Rebecca Townsend

I’m a qualified Scrum Master, with experience of working in a Product function for 18 months. I have a deep fascination with people and the interactions between us all, which plays into why I’m so keen to develop others and see them thrive. I am currently looking for a new role as a Scrum Master, where I can coach others to develop an Agile mindset, whilst continuing to deepen my Agile knowledge and experience.

I have successfully completed Agile Team Facilitation & Professional Agile Coaching training. As an Empath, I make connections with people quickly and easily, thus fostering a trustful environment.

Agile Coach (TMS Tribe), Comply Advantage Apr 2022 - Present 

• Created a regular cadence of meetings to determine and plan for cross squad dependencies ensuring each squad could block plan with increased efficiency
• Coached different squads to address challenges such as improving transparency with a more efficient backlog refinement process & creating better engagement by including all squad members in planning sessions
• Raised awareness of the need to implement sprint reviews to facilitate a regular feedback loop with external stakeholders
• Facilitated dialogue between Customer Service Managers and Product Managers to create feedback loops
• Facilitated a workshop on the vertical slicing of stories focussed on customer value in order to get quicker feedback
• Worked with a squad to involve all members in block planning as well as sprint planning
• Saw the opportunity to improve the cross functionality of the squads by helping engineers become T shaped. I had conversations with engineers across squads to encourage a training program that saw BE engineers training FE engineers and vice versa. This will result in having truly cross functional squads.

Scrum Master, Aire Oct 2020 - Mar 2022

• Facilitated Scrum events, allowing space for all to be heard
• Searched for different techniques to make room for introverts to speak up
• Removed impediments, enabling the squad to work more efficiently, with no bottlenecks
• Built connections within the squads and between squads and stakeholders
• Worked with my Agile Coach to organise the quarterly Key Results planning
• Provided guidance on Scrum pillars and values in our day to day work
• Created and facilitated a Scrum Workshop, that allowed room to teach Scrum but also for discussions leading to a greater and common understanding of Scrum
• Worked to encourage holding efficient meetings, so that engineers spend less time in meetings & more time coding
• Worked with the Product Managers to enable continuous improvement
• Mentored, coached and taught Scrum to the squad members and wider members of Aire
• Used Emotional Intelligence to understand what is not said in the room and take appropriate action when required
• Facilitated flow of feedback in order to promote continuous improvement 
• Promoted and influenced alignment to enable better working relationships between different functions
• Held space & facilitated the squad to deal with conflict
• Active in Lunch & Learn CoP. Organising events, encouraging participation, trying different formats to encourage a wider range of speakers.
• Active in Mental Health CoP. Creating a Slack channel for regular Mental Health awareness content, evangelising about Mental Health training, organising external training sessions for managers and being available to speak with colleagues who reached out for support. 

ICAgile: Agile Team Facilitation - Feb 2021

Scrum.org: Professional Scrum Master I - May 2021

ICAgile: Certified Professional, Agile Coaching - Jan 2022