Agile Methods Expert | Project Management Program Expert | Keynote Speaker | Webinar Presenter | Instructor
What attracted you to Project Management and IT, and why did you choose to pursue this career?
My father used to perform final testing of communication satellites. We are both Ham Radio operators, and I found it fascinating as we listened to very concise data being transmitted by satellites. We’d work to decode the data to understand the health of the satellite. I became fascinated with the efforts required to coordinate building and launching of such a complex system.
What has been your greatest career accomplishment so far, and why has it been important to your career?
I ran a large Agile program consisting of 200 people, 5 vendors, 7 sites, 5 time zones. The project was expected to last two year, but we were able to deliver the results in nine months. This experience directly led to my current position of implementing Agile for our enterprise around the world.
What are the two or three biggest challenges you face as a data management professional / CDO and how can we address them?
Projects and Project Mangers still struggle to understand the importance of valid data and the impacts to their projects. Many time delays with their projects may be caused by poor quality data.
How do you see data management / the role of the CDO / IT changing in the next 2 – 3 years?
Data volumes are growing exponentially. As that data increases, the challenge is to better understand what must be collected, and what may be noise that adds confusion instead of clarity.
Do you have any planned next steps for your career?
I am currently implementing Agile throughout my company, including the non-IT organizations. This is a multiyear effort. In parallel, I will be starting an executive MBA program in September and have expressed interest in an over-seas assignment once the transformation is completed.
What is the single best piece of advice you have received in your PM management / IT career so far? Why has it been so important to you?
Don’t’ forget the people component. In IT and Project Management, it’s too easy to focus on the process and data. Success and failure are primarily dependent on the ability of people to work together. As Artificial Intelligence becomes more ubiquitous, we must understand the purpose, and impact on people.
Can you share something about yourself as a person that people wouldn’t know about you?
Love to Scuba dive, travel and meet people. I was fortunate to travel to 16 countries in 2019.
