Agile Leader & Product Owner

Eric S. Fletcher

Senior Scrum Master, Release Train Engineer, and Product Owner with more than twenty years delivering digital products — and currently expanding into AI automation.

20+ Years in product & delivery
5 Certifications (Scrum, SAFe)
CSM, CSPO Scrum Alliance
Product Experience

A product owner's career, built one shipped increment at a time.

Before I was a Scrum Master and RTE, I was a Product Owner — defining scope, prioritizing backlogs, and accepting delivered work. Here's the product work that's most relevant to the roles I'm targeting now.

Mobile Agile Product Owner

Kaiser Permanente — Nov 2017 to Aug 2018

Owned mobile product for member-facing functionality across web and mobile teams. Facilitated planning, daily stand-ups, backlog grooming, demonstrations, and retrospectives — but the job was owning the product, not just running the ceremonies.

Managed multiple in-flight features and releases simultaneously, drove backlog grooming to review requirements, dependencies, and objectives, and accepted completed work from engineering.

Product Leadership

Led a team of product owners to align and collaborate on release planning — mentoring other POs in the mobile group while delivering your own product roadmap.

Scrum Product Owner

Kaiser Permanente — Nov 2013 to May 2015

Product Owner for a web tool that let members view and track their healthcare claims online — one of the first member-facing portals of its kind at the organization. Also owned a language enablement project that brought the same functionality to Spanish-speaking members.

Prioritized the product backlog and user stories for each sprint, defined project scope with sponsors for timely delivery of new features, and acted as business analyst during the integration of three regional web services that fed data into the new feature — with long-term architecture considerations built in for future projects.

Documented data elements and definitions for new features, approved functionality as engineers completed it in sprints, coordinated User Acceptance Testing with program management, collaborated with test data teams on data staging, and tested functionality after defects were fixed. Coordinated training for the new feature with program management.

Product Outcomes

In 2014, led efforts to update content for both English and Spanish on selected packages. In 2015, led a team in a responsive website proof of concept for a pharmacy tool — shipping a new member-facing experience end to end.

Product Analyst

Business Wire (Berkshire Hathaway) — Feb 2012 to Nov 2013

Product Owner of Business Wire Connect — an online order entry system. Investigated and documented business needs, worked directly with software engineers to deliver solutions, and acted as the user advocate for the product. Also owned the language enablement project that brought Chinese-language support to the platform.

Gathered requirements for new features and bug fixes, mapped process flows for distribution circuits, interviewed stakeholders on bugs and new features, created documentation standards, and trained Editorial department personnel on changes to the client order entry system. Created 20 reports for Marketing and Product Strategy departments.

Product Outcome

Reduced application software support tickets from over 750 per month to less than 250 in 6 months — a direct result of owning the product and closing gaps between what users expected and what the system delivered.

Business Systems Analyst

Abbott Nutrition — Jan 2004 to Jan 2011

Division product owner for e-abbott.com — a B2B online order system for distributors. Acted as the product owner for the online order entry system, investigating and documenting business needs and working directly with a software vendor to deliver solutions. Followed a hybrid Waterfall/Agile methodology across all projects.

Gathered functional requirements, developed use cases, process flows, data dictionaries, and test cases, managed User Acceptance Testing with customer service and contract chargeback departments, and documented the process for onboarding new distributors. Coordinated with corporate IT staff to resolve performance problems with the order entry system, and acted as the liaison between corporate IT and the division's business organizations.

Product Outcomes

Reduced $600,000 in past-due invoices to $100,000 in 3 months. Led training of distributors and customer service personnel. Traveled to Guatemala to meet with business partners and improve relations between the three organizations represented.


About

A product owner first. An Agile practitioner always.

My career is built on product — owning the backlog, defining scope, prioritizing features, and making sure what gets built actually ships. From healthcare claims portals to member-facing mobile functionality to an online order entry system that cut support tickets by two-thirds, I've spent two decades as the person responsible for what gets built and why.

I've also been the person who makes sure the engine runs — as a Scrum Master, Release Train Engineer, and hands-on Business Analyst. That experience is what makes me a better product owner: I know how things get built, I know where the process breaks, and I've spent fifteen years coaching teams and leaders on best practices in Agile, Scrum, and SAFe. I can credibly say I've done both sides of the product-delivery equation.

Right now I'm expanding into AI automation — learning how to build and ship AI-powered workflows and agents. The portfolio you're looking at is part of that. It's also a record of what I've done.

Methodologies
Agile Scrum SAFe Lean
Roles
Product Owner Scrum Master Release Train Engineer Business Analyst
Tools & Platforms
Jira Confluence Azure AI Automation

Experience

Two decades, five organizations, one through-line.

A reverse-chronological look at where I've worked and what I've delivered — from enterprise Agile transformations to shipping the first product on a new platform.

Each entry shows the role, the organization, and the work. The highlighted contribution under each is the thing I'm most proud of from that chapter — the launch, the award, the process I built from scratch.

Centene Corporation St. Louis, MO Jan 2023 — Present

Senior Scrum Master

  • Facilitate Agile ceremonies for a high-visibility program of teams building an application expected to recover $1.5B in overpayments.
  • Coach leaders and team members on best Agile practices.
  • Collaborate with and coach Product Owners on their role and responsibilities on Agile teams.
  • Collect and report metrics and progress to leadership.
  • Aid teams in establishing support processes and communication channels.
Major Contribution

Established new Agile teams for the program, driving delivery of a new internal application from the ground up.

Kaiser Permanente Oakland, CA & Portland, OR Aug 2018 — Jan 2023

Release Train Engineer (RTE)

  • Handle transformation efforts for mobile application teams focused on business analytics.
  • Facilitate ART-level meetings.
  • Collaborate with the Product Manager and Solution Engineer to align on efforts.
  • Coach Product Management on their role and responsibilities.
  • Coach Scrum Masters on their role and responsibilities.
  • Facilitate Program Increment (PI) Planning.
  • Communicate with Business Owners on risks and dependencies needing their assistance.
Major Contribution

First in the solution train to launch a product on a new Azure platform. Received a CIO award for innovation for a mobile application used in medical centers.

Kaiser Permanente Oakland, CA Nov 2017 — Aug 2018

Mobile Agile Product Owner

  • Facilitated planning, daily stand-up, backlog grooming, demonstrations, and retrospective ceremonies.
  • Accepted work being completed by the scrum team.
  • Managed multiple in-flight features and multiple releases and their planning.
  • Facilitated and drove backlog grooming sessions to review requirements, dependencies, objectives, and details.
  • Developed, socialized, and instituted new processes.
Major Contribution

Led a team of product owners to align and collaborate for release planning efforts.

Kaiser Permanente Oakland, CA Aug 2017 — Nov 2017

Scrum Master / Project Manager

  • Promoted Agile and Scrum methodologies across the organization.
  • Facilitated daily stand-up meetings, backlog grooming, demonstrations, planning, and retrospective ceremonies.
  • Educated people on Scrum best practices.
  • Assisted in setting up Jira and Confluence environments.
  • Set up Confluence centers for shared documentation.
  • Assisted in budget management.
Major Contribution

Introduced Agile and Scrum practices to Business Analytics teams. Set up JIRA projects and Confluence space to enhance collaboration.

Kaiser Permanente Northern California Jul 2016 — Apr 2017

Scrum Master

  • Successfully managed multiple in-flight projects with competing timelines.
  • Led project and managed scrum teams for Northern California initiatives.
  • Facilitated and drove backlog grooming sessions to review requirements, dependencies, objectives, and details.
  • Ran daily stand-up meetings, backlog grooming, demonstrations, planning, and retrospective ceremonies.
  • Partnered with offshore teams to establish a process to create and deliver email notices to specific audience segments.
  • Teamed with diverse subject matter experts and groups — product owners, engineering, testing, and operations — to release new functionality into multiple phased environments.
  • Joined with business analysts to identify data required to support new interface functionality.
  • Engaged QA teams to identify optimal test data staging requirements.
MoneyGram International Burlingame, CA — Innovation Center May 2015 — Jun 2016

Scrum Master

  • Successfully managed projects with budgets of approximately $4 million.
  • Scrum Master for multiple teams on- and offshore developing financial software for desktop and kiosk audiences.
  • In 2015, established MoneyGram International's first two scrum teams with offshore components totaling 18–24 people.
  • Educated and mentored project and scrum teams in Agile/LEAN methodologies and best user experience (UX) practices.
  • Coordinated efforts between engineering, QA, and release management for quarterly software application releases.
  • Supported refactoring efforts to improve performance, scalability, and supportability.
  • Worked with offshore development and QA resources to develop, promote, and test application changes.
  • Fostered a collaborative work environment.
Kaiser Permanente Pleasanton, CA Nov 2013 — May 2015

Scrum Product Owner

  • Product Owner for a project designed to bring processed healthcare claims online.
  • Product Owner for a project related to language enablement (Spanish).
  • Prioritized the product backlog and user stories for sprints.
  • Defined project scope with project sponsors for timely delivery of new features.
  • Acted as business analyst during integration of three regional web services that supply data for the new feature, with long-term consideration for future projects.
  • Documented data elements and definitions for new features.
  • Approved functionality as it was completed by engineers in sprints.
  • Coordinated User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with program management.
  • Collaborated with test data teams to manage data staging, including creation of new accounts and supporting data.
  • Tested functionality after defects were fixed and reported findings to engineers.
  • Coordinated training for the new feature with the Claims Status Online program management.
Major Contributions

In 2014, led efforts to update content to both English and Spanish on selected packages. In 2015, led a team in a responsive website proof of concept for a pharmacy tool.

Business Wire San Francisco, CA Feb 2012 — Nov 2013

Product Analyst

  • Acted as Product Owner of Business Wire Connect (online order entry system) by investigating and documenting business needs and working with software engineers to provide solutions.
  • Product Owner for Business Wire Connect.
  • Product Owner for language enablement project (Chinese).
  • User advocate for Business Wire Connect — managed JIRA backlog, documented projects, led department's participation in Scrum methodology.
  • Gathered requirements for new features and bug fixes for Business Wire Connect.
  • Mapped process flow for the creation of distribution circuits.
  • Interviewed stakeholders regarding bugs and new features.
  • Created documentation standards.
  • Trained Editorial department personnel on changes to the client order entry system.
  • Created 20 reports for Marketing and Product Strategy departments.
Major Contribution

Reduced application software support tickets from over 750 tickets to less than 250 in 6 months.

Abbott Nutrition Columbus, OH Jan 2004 — Jan 2011

Business Systems Analyst

  • Acted as Product Owner of an online order entry system by investigating and documenting business needs and working with a software vendor to provide solutions.
  • Division product owner for e-abbott.com (B2B online order system for distributors).
  • Followed a hybrid Waterfall/Agile methodology in all projects.
  • Identified problems and brokered solutions with the software vendor.
  • Gathered functional requirements for e-abbott.com.
  • Developed use cases, process flows, data dictionaries, and test cases for e-abbott.com.
  • Managed User Acceptance Testing with customer service and contract chargeback departments.
  • Documented process for setting up new customers for distributors.
  • Mapped process for Contract Operations when receiving contract claims.
  • Coordinated with corporate IT staff to resolve performance problems with the order entry system.
  • Acted as a liaison between corporate IT and the division's business organizations.
  • Led training of customers and customer service personnel.
Selected Contributions

Received President's award for working through a merger of a purchased company. Relocated to the New Orleans area to support business needs. Mended a damaged relationship between IT and customer service after performance problems with a new site. Managed workload during a web user increase of approximately 4% each month. Promoted positive department morale by organizing functions for employees. Traveled to Guatemala to meet with business partners and improve relations between the three organizations represented. Reduced $600,000 in past-due invoices to $100,000 in 3 months.


Certifications

Scrum Alliance & SAFe — current and active.

Five certifications across Scrum and the Scaled Agile Framework. All current; all from the certifying bodies, not coursework-only.

Certified Scrum Master

Scrum Alliance. License #423434. Foundational credential — facilitates Agile ceremonies, coaches teams, removes impediments.

Scrum Alliance

Certified Product Owner

Scrum Alliance. License #423434. Backlog prioritization, roadmap ownership, stakeholder alignment, acceptance of delivered work.

Scrum Alliance

SAFe 5 Release Train Engineer

Certificate #37927085-4983. Serves as chief Scrum Master for an Agile Release Train — facilitates ART events, manages risks and dependencies, drives continuous improvement across multiple teams.

SAFe 5

SAFe 5 Scrum Master

Certificate #42814994-8329. Applies Scrum at scale within a SAFe environment — team-level facilitation, servant leadership, and alignment with the broader release train.

SAFe 5

SAFe 4 Product Owner/Product Manager

Certificate #81628738-5556. Owns the program backlog, prioritizes features, collaborates with stakeholders and engineering to deliver value at the ART level.

SAFe 4

Currently learning

AI Automation Society

Currently expanding into AI automation — studying how to build and ship AI-powered workflows, agents, and automations. The coursework covers the practical, hands-on side: building real automations, not just theory.

Visit the community

Currently Building

Shipping small tools for people who need them.

Three things I'm actively building — each one practical, each one aimed at a specific audience. Not moonshots; tools that solve real problems.

Otterly

A lightweight CRM for freelancers — simple contact management without the enterprise overhead.

otterly.work →
RepSentinel

Reputation management for small business owners — keep your online presence in check without the enterprise price tag.

repsentinel.app →
SmallApps.tools

A vibe-coding playground — simple tools built as I experiment and learn, no pressure to be anything more than useful.

smallapps.tools →

Contact

The best way to reach me is email.

For project inquiries, collaboration, or just to say hello — I read every message. Expect a reply within a couple of days.

I'm currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area and working as a Senior Scrum Master at Centene Corporation. I'm open to new opportunities, collaborations, and conversations about where AI automation is heading and what it means for the kind of work I've done my whole career.

Let's talk.

Whether you have a question, a project in mind, or just want to connect — drop me a line. I read every message.

eric.s.fletcher@icloud.com