Demonstrated Success and Continuous Improvement

IT Leadership and Enterprise Transformational Change

I have partnered with leaders from Corporate Strategy, Business Enterprises, Technology, Finance, Risk, and other areas to create a vision and drive broad organizational transformational change and improvements to delivery practices.

Product Orientated Planning Approach – Encouraged the shift toward a product oriented planning approach through the use of Outcomes and Key Results (OKRs) in business case development, demand prioritization, and and capacity management focused on value and urgency to deliver business outcomes. Piloted and implemented tracking outcomes for ongoing benefits realization review.

• Encouraged the mindset shift from the traditional IT focus on delivering outputs (software delivered into production) toward delivering outcomes (business value).

Shift from Project Funding to a Stable Team Funding Model – Partnered with Finance and Strategy Teams to move from a project funding model to a team capacity funding model.

• Simplified financial management, encouraged stronger expense management practices, and stabilized team capacity to support the enterprise agile transformation journey.

Agile Risk Management Model - Worked with Enterprise Risk to design and implement a risk stakeholder engagement mechanic to ensure appropriate 2nd Line of Defense Risk monitoring in the delivery process. Updated Business Case processes to ensure New Product review for all new initiative requests.

• Improved risk “review and challenge” oversight allowing risk stakeholders to identify concerns for risk mitigation and inject new non-functional requirements or conditions to launch into projects to minimize risk for the firm and meet regulatory expectations from the Federal Reserve Board (FRB).

PMO / Project Management

I have lead major programs and PMOs at JPMorgan Chase, DaVita, and Charles Schwab. I have also provided consulting services in the project management space through multiple engagements while working at SARCOM Enterprise Education, Franklin Computer Services Group, and Lewis Fowler. Key accomplishments related to project management and PMO leadership are described below.

Demand Management - Matured intake and portfolio management functions including pipeline management, project estimation, governance approvals, and activation. Introduced a throttling capability based on resource availability and project dependencies to better manage the activation process and set expectations with business sponsors.

•  Created better transparency about IT capacity and improved the ability to execute against the active portfolio by not taking on more work than can be absorbed by the current IT organization.

Project Estimation – Created new project estimation capabilities dramatically reducing the time to estimate project requests while driving consistency across the governance process.

•  Reduced the SLA for project estimation by 40%, improved consistency and estimating accuracy, and clarified roles to keep key resources focused on active projects

Portfolio Management – Implemented a new portfolio hierarchy structure, new organizational structures, and management capabilities to accommodate dramatic portfolio growth while maintaining and improving demand management, project execution, and PMO operations capabilities.

• Accommodated a 40% increase in project volume (from 65 active projects in 2013 to 108 active projects in 2014) while reducing the number of projects per PM, improving the intake and estimation process, driving more consistent project delivery behaviors, and maturing PMO operations.

Onboarding Capabilities – Developed new interview standards, onboarding checklists, mentoring/buddy system, and 30/60/90 day evaluation processes to improve hiring and onboarding of new PMO employees.

Staffing Conversions – Converted the PMO staffing model from 2/3 consultants to a predominantly employee based model.

• The improved hiring practices and reduced number of consultants improved the onboarding experience, increased employee retention, and reduced knowledge loss from turnover.

Delivery Framework – Transformed Project Management guidelines to incorporate Ideation, Funding Approvals, Product Management Lifecycle (PDLC), and Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) processes to support both an agile development methodology and a more traditional waterfall project lifecycle. Created consistent definitions of roles & responsibilities, job aids, onboarding content and training materials to improve the effectiveness of project execution to deliver business outcomes. Established audit functions to validate standards use and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

Also, provided training to more than 250 Technology and Operations staff across the global organization. Ensured the revised Delivery Framework as fully adopted across the portfolio and implemented scorecard reporting to demonstrate deliverable completion to meet audit expectations.

• Improved project execution and trust in the IT function by demonstrating greater consistency, setting expectations, and validating behaviors across the portfolio.

Agile Project Management Model - Facilitated overall firm-wide agile transformation through re-imagining the PMO and project management function in an agile enterprise.

• Shifted the portfolio focus from projects to programs that align with a product orientation and re-shaped the project management role from owning tasks to facilitating the delivery of solutions working in partnership with Product Owners and scrum teams with a focus on accountability and transparency while navigating complex corporate processes allowing the agile development teams to focus on building software to delight our customers.

Dependency Tracking and Issue Resolution – Implemented portfolio & schedule management capabilities to track and manage project dependencies and deployment schedules across the portfolio.

• Created dramatically improved visibility to issue and schedule dependencies, provided a forum for issue resolution, and increased confidence in IT through better expectation setting and communication.

Enterprise Release Approach – Introduced a new Enterprise Release approach to major project implementations dramatically reducing the frequency and velocity of change for the business while improving production quality through better testing. Managed the content of the Enterprise Release program and coordinated deployment events with training teams and field operations.

• Improved production quality for major releases while also reducing the stress on the business by consolidating release events and coordinating training activities to minimize the impact of change to the field and improve adoption of new technologies or enhancements to applications.

Agile and Scaled Agile Adoption

I have helped to lead and support agile and scaled agile change and adoption within technology teams and across entire enterprises though leadership roles at JPMorgan and Charles Schwab. I have supported and influenced the implementation of core SAFe Scaled Agile Framework concepts including Solution Train backlogs, Lean Portfolio Management, PI Planning, Agile Release Trains (ARTs), Scrum practices, and core agile ceremonies.

I believe that project management facilitates agile and scaled agile planning and delivery of business outcomes by providing discipline and transparency that facilitates product success.

Piloted and Implemented Agile Practices – Adapted the project management approach to embrace the adoption of agile planning and IT development methodologies. Defined and adapted roles & responsibilities to embrace industry standard agile practices.

• Improved adoption of agile practices by demonstrating how project management and agile practices work in conjunction to deliver business value.

Roadmap Planning and PI Planning Practices – Supported and reinforce SAFe scaled agile influenced planning practices including business roadmap planning, PI Planning, for business and technology teams.

• Shifted existing planning activities toward industry standard agile planning practices improving the alignment of business processes with agile development methodologies.

Agile Training and Onboarding Content Development – Created and delivered Agile and Scaled Agile training and onboarding content for new hires and existing staff.

• Improved the consistent understanding of core Agile concepts, terminology, roles and responsibilities, and practices across the organization.

IT Risk / Information Security / Compliance

IT Risk & Security Standards – Incorporated IT Risk & Information Security components into the SDLC to improve risk management controls. Changes included the implementation of phase exit checklists and codebase security scans to reduce security risks and mitigate known security vulnerabilities.

Identity & Access Management – Deployed new processes and tools to improve controls related to Identity & Access Management closing key audit issues and IT Risk gaps.

Change Management Controls – Designed and implemented new change management processes to better manage change events, improve change quality, and reduce outages and issues.

Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery – Coordinated improvements to business continuity & disaster recovery processes including Architecture, Infrastructure, and IT Risk engagement, updates to SLAs, changes to the SDLC, and updated QA testing practices.

• Improved consistency, security, and availability for systems and processes impacted by project execution and changes in the production environment.

PII Data Masking – Implemented new data masking / obfuscation capabilities for PII (personally identifiable information) data across all non-production data environments dramatically reducing IT and business risk related to identity theft.

Privacy Controls – Designed and deployed new privacy and data masking capabilities into client systems to address data security and privacy needs for ultra-high net worth and publicly recognizable clients.

• Created more secure applications with improved privacy for the company’s highest profile, ultra-high net worth, and publicly recognizable customers.

AML Interface – Built a new interface to send client and transaction data to the corporate Anti-Money Laundering solution providing greater IT Risk and Compliance capabilities.

Trade Compliance Tool Implementation – Designed and built trade monitoring capabilities dramatically improving investment transaction regulatory compliance, reducing business risk, and addressing open audit issues.

• Delivered regulatory and compliance driven requirements for trading and money movement platforms improving security and customer confidence in key transactional systems.

Operations

ITIL v3 Framework Implementation – Partnered with IT Operations leadership to standardize end-to-end IT services using the ITIL v3 framework. Focused on integrating Service Design and Service Transition capabilities including specific PMI project management concepts with core ITIL concepts. Documented and provided training on specific portfolio management, project execution, and change management processes.

• Created better consistency in the description and understanding of end-to-end IT services. Facilitated a better understanding of how IT services are related and how tools and process need to be integrated to support a better customer experience.

Operations Metrics – Developed and delivered new monthly "DevOps" reports. 

• Provided improved executive visibility to Infrastructure & Operations metrics across project delivery, application availability, system performance, support call volumes, issue management, and financials.

Data Mart Implementation – Developed and implemented a PMO data mart to abstract reporting functions from tools, improve report timeliness, and rationalizing project data from multiple sources into a common data structure.

Executive Portfolio Reporting – Designed and implemented a new monthly overview of the entire technology portfolio and the selection of key weekly highlights presented to the CEO, CIO, and Operating Committee members.

• Dramatically improved visibility of the technology organization’s activities and accomplishments for senior executives and key stakeholders.

Detailed Financial Reporting – Created the ability for Project Managers and stakeholders to view detailed project financial data through new self-service project financial reporting tools. This new detail allows project managers much greater control over their projects financials and created much more transparency for executive management and project stakeholders.

Tool Enhancements – Implemented PPM, time tracking, and resource forecasting tools to facilitate PMO, financial tracking, and resource management capabilities.

• Various tools, data management, and reporting capabilities increased transparency of project delivery metrics and facilitated communication to IT partners and business stakeholders by improving the quality and timeliness of information.

Other Accomplishments

Industry Presentations – Presented at the 2014 Gartner PMO Symposium and was a guest lecturer at The Colorado School of Mines and at Syracuse University for IT Project Management courses.

• Extended brand recognition of the PMO to outside industry experts, practitioners, students, and prospective job candidates.