Boogie Board, Art and Crafts, Upgrading wooden furniture
Carol-Ann Burczak
Scrum Master / Project Manager/Agile Lead
Somerset West,WC
Work Preference
Summary
Dynamic leader with over 30 years of progressive experience, transitioning from administrative roles to becoming a certified Agile transformation specialist. Demonstrated adaptability and commitment to continuous learning through successful shifts from traditional project management methodologies to advanced SAFe Agile frameworks. Proven track record of driving organizational change in telecommunications, retail, and financial services, coaching teams through complex digital transformations at industry leaders such as MTN and Vodacom. A strong advocate for servant leadership, fostering high-performing teams that excel in challenging technical environments while focusing on business outcomes and delivering transformational results in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Overview
37
37
years of professional experience
15
15
Certifications
3
3
Languages
Work History
Scrum Master & Agile Coach
MTN SA
02.2022 - 12.2025
- Scrum Master & Agile Coach for the following teams:
- FINTECH: (October 2023 – December 2025)
- O Insurance Front End: WEB & APP Team
- O Insurance Back End: Siebel Team
- O Insurance Back End: SOA Team
- O Insurance EIS: Reporting Team
- Digital Services Online (Feb 2022 – August 2023)
- O Prepaid Sales & Auto Top Team (FE & BE Teams)
- O Digitizing transactions: Recharges & Payments (FE & BE Teams)
- O Technology Evolution Team (FE & BE Teams)
- Coaching new teams Agile Scrum from Waterfall to SAFe Agile Scrum
- Training team members individually as when required for Scrum Events
- Implement BDD sessions
- Facilitate Scrum Events
- Remove Impediments for delivery Iterations
- Audit all tasks & user stories on the ALM Octane tool according to the governance process.
- Is a Servant leader to the team
- Building high-performing teams
- Coaches’ teams to improve values, principles and best practices
- Facilitates effective Agile Scrum events
- Protects the Agile development team
- Collaborate with Business and IS Project Managers according to the Business Roadmap.
- Plan Backlog User Stories and User Story Mapping with Product Owner
- Reason for Leaving: MTN's significant budget cuts within the Fintech Portfolio. Contractor will not be renewed.
Scrum Master and Agile Coach
Vodacom
01.2018 - 01.2022
- Scrum Master & Agile Coach for the following teams:
- O Online Digital Services IT: DCB Web & Portal
- O Online: DXL Micro Services
- O Projects impacted the retail stores, external vendors.
- O Content Services and Self-Service Capability.
- O Anti-Fraud RFP and Anti-Fraud Implementation.
- O Integrating with APPLE into our platform services.
- Scrum Master for Digital Online Services
- Web/Portal Front End and Back-end services for new partners
- Keep the team improving continuously
- Keep workloads within capacity (Velocity)
- Audit all tasks & user stories on the JIRA tool according to the governance process.
- Coaches’ teams to improve values, principles and best practices.
- Facilitates effective Agile Scrum events
- Protects the Agile development team
- Remove impediments
- Is a Servant leader to the team
- Building high-performing teams
- Preparing for PI Planning
- Facilitating Iteration execution
- Reason for leaving: I was asked to apply because MTN Digital Enablement was seeking strong leadership and coaching experience with Waterfall-to-Scrum Agile teams.
Senior Project Manager and Programme Manager
Vodacom
05.2010 - 01.2018
- Overall delivery of new business consumer products for all retail stores, call centre for both technical and commercial work streams using Waterfall project & Agile methodologies.
- O The “Summer Project”, which impacted the consumers and retail stores.
- O Black Friday projects.
- Management of the full life cycle of projects, working closely with Product Owners and development teams to ensure the development of milestones and schedules
- Development of project documentation and reporting to senior management. Reporting tools include JIRA, SharePoint
- Providing clear ownership for and visibility of the resolution of all risks and issues
- Lead and coordinate the go-live activities, including the execution of the deployment plans
- Develop and maintain effective relationships with all customers, including suppliers and third parties
- Guiding the team in implementing Agile methodology rules to deliver rapid and reliable business products
- Managing and leading the project team
- Detailed project planning and control, including
- Developing and maintaining a detailed project plan
- Recording and managing project issues and escalating where necessary
- Resolving cross-functional issues at the project level
- Managing project scope and change control, and escalating issues where necessary
- Monitoring project progress and performance
- Collaborating closely with users to ensure the project meets business needs
- Definition and management of the Testing programme
- Moved internal: Vodacom transitioned to Scrum Agile and Scaled Agile
Project Manager: Technical – IT Infrastructure
Liberty Life Head Office
03.2008 - 04.2010
- Responsible for the delivery of and the preparation and planning for Business information and Management Information, as well as Infrastructure deployment.
- Security, Networking, Monitoring Tools, and Core Cisco switches, which impact the IT infrastructure.
- Responsible for updating the Security process and procedures documents for the IT team.
- Was part of the (DCR) Disaster Recovery Programme for IT Infrastructure.
- Managing all the purchases of the software and hardware which impacted the projects.
- Following the defined Change Management Process and ensuring that it is adhered to by all team members of the team and ensuring all changes are fully documented in Remedy.
- Mitigation and management of risks and addressing issues to ensure the timely completion of project milestones.
- Provision of weekly reports to management on project progress, efforts, duration, and key milestones.
- Products used: MS Project, EPM, Remedy, PowerPoint, SharePoint, MS Excel, MS Office.
- Reason for leaving: Changed to a different sector, Telecommunication, to increase my experience and career change.
Portfolio Manager and General Manager
Mortgage Solutions and Portfolios (Pty) Ltd
11.2005 - 02.2008
- Obtain client investors and an understanding of their financial background/needs
- Establish and define client financial portfolios
- Deliver presentations at marketing workshops to advertise and inform clients of portfolio services offered
- Give advice and recommendations to client investors
- Present Portfolio & Trust seminars to potential client investors
- Provide summary and detail reconciliation reports for portfolios
- Meet regularly with client investors to ensure ongoing alignment
- Originate home loans based on individual requirements
- Ensure all required documentation from new clients is processed, applied for, and submitted to appropriate financial institutions
- Oversee all advice to clients regarding affordability and/or risk profiles of clients
- Monitor ITC record check on new clients
- Provide guidance on all motivations of new applications to assist in obtaining a positive outcome from banks
- Monitor and follow up on the status of new applications daily.
- Quality assurance valuations are conducted timeously, and bond instructions are processed correctly with the attorneys
- Reason for leaving: The company lacked strong career opportunities, and it closed after a year.
Administration Manager – Marketing Department
Metropolitan Life, Pretoria
03.1992 - 10.2005
- Oversee four direct subordinates and one hundred indirect representatives
- Direct daily office activities, ensuring quality work processes were maintained, office procedures were followed, and maximum productivity was delivered
- Review and action all weekly, monthly, and yearly reports from the department
- Investigate fraud cases
- Control & monitor new business
- Control, manage & develop clerks and administrative staff through individual performance management plans
- Ensure that all team members meet performance targets as per key performance indicators
- Identify training needs and provide development plans
- Provide specific formal and informal training to staff members
- Take accountability for the resolution of escalated client queries and issues
- Daily interaction with priority clients
- Manage all sales manager commission information and queries
- Ensure all personnel records and files are up to date and kept confidential
- Maintain and manage staff information and needs via ‘People Soft’ system
- Control & monitor all office assets regarding corporate governance, including a proper asset register
- Coordinate and manage consultant debt recovery as & when required (Risk Management)
- Responsible for all expenditure & accounting required for the Marketing office
- Control all accounts, ensuring that the operating budget allocated is not exceeded
- Monitor and compare expenses against the Ledger & resolve any issues within 24 hours
- Use ‘IDU Budget Tool’ for financial purposes
- Provide Commissioner of Oaths services as a registered representative
- Control & manage promotional public relations fund
- Reason for leaving: Was working for a Branch in PTA Sunnyside; they cut costs at branches.
Secretary – Property Department
Metropolitan Life Head Office
01.1989 - 01.1992
- Receptionist for 3x Senior Managers
- All correspondence and agreements were typed professionally and stored.
- Facilitate travel arrangements with travel agents.
- Accountable for ensuring all filings were filed in the correct order and were user-friendly for all staff members to search.
- Administration
- Reason for leaving: Moved to Gauteng due to life changes and marriage proposal.
Education
Diploma - Post Graduate Diploma Project Management
Cranefield College
01.2011
Diploma - Advance Diploma Project Management
Cranefield College
01.2010
N4 - Commerce Secretarial
Tygerberg Technical College
01.1988
Certificate - Senior Certificate - Matric
High School Brackenfell (CT)
01.1987
Skills
Agile & Project Management Expertise
Strong working knowledge of Agile (Scrum, Kanban) and Waterfall frameworks
Experience managing infrastructure or service desk projects in Waterfall, Hybrid and Agile
Experience working within or alongside a formal PMO environment
Solid understanding of PMO and PMBOK principles
Track team progress using Agile metrics (velocity, burndown charts, sprint goals)
PI Planning facilitation
Backlog management and user story mapping
Scrum events facilitation
Impediment removal and risk management
Strong understanding of the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), product development, and modern software delivery
Experience with widely successful Agile techniques: User Stories, ATDD, TDD, BDD, Continuous Integration, Continuous Testing, Pairing, Automated Testing
Familiarity with IT infrastructure and IT Service Management (ITSM) concepts
Experience in delivering software development projects using Agile frameworks such as Scrum, Kanban, or SAFe
Promote consistent, predictable delivery cycles and help drive the team toward meeting sprint commitments
Ensure deliverables meet agreed quality standards and project requirements
Support process improvement initiatives and promote the consistent application of project management best practices
Leadership & Coaching
Servant leadership
Team coaching and development
High-performing team building
Individual performance management
Training delivery and facilitation
Change management
Cross-functional team coordination
Stakeholder management and negotiation skills
Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
Ability to recognize organizational barriers and work with executive management to address them or transform them into opportunities
Technical & Industry Knowledge
Fintech and Insurance systems
Digital services and microservices
Certification
SAFe 6 Release Train Engineer (RTE), Scaled Agile, 2024-01-01
Interests
Timeline
Scrum Master & Agile Coach
MTN SA
02.2022 - 12.2025
Scrum Master and Agile Coach
Vodacom
01.2018 - 01.2022
Senior Project Manager and Programme Manager
Vodacom
05.2010 - 01.2018
Project Manager: Technical – IT Infrastructure
Liberty Life Head Office
03.2008 - 04.2010
Portfolio Manager and General Manager
Mortgage Solutions and Portfolios (Pty) Ltd
11.2005 - 02.2008
Administration Manager – Marketing Department
Metropolitan Life, Pretoria
03.1992 - 10.2005
Secretary – Property Department
Metropolitan Life Head Office
01.1989 - 01.1992
Diploma - Advance Diploma Project Management
Cranefield College
N4 - Commerce Secretarial
Tygerberg Technical College
Certificate - Senior Certificate - Matric
High School Brackenfell (CT)
Diploma - Post Graduate Diploma Project Management
Cranefield College
Personal Information
- Ethnicity: Caucasian
- Gender: Female
- Nationality: South African
Key Career Highlights
Delivered projects with high-impact commercial partnerships with global brands like Apple., Specialised in carrier billing solutions, digital content monetisation, and content block services and whitelisting of content services., Revamp of digital architecture from monolithic to microservice and DXL-based., Experience in digital transformation, spearheaded projects like the implementation of a fraud-prevention content billing system, the re-engineering of Vodacom’s content billing platform and a multi-million-Rand tax optimisation initiative., Built and scaled products in telecoms and fintech, successfully operating in both corporate governance structures and startup/venture environments., Rebuild the MTN Mobile app to a new platform framework, which will allow recreation and improvement of purpose-led and secured personalised journeys that will create consistent user experiences across the different operating systems and devices., Upon the adoption and utilisation of device insurance among EBU customers, insurance will be discoverable on the Business Self Service Portal. Additionally, existing device insurance journeys will be optimised on the EBU Self Service Portal by incorporating automated data retrieval. MTN Insurance's strategic intent is to grow MTN’s insurance offerings into a fully-fledged insurance provider by partnering with 3rd-party insurance vendors., The Project introduces a new set of Life and funeral insurance products through partnering with Sanlam., Successfully delivered products and digital solutions across Fintech, Telecoms, and managed multi-disciplinary delivery teams (UX, developers, data, DevOps, operations) in both high-growth and resource-constrained environments., Managed projects, including both prepaid and post-paid product offerings. Most products impact the prepaid/postpaid billing platforms and require customised solutions for successful implementation. Most products impacted both the CRM and Self-Service platforms, leading to the project's business growth., Implemented projects impacted by Retail Stores, Regulatory, and Segment Marketing., Implemented projects impacted by several channels: APP, Web, USSD, IVR, Mobi., Prepaid Web Sales: Build a marketplace Prepaid Deep links Generator, Focused Stores- Multi Quantity Sales, Pin-Based Delivery, Self-Service Kiosk (POC), Prepaid Automation Self Rica, Prepaid Sale Optimised., Out of Bundle, No Funds Re-design, Biometric Verification., Was part of the DR (disaster recovery) programme in insurance. The primary purpose was to restore critical IT services, recover data, and resume normal business operations following disasters, cyberattacks, and hardware failures., Purchases of the software and hardware, which impacted the projects. Updating the Security process and procedures documents for the IT team. Security, Networking, Monitoring Tools, and Core Cisco switches, which influence the IT infrastructure.
Work Availability
monday
tuesday
wednesday
thursday
friday
saturday
sunday
morning
afternoon
evening
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Known As
Carol-Ann
Affiliations
- Scaled Agile for Release Train Engineers (RTE)
- Scrum Alliance for Scrum Masters
Accomplishments
1. Coached 5x waterfall teams to scrum agile. Delivering with performance and quality: MTN Digital Media teams and Fintech Insurance teams.
2. Successfully deployed a large programme with several project managers impacted. Vodacom Summer Projects which impacts business revenue for the summer season. Strict timelines from business as it impacted social media and digital media deadlines.
3. Rebuild the MTN Mobile APP to a new platform framework, which allow recreation and improvement of purpose-led an secured personalised journeys that will create consistent user experience.
4. Anti-Fraud RFP and the Antifraud implementation: implementation of a fraud-prevention content billing system, the re-engineering of Vodacom's content billing platform and a multi-million Rand tax optimization initiative. We used EVINA for the type of fraud detected as part of the acquisition flows. https://www.evina.com/
5. Delivered global brands like "Apple" with high impact commercial partnership. Successfully deployed the migration with Apple pay for telecommunication digital content services.
Languages
English
Bilingual or Proficient (C2)
Afrikaans
Advanced (C1)
Dutch
Intermediate (B1)
Quote
There is a powerful driving force inside every human being that, once unleashed, can make any vision, dream, or desire a reality.
Tony Robbins