iovation was going through a rapid growth phase. Product enhancement requests from customers, executives, customer support, and engineers were piling up. Features were being delivered, but there was significant dissatisfaction with their nature, completeness, and timing. \ I achieved the following:

• using Ruby on Rails and MySQL, built a requirements management application
• organized these requests and consolidated similar requests from multiple customers
• exposed unstated requirements, and built mockups and prototypes (again using Ruby on Rails and MySQL) to validate requirements before engineering resources were invested
• established traceability from engineering requirements to the specific needs of customers and markets. This gave the development organization the confidence that their work would be adopted and valued.
• worked closely with the development and QA organization to prioritize requirements based on their value to customers. We collaborated on maintaining a Scrum backlog. This helped the organization focus on what would build value for the company and its customers.
• communicated development constraints to customers and clarified customer needs for development and QA. This two-way communication served to re-build trust throughout the organization.

As a consequence, the development organization delivered multiple product releases that satisfied customers.

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At Corillian, I led a team of four senior product managers responsible for P&L of Corillian’s entire product line. Revenues exceeded $20 million, and the company became profitable over this period. Following the acquisition of Corillian by CheckFree, and the acquisition of CheckFree by Fiserv, I championed initiatives to integrate products and software development processes. Subsequently, I led a team of three product managers responsible for internet banking products based on Microsoft Windows and SQL Server. These products earned over $7 million in annual revenue.

I am quoted in this Bank Technology News article about Fiserv.

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As Corillian grew its customer base and revenue, its development organization had to scale and mature. I started at Corillian with two direct reports, and by the time I moved out of engineering, my organization had grown to 26, of which five engineering managers reported directly to me.

In my last six months in engineering, I was responsible for Corillian's entire product line, which generated $19 million during that period, and another $20 million in the following six months. My annual budget was approximately $2 million.

As an engineering manager, I achieved the following:

• led junior and senior managers to on-time delivery of Corillian internet banking products
• developed ROI measures for products and even features, in cooperation with product management. \ This helped us set priorities objectively and communicate them throughout the company.
• Rescued two difficult projects and retained customers by establishing reasonable expectations and rebuilding their trust in Corillian’s ability to make and meet delivery commitments. Business from these customers alone subsequently exceeded $4.1 million.
• established standards for product requirements in cooperation with product management. This helped product management develop high-quality requirements and reduced requirements thrash which sometimes afflicts a growing organization.
• established quality standards, measures, and iterative quality-focused development processes in cooperation with QA management
• instituted agile development processes, policies and progress reporting expectations in cooperation with the project management office.
• Conducted practical training on software development methodologies including Rational Unified Process, eXtreme Programming, Refactoring, and software inspections.
• Successfully managed an off-site partner and an off-shore development team who were developing technology components.

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