Mike Lee
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Toronto, ON, Canada
Toptal member since January 1, 2020
Mike is an agile delivery consultant and project management professional with a proven track record of innovation, problem-solving, and stakeholder engagement. He is highly experienced in leading cross-functional teams to success across a wide range of products, industries, and organizations.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile
- Agile Coaching
- Agile Project Management
- Agile Transformation
- Certified ScrumMaster (CSM)
- Consulting
- Process Design
- Scrum
Work Experience
Senior Scrum Master
TD Bank Group
- Led Agile Transformation for a high-value payments technology program.
- Designed a Scaled Agile process, establishing practices for project intakes, portfolio and release planning, team structures, scrum team and program ceremonies, and agile metrics reporting.
- Implemented a tailored Hybrid Scrum process for a US wires ISO compliance SDLC project to leverage agile teams and practices to fast-track development using an iterative delivery approach.
- Coached Development and DevOps teams for the enterprise payments organization, improving use of agile best practices, delivery workflows, and collaboration tools.
Senior Scrum Master
BMO Bank of Montreal
- Served as scrum master for multiple digital teams responsible for the bank’s Canadian and US consumer web and mobile banking applications.
- Coached an agile team integrating an artificial intelligence vendor product to enhance customers’ online browsing experience.
- Coached an agile team implementing enhanced self-service and money management tools for online banking.
- Led improvement of the team’s agile delivery practices, and helped product owners build effective product roadmaps, user story maps, and product backlogs based on business priorities and dependencies.
Senior Scrum Master
Scotiabank
- Led agile delivery for product teams on a digital transformation program, building a highly complex, modern web-based derivatives trading platform.
- Implemented the Scrum framework for a critical global financial regulatory initiative with a team formed from different disciplines and departments for a multi-year implementation.
- Coached teams across the program, facilitating agile ceremonies, helping to groom the product backlog, and improving their use of software tools for better collaboration and transparency.
Agile Coach | Senior Scrum Master
Deloitte
- Guided a global mining client through an organization-wide agile transformation to fundamentally change how they work to deliver projects in more efficient, collaborative, and transparent ways.
- Implemented Scrum with a vendor team installing an advanced ventilation control system at two mine sites to optimize the efficiency of fans for significant cost savings.
- Implemented Scrum with a vendor team implementing a wireless vehicle and people collision warning system in three mine sites to reduce the risk of vehicle accidents and worker injuries.
- Coached and trained multiple teams and departments being introduced to agile for the first time, conducting training sessions, practical workshops, and introducing new practices and tools for collaboration.
Senior Scrum Master
Royal Bank of Canada
- Served as scrum master for several agile product teams on a digital transformation program of 10 work streams, building a single-point-of-entry investment and treasury platform for partner clients.
- Coached a team launching a new API to deliver a web portal using a “Minimum Viable Product” approach to bring it to market quickly for early feedback and immediate value to first adopters.
- Coached multiple cross-functional teams implementing user interface enhancements for the platform and tracked team metrics to measure success.
- Worked closely with product owners to define clear client objectives, prepare product roadmaps aligned to goals, and translate prioritized features into effective user stories for iterative delivery.
- Worked with the agile leadership and fellow scrum masters to improve scaled agile practices and collaboration across scrum teams.
Scrum Master
Scotiabank
- Led multi-disciplinary agile teams for a next-generation JavaScript consultancy building responsive web and native mobile applications for external clients.
- Served as scrum master for high-performing agile teams of developers, UI/UX designers, QA testers, and client product owners, building mobile and web applications for e-Commerce Shopping, Financial Services, and Shipping.
- Coached client teams and product owners and teams who may never have been exposed to agile practices before.
Scrum Master
Rangle.io
- Led multi-disciplinary agile teams for a next-generation JavaScript consultancy building responsive web and native mobile applications for external clients.
- Served as scrum master for high-performing agile teams of developers, UI/UX designers, QA testers, and client product owners, building mobile and web applications for eCommerce shopping, financial services, and shipping.
- Coached client teams and product owners and teams who may never have been exposed to agile practices before.
Scrum Master | Project Manager
Architech
- Served as scrum master and project manager for a full-service digital studio and software development consultancy delivering innovative web, mobile, and IoT solutions across multiple platforms for a diverse client base.
- Straddled the line between project manager, scrum master, quality analyst, and product owner to deliver solutions in close collaboration with customers.
- Worked with sales to identify potential new clients, estimate budgets and schedules, write proposals and statements of work, and participate in sales presentations.
- Program-managed a multi-million-dollar platform modernization project for a government organization, managing schedules, budgets, risks, and issues, and reporting to a steering committee of C-level executives across five project streams.
Scrum Master | Project Manager
Deloitte
- Managed the end-to-end delivery of software development projects for a geographically dispersed Microsoft technologies team.
- Led the 1st large-scale Agile project delivered within the Canadian IT organization. Developed Agile processes to be adopted across all teams while working closely with leadership, a global community of practice, and external Agile consultants.
- Performed business analysis supporting project delivery, including authoring business requirements, functional specifications, process flow diagrams, use cases, test cases, and conceptual design wireframes.
Project Manager
Manulife Financial
- Managed the planning, requirements definition, development, and implementation of application development, systems integration, and process design projects for the corporate treasury PMO.
- Developed project delivery processes, procedure manuals, and project deliverable templates for the PMO to govern project execution.
- Managed the implementation of a SWIFT international financial messaging service with an overseas vendor as part of the firm’s global strategic expansion of Treasury operations into Asia.
Project Manager
MTS Allstream, Inc.
- Delivered project management and project delivery consulting services to external corporate clients as part of a PMO consulting practice.
- Developed project management and SDLC procedures and templates used by the practice for effective delivery of project management services to external clients.
- Designed a custom IT project delivery methodology for a global mining company, including creation of project roadmaps, procedure manuals, project deliverable templates, and training materials.
Project History
Agile Transformation at Mining Company
Coached a global mining company undergoing an agile transformation of their entire business.
A mining company desired to modernize its way of working through an agile transformation of its entire organization.
I prepared agile training materials and delivered training to employees. I also set up new tools for agile project delivery to be adopted by all projects in the organization. I organized new agile delivery teams and ran pilots to build the team’s skills. I implemented sprints and user store practices to translate work into incremental objectives to be prioritized and delivered in sprints. Finally, I facilitated discovery workshops to define new project opportunities and product roadmaps.
Agile Transformation at Bank
Led an agile transformation for a derivatives trading platform at a major Canadian bank.
Developed and refined an agile delivery process for a program of over 70 employees working across five different project teams. I introduced and set up tools to improve the visibility of work and track progress and team collaboration. Using an iterative delivery process, I guided the team through production releases every two to three months.
eCommerce Website for Shoe Retailer
Guided the relaunch of an international eCommerce site for a major shoe retailer to improve the customer experience.
Served as Scrum Master for a large project team consisting of a client and three vendor teams working from four different geographic locations. I led the organization through its first-ever Agile project, and improved collaboration through iterative delivery, regular demos, and team retrospective activities.
Scaled Agile at Bank
Guided multiple teams to success as Scrum Master on a digital transformation program to build an investment platform.
Served as Scrum Master for multiple teams on a digital transformation program building a single-point-of entry investment and treasury platform to consolidate several disparate systems to serve partner clients better. Helped develop strategies for scaling Agile practices to improve collaboration and transparency across the entire program through consistent practices, collaborative planning, and tracking of common metrics. Coached product owners and cross-functional teams to improve Agile practices and maximize their potential.
eCommerce Website for Ski Retailer
Guided successful development and launch of a new responsive international eCommerce website for a ski retailer in Europe.
Served as Scrum Master for a multi-disciplinary digital product team building a responsive website for a European ski retailer client. Introduced and coached Agile practices to team geographically dispersed between Canada, Europe, and Asia. Worked closely with the product owner to build a product roadmap, define the MVP, and create compelling user stories for the team to deliver.
Agile Adoption for a Wires Modernization and Compliance Program
Successfully implemented agile sprint practices within a traditional SDLC Waterfall program.
The program desired to introduce agile practices within its SDLC initiative to improve collaboration among team members and allow them to adapt more quickly to changing needs and timelines.
This was accomplished by establishing agile delivery teams within the larger program and implementing a streamlined agile workflow using sprint practices to translate business requirements into user stories for collaborative grooming, iterative delivery and continuous prioritization. This allowed teams to react quickly to changing requirements and dependencies and complete releases on time.
Education
Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering
University of Toronto - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Certifications
Certified Scrum Master
Scrum Alliance
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Project Management Institute (PMI)
Skills
Tools
Jira, Confluence, Pivotal Tracker, Microsoft Project, Rally, Atlassian, Slack, Atlassian Suite, Big Room Planning, Azure DevOps Services
Paradigms
Scrum, Agile, Agile Workflow, Agile Project Management, Agile UX, Agile Leadership, Release Trains, Azure DevOps, Kanban, Agile Product Management, Continuous Deployment
Industry Expertise
Financial Services, Banking & Finance, Mining
Other
Consulting, Scrum Master, Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Agile Sprints, Product Owner, Project Delivery, Backlog Grooming, Product Roadmaps, Certified Project Manager, IT Project Management, Software Project Management, Jira Administrator, Agile Coaching, Microsoft Office, Story Mapping, Sprint Retrospectives, Sprint Planning, Sprints, Sprint Ceremonies, Continuous Improvement, User Stories, Process Design, Backlog Management, Clients, Scrum Coaching, Agile Deployment, Project Discovery, IT Projects, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Release Management, Project Management Office (PMO), Project Management, Mobile, Mobile UI, Program Management, Agile Program Management, Microsoft Teams, IT Consulting, Training, Scrum Product Owner, Customer Service Management (CSM), Project Management & Delivery, Agile Product Delivery, Jira Administration, Scrum of Scrums, Agile Transformation, Business Processes, IT Program Management, Agile at Scale, Digital Services, Business Analysis, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Product Discovery, Lean UX, Microsoft, Business Requirements, Business Requirements Documentation (BRD), PMO, PMO Processes, PMO Frameworks, PMO Governance, Projects, Project Management Professional (PMP)
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