Release Train Manager at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• As Programme Manager and coach for the Agile Release Train (AGT), the main purpose of this role is to ensure overall alignment and effective delivery of the Programme Increment Planning (PI) objectives to ensure the successful delivery of Epics/Features/MVP  in line with the set governance principles and business strategy.

Job Description

Accountability:  Alignment of the agile release train(ART) 

• Facilitate the design process of key deliverables and secure authorisation from primary stakeholders
•  Design, implement and facilitate process to ensure alignment on key deliverables and direction to encourage collaboration and agile delivery between all parties
•  Design and implement measures to help the teams on the ART note and track PI objectives, dependencies, impediments, and delivery progress
• Facilitate the building of monitoring tools to monitor and track progress against objectives and delivery progress
• Support the design, integration, and execution of end-to-end tactical enablement strategies across the ART and the supporting infrastructure to drive the collaboration between all parties affected by the ART
• Facilitate the building of integrated enablers to drive seamless delivery of PI objectives

Accountability: Optimisation of the Agile Release Train (ART) capabilities

• Facilitate the building and integration of capabilities to enable the execution of the agile train release capability
• Facilitate the design and implementation of service standards for the full agile train release capability
• Define, implement and monitor service level measures for the primary and secondary stakeholders (product owners, management and other stakeholders)
• Implement and drive capabilities and associated measures/analytics to optimise the ART enablement activities

Accountability: Optimisation of delivery of Agile Release Train events

• Facilitates or ensures the facilitation of ART-level synchronisation
•  Drive simplicity, agility, innovation when conducting PI planning, inspecting and adapting events on all ART practices and processes.
•  Supports the scrum masters in effectively coaching their teams on the effective execution of all other team events such as the Daily Stand-up, Iteration Planning and Review and similar events
•  Drives a culture of relentless improvement, through facilitation of ART level inspect and adapt workshops.  Continuously challenges current ways of work to improve delivery, by incrementally improving quality, predictability, flow and value

Accountability: Performance management

• Analyse and interpret data to produce detailed reports explaining trends, discrepancies and inconsistencies.
• Support the design of measures that will track daily, weekly and monthly progress/performance against strategy and tactical plans
• Ensure timeous reporting on performance
• Responsible for translating Management Information data and reports and tabling insights gained through studying such integrated business (function) reports to measure success and to realign tactical strategy implementation objectives appropriately

Accountability: Risk and compliance

Responsible for:

• The effective implementation of and adherence to the risk and control framework associated with service enablement
• Driving the remediation of risk daily where control design or operational execution failed resulting in losses/breaches
• Ensuring that all compliance, regulatory, governance or other risk standards are adhered to by all service providers and other stakeholders

Accountability: Finance

• Develop, implement and monitor a cycle of medium-term cost improvements
• Compile a budget that aligns to delivery plans, monitor and report on variances
• Manage high-risk and problematic financial issues and contribute to the development of policy

Accountability: People and culture management

• Apply a collaborative leadership style, create an engaging, enabling and productive work climate and enable self-organised and customer focused multi-disciplinary colleagues to deliver on an outcomes-based performance basis
• Implement people strategies that drive the optimum utilisation of human capability and capacity, clarifying requirements and expected outcomes
• Achieve high performance through embedding formal development plans and informal coaching.
• Implement a robust knowledge management and agile learning system to support real-time learning and the constant communication of new ideas/learning amongst all colleagues

Education

• Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)