Embrenchia (Em) Snyman

• Release Train Engineer (RTE) across multiple DAE value streams (PF, MFC/NRO, OPS/Platform, Decommissioning)
• Own and drive PI planning (pre-PI, PI, post-PI) including readiness gates, dependency management, risk surfacing, and commitment alignment
• Establish and enforce PI cadence, sprint rhythms, and release milestones across all squads
• Coordinate cross-team dependencies, sequencing, and capacity balancing across ARTs and shared services
• Ensure delivery alignment between portfolio priorities, ART backlogs, and team execution
• Design and operationalized the DAE Release Operating Model (ROM)
• Govern Blue (pre-prod) and Green (prod) environments including:
• Release windows and freeze periods
• Automated toggle-based deployments
• Fix-version conventions (eg 112 → 121 → 122)
• Own release readiness checks, go/no-go decisions, and sign-off processes
• Coordinate UAT, DR exercises, regression testing, and production releases
• Act as central point of control for CAB, release risk, rollback strategy, and post-release validation
• Define, document, and socialize DAE Ways of Work across business and IT
• Standardize:
• Work item hierarchy (Epic → Feature → Story → Sub-task)
• Estimation and planning practices
• Acceptance criteria and Definition of Done
• Prevent delivery anti-patterns (hidden work, bypassed backlogs, unmanaged demand)
• Actively challenge scope creep, ad-hoc demand, and non-agile workarounds
• Facilitate Scrum of Scrums, Product Leadership syncs, and cross-ART alignment forums
• Govern intake and prioritization of demand through portfolio and ART backlogs
• Ensure work flows Portfolio → ART → Team, not directly into teams
• Align demand prioritization with product leadership forums and PI objectives
• Expose and manage capacity constraints, skill bottlenecks, and systemic blockers
• Protect teams from unmanaged, late-breaking, or bypassed work
• Act as functional owner and governor of Jira and Confluence for DAE
• Design and enforce:
• Jira project structures, workflows, boards, and permissions
• Mandatory fields (components, environments, labels, fix versions)
• Naming conventions and data hygiene standards
• Build and maintain:
• Advanced JQL filters
• Delivery, risk, and release dashboards
• Automation rules
• Ensure tooling reflects actual delivery reality, not cosmetic reporting
• Act as escalation point for tooling misuse or bypassing controls
• Own and maintain PI-level RAID logs
• Surface delivery risks early, with clear impact and mitigation
• Ensure regulatory and audit requirements are met (eg mandatory annual DR)
• Translate delivery risks into executive-level impact statements
• Track and report on delivery health, confidence, and exposure
• Act as the primary coordination point between:
• Product Owners and Business Leadership
• Scrum Masters and delivery teams
• Platform, Data, QE, and Ops teams
• External vendors (including offshore teams)
• Resolve misalignment between business expectations and delivery reality
• Manage vendor dependencies, expectations, and integration into DAE cadence
• Facilitate decision-making where ownership is unclear or contested
• Lead change management for new delivery models, governance, and tooling rules
• Drive mindset shift from project thinking to product and flow-based delivery
• Coach Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and leaders on:
• Team formation and collaboration
• Role clarity
• Evidence-based decision making
• Actively counter behaviors that undermine standardization and flow
• Ensure delivery data is accurate, trusted, and decision-useful
• Investigate and challenge data discrepancies across environments (QA vs UAT vs Prod)
• Translate delivery data into actionable insights, not vanity metrics
• Support executive and portfolio reporting with context and interpretation, not just numbers
• Act as the “glue” between business intent and delivery execution
• Hold firm boundaries on mandate, roles, and decision rights
• Escalate decisively where governance is bypassed or delivery is put at risk
• Provide calm, structured leadership in high-pressure release and incident scenarios
• Implemented cost-saving measures through diligent budget oversight and negotiation of contracts with third-party vendors.
• Fostered a collaborative work environment by promoting open communication channels within the delivery teams.
• Improved efficiency by streamlining processes and implementing effective capacity planning techniques.
• Promoted a psychological safety-first culture by setting clear boundaries for team engagements.
• Achieved timely deliveries with careful monitoring of team performance and accurate scheduling adjustments.
• Optimized team member allocation by analyzing sprint and operational data and adjusting staffing levels according to demand fluctuations.

• Coach Scrum and Kanban teams across delivery and operations to embed consistent Agile ways of working
• Facilitate all Agile ceremonies and mentor team leads on backlog refinement, capacity planning, and iterative delivery
• Lead organizational change communication and readiness efforts aligned with delivery improvement initiatives
• Deliver customized Agile and SAFe-aligned training on Scrum, PM/PO, DevOps, and Jira
• Administer and optimize Jira and Confluence for workflow automation, backlog management, and release readiness
• Foster cross-functional collaboration across PMO, QA, and Operations to strengthen delivery focus
• Received recognition for driving collaboration and SLA visibility within first month of starting
• Developed custom Scrum boards for better task tracking and transparency within the team.
• Optimized team member allocation by identifying and addressing bottlenecks in company workflows, leading to reduced time-to-market for product releases.

Enterprise Agile Coach (Business Transformation)

• Coach 28 Product Owners and Business Analysts on Agile principles, value stream alignment, and product thinking
• Deliver daily training sessions, visual infographics, and talks to support Agile mindset shifts
• Support value stream-aligned org design and coach leadership on Lean Portfolio Management
• Guide backlog creation and management in Jira, ensuring clear flow and priority

Scrum Master (RPA, Shifters, ex-Gratia)

• Coach three teams using a Scrumban model to establish strong delivery rhythm and flow
• Facilitate all ceremonies and coach stakeholders on their roles in Agile delivery
• Improve team delivery patterns and drive collaboration across stakeholder groups

Release Train Engineer (Oracle Migration Program)

• Facilitate PI Planning and Scrum of Scrums across three value streams
• Coach Scrum Masters and Product Owners on cadence-based planning and release forecasting
• Create and maintain all Jira boards, dashboards, and advanced roadmaps to enable transparency

• Introducing Agile frameworks, including Scrum, Kanban, and software engineering best practices
• Installation, configuring and customizing Jira to meet diverse team and project needs, such as setting up workflows, permissions, and issue types.
• Data migration from Target Process to Atlassian suite.
• Data migration from Jira and Confluence Server to Jira and Confluence Cloud.
• Training and coaching of teams on Agile and Kanban practices as well as certification training of RTEs and POs, promoting a culture of continuous improvement.
• Collaborated closely with executive stakeholders to gather requirements, manage expectations, and align strategy with product goals.
• Integrating Jira with Hive, Tempo, Testrail, 4Me, TriCentis, Hubspot and ClientSuccess.
• Extensive Jira scripting and automation
• Used ADKAR model for all change management.

Analysis of current organizational context
Define whether culture is Collaborative, Competence, Control or Cultivation to pivot delivery approach
Create and communicate implementation roadmaps
Create awareness with senior management proactively to expect and address bottlenecks
Apply ADKAR model to introduce change to delivery method across company levels
Taking up Scrum Master roles with 3 - 4 teams to teach and learn by active participation
Agile certification and non-certification, customized training, and workshops
Delivery management of software development projects across multiple portfolios
Business process re-engineering
Org design and implementation
Coordinating and facilitating all company Agile ceremonies incl PI Planning
End to end delivery improvement from sales-into-build to production launch, and post-production support
Design and drive company culture change initiatives
Coaching across all levels in organizations
Jira and Confluence administration including setup, configuration, and customization

Delivery management of software development projects across four portfolios

Scrum Master to 3 development teams, 2 solution design teams and 3 business teams Line management of 23 developers, testers, business analysts, designers and solution engineers Coordinating and facilitating all company Agile ceremonies incl PI Planning Implemented DevOps and test automation, presented certified DevOps practitioner training

Release management, DevOps and automation

Change management

Org redesign using Holacracy

Presenting customized Agile training in the company
Establishing and coaching an Agile LPM with appropriate lightweight governance
Establishing an Agile development approach and best practices
Presented Scrum Master certification training
Presented Product Owner certification training
Jira and Confluence administration including setup, configuration, and customization
Ongoing coaching across organization - horizontal (teams) as well as vertical (upwards to management)

Seecrypt, Liberty Life, Deloitte, Stanlib:
Design way of work
Setup organizational structure to support Agile delivery
Stakeholder management
Deployment management
DevOps management

Telkom:
Setup team and organizational events, synchronize all calendars and sprint cycles to financial quarters
Facilitate Big Room Planning for Amazon 1.0
Present training, certified as well as customized Agile training
Ad-hoc Agile workshops to address tactical problems
Ensure Jira is set up, configured and customized as required
Delivery data analysis and reporting across 9 vendors
Design lightweight governance/compliance models
Work with PMO to adopt Lean/Agile within their context
Collaborate with Architects to adopt emergent design approach within their context
Educate business on prioritization techniques and sessions
Introducing design thinking and customer centricity techniques
Assist business with backlog creation and maintenance

Clients : Metropolitan, Momentum, DSTV, Multichoice, Vodacom, Nedbank, Discovery Vitality

Founder – DVT Agile Academy
Founded and built the DVT Agile Academy from scratch, including course design, staff recruitment, and full target operating model business plan, forecasting, sales pipelines etc
Authored DVT’s first Agile training courses, achieving ICAgile certification for foundational offerings
Delivered Agile training workshops internally and externally, often on weekends, to build capability across teams and clients
Recruited, onboarded, and deployed new Scrum Masters to client sites, supporting them with onboarding, mentoring, and coaching
Simultaneously served as a fully billable Scrum Master at enterprise clients, driving Agile adoption, facilitating team delivery, and leading Agile ceremonies
Provided Agile coaching and delivery guidance across teams during the world-wide roll out of Discovery Vitality

Head of Project Management Business Unit
Led and line-managed a portfolio of 75+ Project and Program Managers across diverse client engagements.
Responsible for the day-to-day running of the business unit, including resource management, performance oversight, and staff engagement.
Maintained regular one-on-one engagement with team members to ensure alignment, growth, and morale.
Oversaw client relationships, strategic placement of delivery staff, and pipeline management.
Actively supported new business development efforts through client meetings, solution shaping, and commercial proposals.
Ensured delivery excellence through continuous feedback loops, coaching, and strategic leadership of large, complex delivery teams.