Charlie Lucas
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
London, United Kingdom
Toptal member since April 8, 2022
Charlie is a highly skilled digital project and product manager with 5+ years of experience leading projects for Toptal and Deloitte clients through design, build, test, and deployment. He delivers products with efficiency, velocity, and scalability by applying his expertise in Agile and Waterfall environments. While he enjoys the overarching challenges in managing projects and products, he also rolls up his sleeves to deliver the solutions.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Product Delivery
- Agile Product Management
- Backlog Management
- Product Discovery
- Product Management
- Product Owner
- Responsive Web Apps
- Web & Mobile Applications
Work Experience
Senior Product Manager
Toptal Projects
- Led a new social NFT marketplace web app from concept to launch, including design, development, and blockchain integration.
- Managed eight team members from Toptal and two from the client through four releases, including the global launch of the platform.
- Developed a deep understanding of the internal and external stakeholders' business objectives and created a clear product vision and achievable delivery roadmap.
Digital Project Manager | Digital Program Manager
Deloitte Digital | Health Insurance Client
- Pitched an $11 million program of work to a C-level client and board, including a definition and agreement of scope for designing and building phase two of a new mobile app and a website, customer portal, CRM, and market automation platforms.
- Established and embedded ways of working for all client and consulting teams across five concurrent workstreams.
- Managed five stream product owners to establish and own the overall program backlog with multiple interdependencies.
- Led the program delivery progress meeting for key stakeholders and monthly steering committee meetings with consulting partners and C-level client stakeholders, including the CEO and COO.
Digital Project Manager
Deloitte Digital | Health Insurance Client
- Managed the end-to-end delivery of phases one and two of the client's mobile app development with cross-functional client and consulting teams.
- Collaborated with the design consulting team and the client technology and marketing teams to establish and own an end-to-end project plan.
- Led the requirements gathering workshops and managed the process to clearly define and get sign-off on the phase one scope.
- Managed all changes across multiple teams and their impact on the project timeline, resources, and budget.
- Led weekly progress, change, and budget reporting to stakeholders, including the CMO, CIO, and CTO.
Digital Project Manager
Deloitte Digital | Financial Services Client
- Managed five cross-functional teams from requirements gathering through to delivery and deployment of a complex, customized CRM solution.
- Drove the delivery of a design system and component library that increased the efficiency of delivery by 30%.
- Created weekly programs and conducted financial reporting to key stakeholders, including business unit heads and the CIO.
- Delivered the internal budget reporting to consulting partners, which included program projections and team resourcing.
Digital Project Manager
Deloitte Digital | Financial Services Client
- Led two multidisciplinary teams to deliver an award-winning tool that allowed financial advisers to conduct goals-based interactive sessions with their clients.
- Acted as both a project manager and agile coach in an organization that was an early adopter of Agile delivery.
- Increased the velocity of overall delivery by 24% by embedding new ways of working throughout the project.
- Managed the weekly delivery status and budget reporting to the project sponsor and chief digital officer.
Waterfall Project Manager
Capco
- Led the delivery of phase one of a wealth and investment client's first iOS app launched in the UK.
- Collaborated with an in-house client team and a third-party development agency to fully understand and document the requirements.
- Built the overall delivery plan, including post-go-live and customer communication plans.
- Ran the ongoing workshops, from understanding requirements at the beginning of the project to confirming the scope and securing the project sponsor's sign-off on the requirements.
Project History
Digital Transformation for a Health Insurance Client
Ran the successful pitch process for an $11 million digital transformation program of work, including establishing the approach that would allow for projects to run simultaneously, from discovery to delivery.
Working closely with the Deloitte partner and client stakeholders, I led the Deloitte team to successfully pitch for the largest digital delivery program of work commissioned by that particular client.
My colleague and I continued to work closely with key stakeholders and other Deloitte leads to establish and agree on the Ways of Working program to deliver five projects. The projects often ran simultaneously and had to be agreed to and communicated before starting.
Still working closely with key stakeholders and other Deloitte leads, my colleague and I documented the Ways of Working program, which I used in multiple sessions with the client to upskill its teams in Agile delivery. The document included the roles and responsibilities, program scope, digital strategy, workshop plans, sprint cadence, high-level solution architecture, and delivery approach.
DELIVERY RESPONSIBILITIES
• Ensured that each project was run in the same way and that the agreed approach was followed.
• Reported on the progress and budget to delivery leads and key stakeholders.
• Worked with the scrum masters and product owners on the team's progress and identified ways to increase velocity.
Mobile App for a Health Insurance Client
Managed the delivery for phases one and two of the client's new iOS and Android app while also successfully pitching for the ongoing managed services agreement.
• Managed the cross-functional client аnd consulting teams in the end-to-end delivery of phases one and two of the new mobile app.
• Collaborated with the consulting design team and the client's technology and marketing teams to establish and own the end-to-end project plan.
• Led requirements gathering workshops and managed the process to define and get sign-off on the scope of phase one.
• Managed all changes across multiple teams and their impact on the timeline, resources, and budget.
Social NFT Marketplace Web App
Served as the senior product manager and led the development of a new social NFT marketplace web app, from concept to launch, including design, development, and blockchain integration.
• Managed eight team members from Toptal and two from the client through four releases, including the global launch of the platform.
• Led discovery workshops from initial concept design through delivery while owning the product backlog.
• Developed a deep understanding of the internal and external stakeholders' business objectives and created a clear product vision and achievable delivery roadmap.
Skills
Tools
Jira, Slack
Paradigms
Agile Product Management, Agile Project Management, Requirements Analysis, Scrum
Other
Agile Product Delivery, Product Management, Product Owner, Product Discovery, Discovery, Backlog Management, Client Management, Discovery Workshops, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Project Planning, Backlog Grooming, Stakeholder Management, Status Updates, Responsive Web Apps, Web & Mobile Applications, Scrum Master, Wireframing, User Stories, Product Development, Project Delivery, Project Discovery, Web Applications, Mobile, Design Workshops, Digital Project Management, IT Program Management, Waterfall Methodology, Project Management
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