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How global healthcare company Sanofi found a true Scrum Master and accelerated their hiring by 75% using ScrumMatch

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The challenge

The Agile Lead for Sanofi's Digital Accelerator, Damien Bilal Alawiye, was looking for an experienced Scrum Master. He was struggling to find the quality of candidates he needed through traditional recruiting methods such as job postings and external agencies. Bilal first heard about ScrumMatch through an expert community. He was intrigued by the idea that ScrumMatch could connect him with candidates who were not only qualified on paper, but who had been reviewed by Scrum experts as capable of driving and delivering business results.

In fact, the majority of the candidates had Scrum.org certifications. Scrum.org certifications are widely recognized as a measure of Scrum mastery. While these credentials are valuable and signify a strong understanding of Scrum principles, the challenge is to determine if certified individuals can effectively apply their knowledge in dynamic, real-world environments. This is where ScrumMatch comes in. Through a rigorous review process, ScrumMatch goes beyond theory and evaluates candidates on their practical application of Scrum, ensuring that organizations like Sanofi are matched with professionals who not only know Scrum, but can truly implement it to drive meaningful results.

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Understanding the problem

In his first meeting with Stephen Sykes, one of the co-founders of ScrumMatch, Bilal quickly realized that ScrumMatch understood Sanofi's needs and the broader challenges facing the Scrum/Agile industry. Bilal's hypothesis that too many Scrum Masters/Agile Coaches lacked true value discovery and delivery expertise was validated by ScrumMatch's data. ScrumMatch's reviews show that 35% of candidates cannot use Scrum effectively, underscoring the difficulty of finding true experts in the field.

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The ScrumMatch solution

Stephen explained how ScrumMatch works, emphasizing their commitment to identifying true Scrum Masters and Product Owners through an extensive review process.

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Expert review by Professional Scrum Trainers (PSTs)

Every Scrum Master who applies through ScrumMatch is reviewed by at least one Professional Scrum Trainer (PST) as part of the ScrumMatch review process. PSTs are recognized experts in Scrum with extensive experience both in applying Scrum in real-world scenarios and in teaching it to others. Their involvement ensures that candidates have not only the theoretical knowledge, but also the proven ability to effectively implement Scrum principles in teams and organizations. This collaboration enhances ScrumMatch's selection process and gives employers like Sanofi the confidence that the candidates they receive from ScrumMatch have been thoroughly evaluated by some of the foremost authorities on Scrum.

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Step 1

Applicants create a profile and answer a question to demonstrate their expertise. Depending on their answer, candidates are either invited for a face-to-face review, asked to refine and resubmit their answers, or rejected with feedback and encouragement to reapply after gaining more experience.

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Step 2

Applicants who pass the initial evaluation undergo a rigorous review with proven Scrum professionals. This review tests their theoretical knowledge, past experience, and ability to handle real-world challenges. At each stage, candidates receive feedback, especially after the second stage, where they receive detailed insight into their strengths, areas for improvement and their placement on the ScrumMatch maturity model. This feedback not only helps applicants grow, but also allows employers like Sanofi to accurately define the caliber of professionals they are looking for.

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Tailoring to Sanofi's needs

While Sanofi was impressed with ScrumMatch's process, ScrumMatch also adapted to Sanofi's needs. Sanofi needed a Scrum Master with broad expertise in certain areas, so they highlighted the areas that would help guide ScrumMatch to the type of person they were looking for. This didn't mean that candidates necessarily had to have experience in all of the areas combined, but they would be focus areas that would help identify outstanding candidates. These included:

  • Building teams for success
  • Product culture and outcome mindset
  • Lean coaching and understanding of flow
  • Organizational agility (e.g Flight Levels)
  • Agility in data science teams
  • Hands on coaching

To meet these requirements, ScrumMatch worked with candidates who had already passed the ScrumMatch Review to self-assess in each of these areas to ensure they were a good fit for Sanofi.

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Ongoing collaboration and feedback

ScrumMatch maintained regular communication with Bilal and his Digital Accelerator team to gather feedback not only on the candidates, but also on how ScrumMatch could improve their collaboration. Through this constant feedback loop:

  • ScrumMatch was able to highlight potential blockers to Sanofi.
  • Sanofi refined its understanding of the kind of candidates they were looking for after the first set of candiates.
    ScrumMatch made improvements to their platform, such as adding more detail to candidate profiles based on Bilal's feedback.

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The outcome

ScrumMatch's work didn't end with the presentation of candidates. ScrumMatch stayed in touch with the candidates throughout the process, coaching them to ensure they were a good match for Sanofi's needs. The result was that Sanofi successfully hired a Scrum Master through ScrumMatch.

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Sanofi's experience with ScrumMatch

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<img src="/media/pages/case-study/how-sanofi-hired-a-true-scrum-master-using-scrummatch/be60cef154-1739389386/sm-sanofi-bilal.jpg" /><br>
<p style="padding:10px;"><small>
<b>Damien Bilal Alawiye</b><br>
Agile Lead, Sanofi Digital Accelerator
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<em style="font-size:1.4em;">&laquo;Working with ScrumMatch proved to be a huge game changer in selecting the right candidates for our team. We were looking for coaches who were able to understand systems and how to develop the habits of attractive change vs. just implementing frameworks or trendy practices. Before working with ScrumMatch, we were not able to find that. It took us on average 4 months to recruit Scrum Masters but working with ScrumMatch, that time got significantly reduced to 1 month. Moreover, we found the candidate’s profiles from ScrumMatch to be more coherent with our needs and above all else more adapted to our culture and values.&raquo;</em>

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About Sanofi

Sanofi is an innovative global healthcare company with a single purpose: to chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives. Sanofi is committed to building a healthier, more resilient world, Sanofi turns the impossible into possible by discovering, developing, and delivering medicines and vaccines for millions of people worldwide. They aim to transform the practice of medicine through breakthrough science and make a positive impact on the people and communities they serve.

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About Scrum.org

Scrum.org, the Home of Scrum, was founded by Scrum co-creator Ken Schwaber as a mission-based organization to help people and teams solve complex problems. Scrum.org enables people to apply Professional Scrum through hands-on training courses, globally recognized certifications and ongoing learning all based on a common competency model. Scrum.org supports people wherever they are on their learning journey from beginner to highly experienced practitioner, helping them to grow over time with ongoing learning opportunities and resources. Community members share knowledge and gain new insights from each other leveraging forums, blogs and more.

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About ScrumMatch

At ScrumMatch, we believe that true Scrum Masters and Product Owners are essential to business success. Finding these true professionals in a crowded marketplace can be a challenge for employers. We created ScrumMatch to connect employers with true Scrum Masters and Product Owners who have proven their ability to deliver tangible business results. We do this by curating a network of Scrum Masters and Product Owners who have been evaluated by renowned Scrum experts, making it easier for employers to hire the right people and build teams that drive value.

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