Experience

Blue Rocket Incorporated

• United States
• Strategic Management Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Operating Partner

  • Jan 2021 - 3 years

  Greater Seattle Area We are experienced strategists, startup founders, Fortune 500 executives, engineers, organization specialists and innovators focused on helping our clients succeed. We are retained by boards and C-Suites to build, rebuild or transform companies by focusing on people, product, process and platforms. We're unique in that we partner with our clients to not only do the work, but to transfer knowledge so that they will continue to innovate, deliver and prosper long after our… Show more We are experienced strategists, startup founders, Fortune 500 executives, engineers, organization specialists and innovators focused on helping our clients succeed. We are retained by boards and C-Suites to build, rebuild or transform companies by focusing on people, product, process and platforms. We're unique in that we partner with our clients to not only do the work, but to transfer knowledge so that they will continue to innovate, deliver and prosper long after our engagements are finished. We employ only senior, experienced operators, each of whom has deep expertise in their discipline, a reputation for candor, keen insight and great people skills. We work in small to global sized companies and have some of the most recognized names in technology as delighted clients. We are a hands-on consultancy working shoulder-to-shoulder with our clients to achieve better business outcomes. We also develop tools, such as Gemini and Oxley to help our clients scale successfully. Current Responsibilities: - Software Packaging Design Specialist - Pricing and Quantitative Analysis - Data Analysis and Visualization - Consulting Account Management - CIO

• Director of Technical Program Management

  • Feb 2020 - Jan 2021

  Greater Seattle Area Force multiplier and team leader developing and maintaining initiatives our customers can trust. - Foster an open and collaborative environment that fosters creativity, innovation, automation and learning. - Work across clients, vendors and internal teams to effect broad performance improvement by designing and implementing processes, metrics and programs which enhance customer value. - Drive to ensure business objectives are met and each program delivers on its commitments. -… Show more Force multiplier and team leader developing and maintaining initiatives our customers can trust. - Foster an open and collaborative environment that fosters creativity, innovation, automation and learning. - Work across clients, vendors and internal teams to effect broad performance improvement by designing and implementing processes, metrics and programs which enhance customer value. - Drive to ensure business objectives are met and each program delivers on its commitments. - Provide regular visibility into program status on an ongoing basis to key stakeholders, team members and relevant partners. - Coach and mentor new hires; train and transition project management across company bounds.



Skype

• United States
• Software Development
• 200 - 300 Employee

• Senior Software Engineer, Intelligent Communications (IC3) - Data Insights Team

  • Jun 2015 - Nov 2019

  Redmond, Washington Data Pipeline Design-to-Delivery; Vendor Project Management; Mentor to Junior Team Members Responsibilities: - Design, implement and deliver automated and resilient GDPR-compliant data pipelines for internal business metrics: user engagement, product reliability, data quality and service utilization projects - Gather reporting requirements and deliver impactful visualizations for data pipelines, identifying key insights/trends over time - Coach, mentor and teach team members and… Show more Data Pipeline Design-to-Delivery; Vendor Project Management; Mentor to Junior Team Members Responsibilities: - Design, implement and deliver automated and resilient GDPR-compliant data pipelines for internal business metrics: user engagement, product reliability, data quality and service utilization projects - Gather reporting requirements and deliver impactful visualizations for data pipelines, identifying key insights/trends over time - Coach, mentor and teach team members and peer teams regarding data and pipeline architecture and implementation details Results: - Datasets used daily for multiple purposes: : Skype for Business Online Server Deployments schedule accelerated (product reliability) : Skype for Business -to- Teams Migration met quarterly migration schedules (user engagement) : Chat Service pipeline data used to build cost model for service delivery and utilization - Maintained mentorship/coaching relationship with peers and teams receiving positive feedback - Worked closely with Program Management and Leadership ensuring actionable data for business goal setting and decision making Technologies Actively Used: Azure Data Lake (via Cosmos), U-SQL (via Scope), Azure Data Factories, Azure SQL Databases, Azure Analysis Services (Tabular Model Cubes), DAX, and visualization tools Power BI and Power BI Web Service.

• Senior Software Engineer, Skype Business Services - Partner Engineering

  • May 2014 - Jun 2015

  Greater Seattle Area Manage relationships with partners, test vendors, hardware manufacturers and product team. Serve as Scrum Master for SDN (Software Defined Networking) Feature Development team. Own and drive published Qualification Criteria and provide interim Program Management for SDN and OIP (Inoperability Program for Skype Business Server) programs. Coordinated qualification processes for Open Interop Program. Synchronized efforts with multiple internal and external stakeholders. As Scrum Master… Show more Manage relationships with partners, test vendors, hardware manufacturers and product team. Serve as Scrum Master for SDN (Software Defined Networking) Feature Development team. Own and drive published Qualification Criteria and provide interim Program Management for SDN and OIP (Inoperability Program for Skype Business Server) programs. Coordinated qualification processes for Open Interop Program. Synchronized efforts with multiple internal and external stakeholders. As Scrum Master, established and ran daily stand-ups, coordinated with Product Owner and team to drive development and QA resources. Led team of 4 vendors in test, QZ and automation efforts. Program management responsibilities included: feature planning, external partner engagement, delivery of preview builds, work-to-ship functionality and multi-party negotiations.

• Senior Software Engineer, Skype for Business Server

  • Sep 2012 - Apr 2014

  Redmond, Washington Drove quality initiative across Office organization for Lync Client. Provided data acquisition, analysis and reporting of engineering activities in source code tree. As final checkpoint for Lync Server release, collaborated with core engineering team to ensure high quality standards. Contributed vision and broad guidelines for quality team of 20+ and $500K topology build-out investment that transitioned the organization to an enterprise-ready engineering system. (End-to-End… Show more Drove quality initiative across Office organization for Lync Client. Provided data acquisition, analysis and reporting of engineering activities in source code tree. As final checkpoint for Lync Server release, collaborated with core engineering team to ensure high quality standards. Contributed vision and broad guidelines for quality team of 20+ and $500K topology build-out investment that transitioned the organization to an enterprise-ready engineering system. (End-to-End Automation/Simulation Lab) Drove execution plan, coordinated with cross-team QA work, and delivered data analysis, telemetry, reporting and UI feedback.



Microsoft

• United States
• Software Development
• 700 & Above Employee

• Senior Software Engineer, Lync Client Team

  • Sep 2009 - Sep 2012

  Redmond, Washington Member of Defect Prevention Team in partnership with User Research to empower Test professionals through development of training and tools for use in critical review of specifications content so that fewer defects enter design phase. • Contributed to definition of 18 “shifts,” or trends in computing that impact business, people and technology; and “sparks,” or methodology for Test to understand features and related shifts. Drove team consensus for project during UI and content editing… Show more Member of Defect Prevention Team in partnership with User Research to empower Test professionals through development of training and tools for use in critical review of specifications content so that fewer defects enter design phase. • Contributed to definition of 18 “shifts,” or trends in computing that impact business, people and technology; and “sparks,” or methodology for Test to understand features and related shifts. Drove team consensus for project during UI and content editing process. Best practices to be presented at MICROSOFT ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE FORUM. Managed, coordinated feedback and implemented design choices for production cards. • Designed, coordinated and implemented Root Cause Analysis effort, with form deployment across entire Office organization that enables Test feedback earlier in product cycle. • Collaborated with Microsoft Research on long-term SWEPT initiative to address broad-impacting issues for product teams resulting from code changes. Vision for initiative is to transform global software engineering through use of stochastic modeling to provide churn data and analysis to product teams, and through requirements validation. Contributed to design and development engineering process and system health report that is distributed to executive leadership. • Organized monthly meeting between global Test team of 85 and MICROSOFT TESTER ARCHITECTS GROUP (TAG), a group of Senior Test Leads from across Company, to discuss topics including testing of services, test production, career development and release criteria. Introduced Q&A forum with TAG to others including MICROSOFT TECHNICAL COMMUNITY NETWORK (TCN) QUALITY & TESTING EXPERTS COMMITTEE.

• Senior SDET, Windows Defect Prevention Team

  • Nov 2005 - Sep 2009

  Redmond, Washington Member of dedicated small team responsible to drive risk analysis initiative through Windows Vista RTM, and process improvement through Windows 7 RTM. • Architected and drove implementation of scalable risk analysis toolset for Windows Shiproom to enable better data-driven decision making. Worked on tools to analyze changes in binaries between two builds, and produced report listing recommended tests. Tools were used in daily Shiproom meetings and by developers for Windows Vista and Windows… Show more Member of dedicated small team responsible to drive risk analysis initiative through Windows Vista RTM, and process improvement through Windows 7 RTM. • Architected and drove implementation of scalable risk analysis toolset for Windows Shiproom to enable better data-driven decision making. Worked on tools to analyze changes in binaries between two builds, and produced report listing recommended tests. Tools were used in daily Shiproom meetings and by developers for Windows Vista and Windows 7 ship cycles. • Specified and implemented developer-level toolsets to aid in shipping Windows Vista (DIRT). Evaluated and designed scalability improvements for product-wide Risk Analysis data gathering infrastructure (BRAT). DIRT and BRAT standards were used throughout Windows 7 product cycle. • Successfully adapted BRAT toolset designed and implemented by Microsoft Research to scale processing to accommodate everyday changes in a Windows build. • Designed, coordinated and implemented ezRCA initiative to drive feedback earlier into product cycle. Led small virtual team to create questions for base form, and was point of contact for teams across Company to assist in the form deployment in other bug databases. Presented best practice effort in ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE video series.

• Test Manager, Windows Lifecycle Test Team

  • Feb 2004 - Nov 2005

  Redmond, Washington Software Architect responsible to design implementation for centralized automated test execution system, or Feature Integration Testing Service (FITS), on top of Microsoft Windows Testing Technologies (WTT). Scaled lab resources; defined test standards and conventions; and drove standards and conventions across Windows Test teams. • Implemented Longhorn Quality Gate for standardized shared testing policies; reported to Windows Vista Shiproom regular status of Quality Gates. • During… Show more Software Architect responsible to design implementation for centralized automated test execution system, or Feature Integration Testing Service (FITS), on top of Microsoft Windows Testing Technologies (WTT). Scaled lab resources; defined test standards and conventions; and drove standards and conventions across Windows Test teams. • Implemented Longhorn Quality Gate for standardized shared testing policies; reported to Windows Vista Shiproom regular status of Quality Gates. • During Windows Vista, teams submitted tests to FITS. Designed central lab from software submission process and through scalable validation process. Managed FITS hardware budget, software architecture work, and Development team of 3 responsible for system implementation.

• Test Manager, Windows Kernel Test Team

  • Oct 2001 - Feb 2004

  Redmond, Washington Led small team of SDET test developers focused on “End-to-End Scenario Testing". In order to accomplish the scale and size of required tests, we engaged with a team developing an automation system that later became WTT, a standard eventually used across all of Windows and many other divisions in Microsoft. I designed and implemented several key features for WTT test automation system, including hardware tracking system, test matrix management features, and hybrid manual/automated testing… Show more Led small team of SDET test developers focused on “End-to-End Scenario Testing". In order to accomplish the scale and size of required tests, we engaged with a team developing an automation system that later became WTT, a standard eventually used across all of Windows and many other divisions in Microsoft. I designed and implemented several key features for WTT test automation system, including hardware tracking system, test matrix management features, and hybrid manual/automated testing capabilities.

• Test Manager, Windows External Bus Test Team

  • Aug 1998 - Oct 2001

  Redmond, Washington A lot of change happened during these years. Responsible for OS features and functionality for a number of technologies, I built a team of up to 40 people, and established test leads from the top performers to help manage the technology teams. Our team worked to design, develop and deploy a number of test tools, suites and automation. We delivered daily internal quality efforts and external “Windows Logo" compliance tests for our technologies. Coordinated, scheduled and drove quality assurance… Show more A lot of change happened during these years. Responsible for OS features and functionality for a number of technologies, I built a team of up to 40 people, and established test leads from the top performers to help manage the technology teams. Our team worked to design, develop and deploy a number of test tools, suites and automation. We delivered daily internal quality efforts and external “Windows Logo" compliance tests for our technologies. Coordinated, scheduled and drove quality assurance practices for USB, 1394 and other technologies; and reported and contributed to daily Shiproom activities. With development partners and the USB-IF, negotiated USB 2.0 testing resources and deployment for Windows XP as an "out-of-band" release.

• Software Test Engineer, Lead, Windows International Test Team

  • Feb 1995 - Aug 1998

  Redmond, Washington I was hired to perform hardware compatibility testing for the Japanese version of Windows 95. This include 3-mode floppy and NEC hardware testing. I was asked to develop file system test tools for multiple asian language character sets. After the release of Windows 95, and a reorganization, I moved to become a test lead managing the testing of multiple languages through the release of Windows 98. My direct team consisted of 3 fellow Microsoft employees and as many as 12 temporary… Show more I was hired to perform hardware compatibility testing for the Japanese version of Windows 95. This include 3-mode floppy and NEC hardware testing. I was asked to develop file system test tools for multiple asian language character sets. After the release of Windows 95, and a reorganization, I moved to become a test lead managing the testing of multiple languages through the release of Windows 98. My direct team consisted of 3 fellow Microsoft employees and as many as 12 temporary employees over this period. This role was part of a matrix leadership structure where other teams were co-managed by myself and a functional area lead jointly. These additional resources spread my responsibility to include many other temporary resources as Test Lead for non-English releases.



Kennewick Computer Company

• Technician

  • 1994 - 1995

  Worked as the technician in the back-room setting up, configuring and fixing computers for customers.