Kristy Ward

Experience

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  INGDirect

  Jan 2007 - Jan 2009

  Quality Assurance Testing Analyst

  Provided QA Testing Support for various areas: Deposit Applications: Deposit Applications: Bank Applications for Checking and Savings, Home Loans: Originations and Loan Servicing.* One of the first teams to move from Waterfall to Agile Scrum Methodology within ING Direct.* Oversaw training and mentoring of new Testing Analysts.* Developed, wrote, and executed both manual test cases and automated test cases, while concurrently supporting both areas to meet QA Testing deadlines. Performed Ad-hoc testing when time allowed.* Provided QA testing support during monthly Sprint releases. Conducted testing changes in Production environment to ensure changes were successful and that no other occurred arose during releases.* Overcame the situation of a QA Test Analyst becoming ill which affected a deadline. Gathered team members, discussed situation and developed a plan to complete the work and meet the deadline. Show less

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  ING

  Jan 2010 - Jan 2012

  Business Systems Analyst

  Provided support and served as a point-of-contact for upcoming initiatives and projects for the Home Loans Servicing Department.* Gathered high level requirements for approximately 15 projects (many simultaneously), with each project varying from 6 months to 1 year.* Facilitated grooming sessions between both the Business and Development team to clarify features outlined in the requirement, which ensured changes were understood and correct; resulted in a higher level of accuracy when tested in the QA environment. * Prioritized work for 2 teams comprised of approximately 12-15 people. Submitted monthly reports to management on commitments teams developed, which created transparency of project priorities and directions.* Supported multiple QA Testing Teams across multiple project initiatives. Oversaw numerous logistics to ensure process flowed seamlessly with no impediments resulting timely releases. * Played a key role in Production Night Releases by ensuring adequate QA Test Analyst and Development support were available. Answered questions from team, reported any issues, and tracked issues for future remedies.* Conducted testing and identified a defect late in the day on a very tight deadline. Resolved defect, retested and successfully met deadline with an improved accuracy rate due to defect being fixed before Production Release Show less

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  Capital One

  Jan 2012 - Sept 2020

  Serve as Scrum Master for 2-3 Kanban Teams at any given time, supporting various teams including: QA/Pre-production environments, cloud engineering, and end-to-end production delivery. Partner with teams from multiple lines of business to prioritize work and ensure timely implementation. * Led approximately 10-15 engineers on a consistent basis with various Agile Practices: Daily S1 meetings, grooming sessions, retrospectives, team norms, maintaining the team Jira/Version One boards, processing incoming requests, and prioritizing teams.* Played a key role in leading initiatives from On-Prem into the Cloud via Amazon Web Services. Engaged in ongoing communication to ensure deadlines were met (prioritization, road maps, weekly updates to upper management and two infrastructure teams).* Supported both Sprint and Kanban teams as Scrum Master/Product Owner: monthly/bi-monthly implementation of product requests (Sprint) and supporting QA/Pre-Prod support/new projects to disaster recovery/production environments (Kanban).* Facilitated discussions between Development and Cloud Platform teams to remove impediments in a timely manner to ensure critical deadlines were met.* Coordinated multiple training sessions for 2-3 teams at a time (15-25 engineers). * Facilitated “How to Use Jira/Version One” sessions. * Led teams through various changes and provided ongoing and open communication with team members to ensure a smooth transition from Waterfall to Agile.* Stepped up-to-the-plate to enhance working relations for Development teams. Held “Meet and Greet” meetings, which informed teams of various options to receive help which led to a faster response to their needs.* Initiated the creation of surveys to gather respective feedback for continuous team improvements. Show less IT Project Management – Senior Business Systems Analyst 2012 – 2014 Supported the Project Management and Portfolio Team. Provided Infrastructure Teams with a point-of-contact to pull all deliverables together for multiple projects while concurrently working with each team member to gather necessary requirement details.* Collaborated with 6-7 teams while multi-tasking various projects for 10-20 different initiatives. Gathered requirements and reviewed/provided updated architecture documentation to ensure teams received accurate information and milestones were completed on time.* Project Management Experience: provided support to various projects and served as backup to Project Manager. Filled in for various PMs as needed to ensure continuous delivery.* Created and facilitated a Customer Counsel Meeting for Development teams and Infrastructure teams to prioritize and negotiated work needed within outlined timelines.* Delivered reports to management which resulted in transparency on deliverables and helped visualize project progression.* Took action and created and facilitated a weekly touch point/project status meeting for large groups involved with each project. Resulted in keeping teams on task with open communication to ensure details and timing for collaboration were communicated.* Created stories in Version One to outline work requirements for multiple teams which allowed for clarity around the timelines for upper management.* Conducted grooming for teams to break down requirements into workable chucks which allowed Business Owners opportunities to communicate desired outcome for each requirement to various Infrastructure teams. Show less

  • Scrum Master

    Jan 2014 - Sept 2020

  • Business System Analyst

    Jan 2012 - Jan 2014
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  Preferred Credit, Inc.

  Nov 2017 - Aug 2019

  Application Support Analyst
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  Blattner Energy

  Sept 2020 - now

  • Scrum Master Manager

    Sept 2022 - now

  • Sr Scrum Master

    Jul 2021 - Sept 2022

  • Scrum Master

    Sept 2020 - Jul 2021