objectives, while maintaining high standards of quality.
  • Provided regular feedback and coaching to team members, contributing to their professional growth, and helping to build a high-performing team.
  • Collaborated with other Scrum Masters and Agile coaches to continuously improve the organization’s Scrum implementation and Agile maturity.
  • Reported on team progress, sprint velocity, and blockers to key stakeholders, ensuring transparency and alignment with business objectives.

Process Associate

Capgemini
Chennai
07.2018 - 11.2019
  • Collaborated with stakeholders to gather business requirements and translate them into actionable user stories and functional specifications.
  • Worked closely with the development team to ensure requirements were understood and implemented as expected.
  • Managed the product backlog with the Product Owner, prioritizing tasks for sprint cycles.
  • Acted as a liaison between business users and development teams.
  • Identified process improvements and worked on aligning technical solutions with business needs.

Senior Customer Support Executive

First source
Chennai
07.2016 - 07.2018
  • Managed relationships with clients, ensuring their needs were met, and expectations were managed.
  • Coordinated communication between internal teams and clients to ensure successful project delivery.
  • Supported project teams by ensuring they understood client requirements and priorities.
  • Managed timelines and budgets, ensuring client deliverables were met.

Language Instructor and Course Advisor

SRM Infotech
Chennai
08.2013 - 11.2015

Education

B.Tech - Information Technology -

Priyadarshini Engineering College
01-2013

Skills

  • Agile Methodologies (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe)
  • Team Facilitation and Coaching
  • Stakeholder management and communication
  • Continuous Improvement (Kaizen) and Problem Solving
  • Conflict Resolution and Emotional Intelligence
  • Jira, Confluence, and Agile tools

Certification

  • Jira Fundamentals
  • Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
  • Certified Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe 6.0) Agilist

Languages

Marathi
First Language
English
Proficient (C2)
C2
Tamil
Proficient (C2)
C2

Timeline

Process Innovative Specialist

IBM
09.2023 - Current

Senior Analyst

HCL
09.2021 - 04.2023

Business Operations Associate

Accenture
02.2020 - 09.2021

Process Associate

Capgemini
07.2018 - 11.2019

Senior Customer Support Executive

First source
07.2016 - 07.2018

Language Instructor and Course Advisor

SRM Infotech
08.2013 - 11.2015

B.Tech - Information Technology -

Priyadarshini Engineering College

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Shylaja Sridhar Rao