I bring over 25 years of comprehensive experience in the SDLC/PLC, transitioning into product management leadership for the past decade. With a strong foundation in user-centred design, agile delivery, and deep-rooted commercial insights, I've led transformative digital initiatives across diverse sectors. My expertise spans coaching, mentoring, product management, data, and facilitating workshops, complemented by certifications in various agile frameworks and coaching methodologies. I've… Show more I bring over 25 years of comprehensive experience in the SDLC/PLC, transitioning into product management leadership for the past decade. With a strong foundation in user-centred design, agile delivery, and deep-rooted commercial insights, I've led transformative digital initiatives across diverse sectors. My expertise spans coaching, mentoring, product management, data, and facilitating workshops, complemented by certifications in various agile frameworks and coaching methodologies. I've contributed significantly to enterprise agility, guiding teams through lean product management, fostering innovation, and implementing metrics-driven strategies for enhanced decision-making. My recent roles involved partnering with organisations, offering agile coaching, designing education programs, and steering cross-functional teams toward successful product deliveries. Passionate about refining product strategies, driving innovation, and orchestrating effective agile transformations, I've consistently excelled in nurturing high-performing teams and driving measurable outcomes. Show less

• Working as a product leader for clients across the breadth of the product lifecycle, from Post-it notes to profit, with a particular focus on 'the fuzzy front end', building product strategies that deliver value early and often, and defining new and innovative products generated from insights delivered through emergent learning• Running innovation as a process for clients, with a mix of idea and growth sprints, facilitation of design studios and design sprints, defining and delivering… Show more • Working as a product leader for clients across the breadth of the product lifecycle, from Post-it notes to profit, with a particular focus on 'the fuzzy front end', building product strategies that deliver value early and often, and defining new and innovative products generated from insights delivered through emergent learning• Running innovation as a process for clients, with a mix of idea and growth sprints, facilitation of design studios and design sprints, defining and delivering user research to support Discovery, solution experimentation with prototypes in Alpha, and optimisation experimentation for growth in Live• Building capability through a mix of coaching, training and mentoring for product managers, delivery managers and agile teams with a mix of VFQ (Value-Flow-Quality), Design Thinking and Product Management and Thinking Show less

The Department for International Trade contracted three external teams (one of which I lead) to support the core ‘great.gov.uk’ team with marketing and communications around the UK Governments strong desire to both promote and offer advice to small and medium-sized business who are driven to becoming exporters. The team’s backlog was a mix of marketing campaign support (in the creation of campaign assets and websites, helping implement success measurement for the same), tactical work coming… Show more The Department for International Trade contracted three external teams (one of which I lead) to support the core ‘great.gov.uk’ team with marketing and communications around the UK Governments strong desire to both promote and offer advice to small and medium-sized business who are driven to becoming exporters. The team’s backlog was a mix of marketing campaign support (in the creation of campaign assets and websites, helping implement success measurement for the same), tactical work coming from the Government's strategic communications around leaving the European Union and the implementation of Google Analytics 360 and Google Tag Manager across the estate. Show less

The Department for Education was running a number of discovery projects on how they can reduce workload and increase retention of teachers, while still delivering better outcomes for children in education at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3. I was contracted for twelve weeks as the delivery manager on one such cross-functional discovery team, looking specifically at the impact of creating a bank of curriculum materials and resources for teachers. The Discovery did not follow into an Alpha phase.

Reporting to the VP ES Digital Products, I was part of a senior management team that was providing direction and leadership to multiple cross-functional agile product delivery teams. I was actively contributing to and setting target outcomes, reviewing outputs, feeding into the departmental strategy and driving a range of coaching initiatives with five upcoming product managers, UX and delivery teams.

I worked as the product lead on the delivery of a new CMS as part of the Digital Channels Transformation programme upon which Barnardo's were developing their new external facing website and "open" intranet. I worked with both internal and external teams to move to a flow-based product development process and was instrumental in the prioritisation of outcomes over outputs.

The Department for Education was running a number of Discovery projects on how digital methods could lead to either an increase in the uptake of modern foreign languages (MFL) at GCSE or lead to a rise in the productivity of teachers teaching MFL in years 9, 10 and 11; I was the delivery manager of one such Discovery team.

As CPO for the New Registers team, I was responsible for creating and holding the overall vision for a portfolio of 3 digital services that RoS was delivering in partnership with the Scottish Government. Working across two multidisciplinary teams and two sites (Edinburgh and Glasgow), I was responsible for all product decisions and delivery from discovery through to go-live and beyond.

As one of two coaches working in this Enterprise Agile transformation, I was coordinating Agile adoption across seven multi-disciplinary teams (engineers and designers / researchers) in 4 program work streams. I was directly involved with developing and delivering team and organisation training, coaching teams and stakeholders on Agile values, principles and practice, and promoting continuous improvement. I was championing cultural change and collaboration; I mentored teams on… Show more As one of two coaches working in this Enterprise Agile transformation, I was coordinating Agile adoption across seven multi-disciplinary teams (engineers and designers / researchers) in 4 program work streams. I was directly involved with developing and delivering team and organisation training, coaching teams and stakeholders on Agile values, principles and practice, and promoting continuous improvement. I was championing cultural change and collaboration; I mentored teams on self-organisation, decision making, conflict resolution and transparency. I also facilitated workshops, retrospectives, planning sessions and kick-off events and introduced Lego Serious Play workshops into the program and MOJ Digital. Show less

I managed a small portfolio of products and led a team of three product managers, 2 UX designers and a VI designer. While I took the lead on product strategy, I continued to run workshops and design studios with engineering and business stakeholders and involved myself, when requested, in agile coaching and leadership. I was instrumental in the introduction of a number of new initiatives including dual track agile, lean and design thinking methods including lean product management and Kanban… Show more I managed a small portfolio of products and led a team of three product managers, 2 UX designers and a VI designer. While I took the lead on product strategy, I continued to run workshops and design studios with engineering and business stakeholders and involved myself, when requested, in agile coaching and leadership. I was instrumental in the introduction of a number of new initiatives including dual track agile, lean and design thinking methods including lean product management and Kanban, the introduction of OKRs within the product and technology teams, innovation initiatives like 5X, cultural transformation with tools and thinking from Management 3.0 and I sat on the Connected Home leadership team. Show less

The Co-Innovation Lab was a ‘safe to fail’ environment for financial services organisations to experiment with a design thinking approach to solving problems and to creating product or service innovation. In this role I worked initially with Deutsche Bank as a scrum master/delivery lead and later as the Labs head of product, developing and pitching new product and service propositions to new and existing clients. Job responsibilities -• End to end product discovery and development… Show more The Co-Innovation Lab was a ‘safe to fail’ environment for financial services organisations to experiment with a design thinking approach to solving problems and to creating product or service innovation. In this role I worked initially with Deutsche Bank as a scrum master/delivery lead and later as the Labs head of product, developing and pitching new product and service propositions to new and existing clients. Job responsibilities -• End to end product discovery and development of a green-field data visualisation platform for the bank with a team that has we sourced from the Lab’s contractor pool and DB staff. • Acting as the Sprint Master for many Design Sprints and Design Studios.• Scrum Master for two scrum teams, 1 Kanban team and the proxy product owner in the creation of agile artefacts that these teams need from discovery and for development. • I facilitated both Design Sprints and Design Studios with several groups and projects in the lab.• I lead on the implementation of the Dual Track Agile methodology in new project teams. • I headed up the Labs internal agile transformation.• Development of several new business propositions around innovation games, agile and innovation processes which the Lab was looking to offer to both existing and new clients. Show less

Job Responsibilities:• Determining, verifying and defining business, technical, functional and non-functional requirements and later, ensuring problem-solution fit• Backlog grooming and management including the writing of epics, user stories and story maps; iteration and sprint planning and leading on prioritisation while working with the Product Owner • Capturing user journeys, planning with UX teams on flow and design, generating Balsamic wireframes, involved with defining… Show more Job Responsibilities:• Determining, verifying and defining business, technical, functional and non-functional requirements and later, ensuring problem-solution fit• Backlog grooming and management including the writing of epics, user stories and story maps; iteration and sprint planning and leading on prioritisation while working with the Product Owner • Capturing user journeys, planning with UX teams on flow and design, generating Balsamic wireframes, involved with defining requirements for formal user testing• Running Sprint planning session with the development team• Facilitating collaboration and communication between the Scrum Team and the business sponsors and SMEs’• Agile coaching of other team members and other BAs’ connected with the program• Actively addressing ambiguity and change – as business priorities changed over the course of the project, I was actively engaged with the business to ensure the Scrum Team decisions stayed aligned with the business needs and that any issues that arose were addressed and any ambiguity was discussed and clarified promptly• Identifying and communicating key project risks, defining mitigation strategies and owning these issues through to resolution• Assisting or leading in the production of business cases for additional project works and deliverables, ensuring that all new project proposals had a viable business proposition Show less

BlueLabs is a London & Brighton based Agile UX and technology-driven business that is focused on the development of apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.Blue Labs was founded by developers to bring their software engineering expertise to the mobile app industry and now our team has expanded to include UX practitioners, designers and custom app developers. We work very collaboratively with organisations of all sizes to design innovative, intuitive and effective mobile applications… Show more BlueLabs is a London & Brighton based Agile UX and technology-driven business that is focused on the development of apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.Blue Labs was founded by developers to bring their software engineering expertise to the mobile app industry and now our team has expanded to include UX practitioners, designers and custom app developers. We work very collaboratively with organisations of all sizes to design innovative, intuitive and effective mobile applications that are delivered on-time and on-budget – in short we build apps that our clients and your clients love! Show less

Job Responsibilities:• To provide strategic, analytical and tactical support to the CEO in regards to implementing strategies that provide value and accelerate growth• Leading and coaching of the internal team responsible for the development of the core product offering in Objective C (iOS), SQLite and .Net (C# web services), maintaining technical oversight of the product and associated services to ensure continued integrity and alignment to our own strategic vision and to the clients’… Show more Job Responsibilities:• To provide strategic, analytical and tactical support to the CEO in regards to implementing strategies that provide value and accelerate growth• Leading and coaching of the internal team responsible for the development of the core product offering in Objective C (iOS), SQLite and .Net (C# web services), maintaining technical oversight of the product and associated services to ensure continued integrity and alignment to our own strategic vision and to the clients’ needs• Thought leadership - to develop, source and share original thinking on the impact of emerging technologies to our management team, the internal and external development teams and to our own customers so as to influence and contribute to our overall product / service vision and future direction• Working with clients’ IT management & CIOs’ to understand their business strategy, to develop IT strategies and architectures appropriate for their domains of responsibility and deliver our own solutions within these constraints• Identification and management of the IT tools we used to support team collaboration and working process (Basecamp, Podio, SharePoint and Exchange); Agile process management, planning and reporting (Pivotal Tracker and Kanban); platform, environment and release management (AWS, Apple Certification Services, CISimple & Testflight), and source code management (GIT Hub)• Offshore team management and the support of cross-functional projects, including those with external participants• Running user workgroups and interview sessions specifically for business requirement elicitation• Investor and client pitching, product evangelism, demos• Managing the Product Backlog including writing epics and JIT, ready user stories (DEEP)• Creating the product vision leveraging tools like the ‘Product Vision Board’ and ‘Product Canvas’, and managed the product roadmap• Bringing both internal and market facing insights to the teams for discussion Show less

Job Responsibilities:• Scoping the area of analysis, working with project managers, SMEs’ and business sponsors to clarify the level and complexity of the business analysis effort required for the various deliverables• Selection of the appropriate elicitation techniques to efficiently identify critical requirements• Anticipate issues, think proactively and use critical thinking skills to plan stakeholder elicitation sessions• Build strong relationships with project… Show more Job Responsibilities:• Scoping the area of analysis, working with project managers, SMEs’ and business sponsors to clarify the level and complexity of the business analysis effort required for the various deliverables• Selection of the appropriate elicitation techniques to efficiently identify critical requirements• Anticipate issues, think proactively and use critical thinking skills to plan stakeholder elicitation sessions• Build strong relationships with project stakeholders• Apply new communication strategies for interacting with virtual teams• Running user workgroups and interview sessions specifically for business requirement elicitation• Plan the approach for analysing, categorising, and managing requirements and the reporting of the same • Determining the level of formality required and the consideration of options for documenting requirements based on priorities, interdependencies and risks.• Analysis and documentation of business processes and data flows, extensive use of Visio for UML process flow illustration, system architecture diagrams, swim lane diagrams and User Environment Designs (UED)• Writing of all documentation including use cases, system requirement analysis, system design specifications and obtaining sign-off from business for the same; refining of the documents through multiple iterations and code drops.• Translation of requirements into detailed testing objectives, test plans and the verification that all requirements were testable• Conducting effective requirement and technical solution design reviews of documents delivered by the off-shore development teams in an effort to validate and improve the quality of the deliverables• Completing impact analysis of changes in requirements and raising paperwork meeting the change control procedures in the program Show less

I worked directly with the business securitisation deal teams, supporting the execution of balance sheet asset securitisations across the banking/lending and trading/OTC book. Technology was the Microsoft BI (SSIS & SSRS) toolset and C#, I leveraged both to support and extend the data and reporting related activities of the team.

I worked as an Environment Manager for a global ‘change the bank’ project team in a front to back integration program for a complex lending application incorporating multiple technologies, and as a Technical Release Manager in the ‘run the bank’ Lending Operations & Finance Technology space.

I worked in the Equity Derivatives front office, managing a team of four, planning and delivering ‘in-place’ trading book technology upgrades.

The duration of this contact was spent in the Global Securities Finance Financial Markets IT group (7 people) directly supporting the Equity Derivative (Swaps and CFD) business group including trading and operations.

I worked in core operations but frequently supported trading and regulatory reporting; I developed automation and reporting solutions using Excel, VB6, SQL Server and Oracle databases, interfacing with Charles River Developments (CRD).

I worked on developing and delivering both tactical and strategic IT solutions for the business in the areas of Performance-Attribution / Calculation, Client Reporting, Portfolio Management and DataManagement.

I worked on producing tactical solutions using MS Office based technologies (80% Excel) and SQL Server. I worked closely with business groups including FI & Equities, Corporate Accounting and Regulatory Reporting.

I worked as a SQL Server DBA but with additional duties including application support, Access upsizing, SQL programming, VB / VBA development, VB Script development, DTS development, XML, XSLT, ASP and C#.

I worked on developing client server / N Tier applications, Access upsizing, SQL programming, VB / VBA development, XML, XSLT, ASP and C# in a RAD environment.

I worked on distributed 3 tier application support, SQL programming, production DBA work and VB / VBA development

Working in the Engineering and Integration department of this investment bank, providing experience in client server database integration, management reporting and SQL / VB / VBA development. Development environment: Windows NT and Windows 2000Tools: Excel VBA / Data Linked, ODBC, ADO, Visual Basic 6, SQL Server 7 & 2000, Crystal Reports 7 & 8, Access VBA (97 & 2000), Visual Interdev (ASP and HTML), Active X and COM+ and Microsoft FrontPage