Hi, I'm Kathy.

Background

I've been called a project manager, product manager, project coordinator, ScrumMaster, QA analyst, fire extinguisher, and simply "Kathy."

Hats and titles aside, my true calling has always been to rally the troops (AKA Engineering & Product people) to create and release useful things (AKA cool software apps) into the wild (AKA the Internet).

Philosophies

There's always a way to make it better. Following the principles of Lean, continuous improvement is baked into every software development life cycle I manage. Start with the minimum, and move forward and upward from there.

Provide guidance, not micromanagement. I don't expect my team to trust me if I don't trust them. Part of fostering that trust is allowing them to explore concepts freely and to make mistakes. It's from those very mistakes that we can all learn and grow.

Empathy is a universal language. From stakeholders to users to coworkers, stepping into others' shoes is what allows me to prioritize everyone's needs and to weigh them against business goals to make smarter product decisions.

OTHER STUFF

Outside the scope of project management, I like to spend my time scuba-diving, hiking, watching Netflix, exploring local eateries, playing video games, attempting to win the love of my cats, and singing my heart out at karaoke.

Tool Box

• JIRA
• VersionOne
• Confluence
• GitHub
• Balsamiq
• Photoshop CC / 2015
• GoToMeeting
• Lync
• HipChat
• SQL
• QASymphony
• Office 365 Suite
• GifCam
• Skitch

Techniques & Skills

• Scrum / Agile / Kanban / Lean
• Requirements elicitation
• Planning poker
• Timeboxing
• 5 Whys
• User testing
• Technical writing
• System testing
• Release testing

Here are a few of my current and past projects...

CUSTOMIZED CONFERENCE & Membership PLATFORM (CRM & CMS) FOR ECONOMIC ASSOCIATIONS

Purpose of Application: 

• The CMS allows economists around the world to register for annual conferences, submit requests to participate in conferences, manage account information, and purchase association memberships
• The CRM helps economic associations plan conferences and streamline administrative tasks including management of users, memberships, payments, and reports

Primary Roles: 

• Project Manager
• Product Manager
• Business Analyst
• QA Analyst
• Data Analyst

Main Responsibilities: 

• Helped to define project roadmaps with stakeholders
• Created epics, gathered requirements, wrote stories & wireframes, and prioritized and planned into sprints
• Negotiated feature requirements with stakeholders on behalf of organization representatives to help define product
• Tested stories, logged bugs, and worked with developers to troubleshoot issues to ensure a certain standard for product delivery
• Managed client accounts by assisting with any outstanding issues, providing deliverables, and handling urgent bugs
• Managed client and stakeholder expectations by keeping an up-to-date roadmap when unplanned issues or features were introduced
• Documented release notes
• Oversaw migrations of sensitive customer data
• Wrote scripts and procedures to ensure data integrity and to provide administrators with tools to manage customer data

VEHICLE VALUATION tool for LEADING AUTOMOTIVE BRAND'S WEBSITE & MOBILE APP

Purpose of Application: 

• To help consumers in making informed car-buying decisions by comparing prices using a variety of factors, including condition, seller status, and market desirability
• To give web and mobile shoppers a more native experience when it comes to comparing car purchase prices

Primary Role: 

• Project Manager
• Sr. QA Analyst

Main Responsibilities: 

• Managed team and coordinated with the product owner to prioritize stories
• Planned sprints and locked development into completing only assigned tasks in an effort to prevent scope creep
• Wrote release notes and project updates
• Provided quality assurance on the functionality of the pricing tool by testing various combinations of inputs and customizations of car options
• Error handling for all test cases, including edge cases
• Gathered and refined requirements from the product owner and engineers
• Tested integration of all six versions of the pricing tool into the company's website
• Tested transition interactions, including graphics and logic rules, between all versions of the pricing tool
• Used QASymphony to write reusable test cases

CUSTOMIZED ADOPTION MANAGEMENT PLATFORM FOR LEADING ADOPTION AGENCY

Purpose of Application: 

• To manage customer data of adopting families and birth mothers, track and document adoption matches, and run custom organizational reporting

Primary Roles: 

• Project Manager
• QA Analyst

Main Responsibilities: 

• Managed client account and became the main point of contact on the project for receiving and relaying requirements, concerns, and expectations
• Prioritized client wishlist of features and planned into sprints
• Provided quality assurance testing for major data migration
• Conducted extensive user acceptance testing (UAT) with real-world end users
• Trained clients, specifically management-level users, on how to use the system

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT CRM FOR SMALL- TO MEDIUM-SIZED TAX FIRMS

Purpose of Application: 

• To enable small- to medium-sized tax firms to manage their client list for tax season, track their daily tasks, house sensitive customer documents, and provide them with the marketing tools to keep in contact with their customers

Primary Roles: 

• Project Manager
• QA Analyst

Main Responsibilities: 

• Worked with clients and internal staff to define the scope and business goals of each release
• Managed client relationships and met with stakeholders on a regular basis to envision major functionality requests
• Worked with Design Department to wireframe feature requests, including a campaign management system and a guided wizard walk-through
• Provided quality assurance testing to ensure smooth production releases

Get in touch.

Want to discuss business? Software projects? The weather? Send me a message or email me at katherine.h.mayr@gmail.com!