Cindy Ferguson Email and Phone Number

After 8 years in the UK, I decided to cross the Atlantic. Mintel was very supportive of this, allowing me to transfer to our Chicago office to work in the team that develop on Comperemedia.Mintel Comperemedia® is a searchable competitive database tracking direct mail, print advertising, mobile advertising and online banner advertising in the United States and Canada, as well as email in the US. Source: http://www.comperemedia.com/Here I will be increasing my proficiency in Python and web libraries such as Backbone.js . I'll also be getting used Jira as the software for managing the agile software development workflow.

In October 2012, Mintel IT transitioned to a more agile methodology, flattening the organizational structure in the process. The experience came just as I was finishing up my MBA and sparking a keen interest the change management process, especially as it relates to agile transformation.The new role I was placed in allowed some exposure as a scrum master (it is a rotated role) and continues to enhance my technical skills tremendously.During this time, I worked alongside two teams:The Maintenance and Operations team (MOAT): We debug, code for, deploy changes to all the IT systems Mintel has: data entry, analysis, display, accounting systems etc. We related directly to everyone in the business, understanding their problems, understanding where it fit in the bigger picture (ie: priority) and providing technical solutions as quickly as we were able.Multitasking, learning new systems quickly, understanding users requirements and issues, and teamwork are all key to this role.GNPD Data Entry Scrum: In additional to technical work (writing and reviewing code) as a senior dev, here I worked closely with the Product Owner, helping with backlog creation and prioritization. Re-joining this team after the absence when on MOAT made me start questioning whether we were leveraging the power of agile and gave me some scope to flex my agile coaching muscles.

During this role I managed the IT systems used for Mintel's main product - Global New Product Database (GNPD). Firstly this role covered only the internal data capture aspect but later on covered the display to clients and analysis tools they use. Together with my team of 5, we gathered requirements from both internal users and external clients, designed and built solutions.In addition to building new requested capabilities, we also managed the day-to-day support of these systems.Managing stakeholder expectation, building project specifications and staff management were key skills for this position.

My first job after graduating with a double major in Computer science was working on data capture for GNPD, a database of fast moving consumer goods built across several platforms (dot net, php, python).