Brian Stonesifer, CSM, PMP, ITIL, AWS-SSA, AWS-CCP

My Path to ScrumMaster

Brian Stonesifer's career in IT began as a .Net Developer in the private and non-profit sector following traditional waterfall delivery models in 2004.  He was first introduced to Scrum in 2010 when he joined Deloitte Consulting as a Solutions Architect and Delivery Manager.  He worked as a systems integration specialist on projects in the Public Sector, leading diverse, co-located and distributed teams developing custom applications for the Affordable Care Act.  He quickly adapted Deloitte’s RUP delivery framework, known as Earned Value Delivery to incorporate Scrum principles.  This modified Scrum approach leveraged ALM toolsets such as Team Foundation Server (TFS) and JIRA; which he used to successfully implement enterprise solutions for Federal and State government.  With successful implementation of a nationwide Pre-Existing Conditions solution for ObamaCare and an integrated eligibility system in South Dakota, Brian began earning a reputation as an innovative ScrumMaster and a go-to Agile expert; his expertise focused not only on the application of Scrum principles, but creating effective methods for transforming project teams and ALM toolsets to meet demanding Product Owner needs.  

Innovator

Later in Brian’s career, he learned that Scrum is not a one-size-fits-all, silver bullet solution - instead the Agile world must evolve to meet business needs and the changing landscape of technology.  As an innovator and leader of change, he developed his own Agile framework known as ScrumBan (Scrum + KanBan), designed to meet the needs of maintenance teams with products near end of life.  ScrumBan is an innovative, hybrid framework, which leverages the ceremonies and artifacts of Scrum with the flexibility of KanBan.

Breadth and Depth

Over the years Brian has implemented Scrum principles and served as the ScrumMaster for successful projects delivered for hot-button issues including Pre-Existing Conditions, Affordable Care Act, Opioid Crisis and Unemployment Insurance Modernization.  Brian earned a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems and is a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM).  In addition to his agile certification, he holds certifications in AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, Project Management (PMP), ITIL Foundations v3 and ITIL Service Transition v3.

Current Work

Most recently, Brian joined Acclaim Systems as their Director of Client Solutions.  His current clients include Pennsylvania’s Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, where he is actively working to implement an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system.  The new EHR system will be used by Counties and Providers throughout Pennsylvania for the planning, administration and monitoring of Behavioral Health Programs in the Commonwealth.  The system is a positive step in providing the State the tools and information necessary to fight the Opioid Crisis.