Eliske Wiggins, Product Manager in Zagreb, Croatia
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Eliske Wiggins

Verified Expert  in Product Management

Product Manager

Location
Zagreb, Croatia
Toptal Member Since
September 8, 2020

Eliske is a consultant that helps medium and large-scale organizations plan and execute their product strategy. Her experience in product management, agile project management, and change management led her to complete her part-time degree in counseling psychology. When organizations started transitioning from Waterfall to Agile, Eliske set out to help people adapt to a changing world. She focuses on company culture by coaching talent and enjoys helping people reach their full potential.

Project Highlights

Clearing & Settlement Schema's Admin Portal
Analysis and design of a new admin portal to manage card transaction rules from network payment processors. Removing the dependency on development teams to configure the back end and reduce penalty fees incurred due to misaligned data
DebiCheck - Authenticated Collections
Implemented a new payment system to process bulk transactions for financial institutions, reducing fraud and losses. We collaborated with other banks to incrementally release the functionality across key corporate clients
Admin Portal Redesign for Cardholder’s Account and Card Limit Management
Improved the customer-facing web admin to help them better manage their cardholders' accounts and limits.

Expertise

Work Experience

Senior Agile Transformation Specialist

2020 - 2022
Ingressus Viridis
  • Supported teams, individuals, and leadership in establishing and improving their work processes and practices. Helped teams adopt the Agile framework to the organization, standardizing and documenting procedures.
  • Planned and executed the necessary interventions and helped resolve cross-team challenges. Facilitated collaboration on difficult conversations, conflict resolution, and group dynamics.
  • Taught, mentored, and coached teams, their members, and leadership dealing with the change.
  • Supported teams and leadership with early identification and resolution of potential impediments and blockers to product delivery.
  • Measured teams and organizational growth toward business agility with regular executive reporting to diagnose, identify, and prioritize areas for improvement.

Product Owner

2021 - 2021
Drvn Technologies Inc.
  • Defined customer journey, project scope, and requirements for Loan Origination System (LOS) platform for the expatriate community in the UK, which integrates lenders, real estate, and associated data analytics.
  • Conducted discovery workshops and assessed Commercial Off-the-Shelf Software (COTS).
  • Conducted cost-benefit analysis and budget assessment of potential solutions.

IT Program Manager

2021 - 2021
Spin
  • Joined the IT program management team to drive the company's biggest platform integration servicing 84 towns, cities, and campuses in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Spain.
  • Created IT service management processes to enable post-go-live business support and ensured alignment to the required service-level agreements.
  • Conducted post-go-live organizational readiness checks, testing, and reporting to leadership and helped identify future product improvement (process automation) areas.

Product Owner

2020 - 2021
Aria Forum Wealth Management
  • Streamlined and updated current processes and workflows.
  • Facilitated and managed discovery workshops and collaborated with the UX and technical teams to prioritize features and requirements.
  • Defined customer journey, empathy maps, business processes, requirements, and acceptance criteria.
  • Conducted user studies, demos, and prototypes with the delivery team.
  • Managed timelines, hired talent (creative and technical), and managed internal and external stakeholders.

Product Owner and Transformation Coach

2019 - 2020
Nets A/S
  • Analyzed and optimized the current back-end processing clearing and settlement schemas to a front-end solution for the department specialists to schedule rules through a self-managed application.
  • Modernized the issuing card management product to enable a back-office limits management and helped implement price management product for our merchant's product offering to strengthen our strategic partner's product offering.
  • Led the internal Agile transformation in the Nets South region. Offered coaching, training, and alignment with the overall group.

Product Manager

2018 - 2020
Forever Blue Planet
  • Created and owned a natural beauty eCommerce solution that offers cosmetic products according to good manufacturing practices that comply with EU regulations.
  • Managed selection and engagement with suppliers and remote development teams. Defined product requirements and enhancements.
  • Conducted product and market research with competitor analysis and monitored platform engagement.

Product Owner

2016 - 2018
Standard Bank Group
  • Worked with the bulk payments leadership program and key bank partners to implement a new payment solution to handle the regulatory requirements for authenticated collections. Created and owned the ITSM processes to support the new capability.
  • Created and implemented a retail market plan capability for the vehicle asset financing portfolio to support the transformation strategy. Ensured full automation of a strategic partner's customer journey and building the capability in the bank.
  • Led the agile transformation coaching and training for new Agile teams to support the new capabilities within the bank.

Senior Product Consultant

2017 - 2017
Barclays Africa
  • Designed processes and policies for Barclays South Africa's Social Investment leadership team. Helped the client with training and strategic positioning in the market.
  • Assisted with team training on new processes for vetting and prioritization rules of social investment projects.
  • Helped with unpacking and documenting the department's strategic objectives and key results.

Senior Consultant - Business Analysis

2016 - 2016
IQ Business
  • Created the internal training documentation for the business analysis management consultants.
  • Assisted the executive committee with the creation and reviews of strategic documentation.
  • Supported CSM team with education and marketing material.
  • Assisted banking clients with mystery shopping in local branches to test processes and customer services.

Agile Consultant

2016 - 2016
Alexander Forbes
  • Conducted analysis of the current backlog of digital transformation portfolio.
  • Implemented a Kanban and Agile life cycle framework to measure and track portfolio epics and features.
  • Introduced and trained the teams on the principles of Kanban and how they prioritize and manage features aligned with portfolio vision.

Product Owner

2014 - 2016
Internet Solutions
  • Worked with the product development management leaders to establish their strategy and ROI to market for software defined networks (WAN).
  • Designed and implemented the carrier and connectivity product fulfillment processes for our enterprise client segment aligned with the enhanced telecom operations map framework (eTOM).
  • Conducted product enhancements of the cloud product fulfillment to enable automated self-provisioning for our B2C segment.
  • Unpacked the go-to-market and sales drivers with the group financial leadership team. Analyzed and implemented the automated internal IT systems for the sales incentives payout's aligned with the compensation plan set out for each FY.
  • Analyzed and proposed a digital workflow solution for the group sales leadership team to assign, manage, and contract account territories.

Change Manager and Process Analyst

2012 - 2014
Vodacom
  • Conducted data analysis of the product provisioning turn-around times aligned with business OLA's. Provided reports and workshops for the OSS BSS executive committee with gap analysis and areas of improvement. Reduced provisioning to times by 30%.
  • Implemented product provisioning processes for Geographic Number Porting, hosted call centers, broadband wireless, ADSL, VoIP solutions, video collaboration, mobile VSAT, VSAT, and VPN hosting. Monitored process workflow performance.
  • Conducted change management activities with leadership and teams of product process and solution changes. Created process guides and BPMN processes aligned with the enhanced telecom operations map (eTOM) framework and testing end-to-end systems.
  • Communicated and collaborated throughout the OSS BSS of enhancements, creating user guides, procedures, and training to impacted stakeholders.

Product Owner and Sales Process Manager

2011 - 2012
3fifteen - Dimension Data
  • Enhanced the sales processes and support system. Provided Leadership team with frequent updates on win-loss ratio reports per market segment for strategic decision making that improved sales with 33% and reassigned resources accordingly.
  • Worked on the internal sales processes, knowledge management system, and trained teams.
  • Conducted analysis of RFP's and gap analysis of product offerings. Helped compile sales documentation and client engagements.
  • Enhanced a client's of a major retail supply chain's shipping solution. Creating a modernized solution helped reduce losses incurred from storage costs, insufficient route planning, and stock control discrepancies.

Scrum Master

2010 - 2011
Clockwork Zoo
  • Managed the delivery of the animation team's tweening deliverables through planning, reviewing, and removing all impediments. Conducted team career development initiatives and review of outputs with the leadership team both offshore and local.
  • Conducted all local HR support functions with the remote parent company. Assisted in hiring top talent and contract negotiations.
  • Managed budgets and operational costs for the local team. Reported to leadership and partners on status. Ensured all communications and collaboration were conducted often and regularly.
  • Ensured high delivery of the team, and the team was awarded their second international Disney children's animation project. Both projects were the first awarded in the African continent.

Project Managent Officer

2007 - 2008
Amdocs South Africa Joint Enterprise
  • Worked with the multinational Next Generation Operational Support Systems (NGOSS) leadership team on the modernized product delivery for a large African telecommunications provider.
  • Managed client communications and maintained project plans and resource planning activities. Supported the HR department with local tasks, reporting, and onboarding of international consultants.
  • Conducted regular marketing research and created supporting knowledge management documentation.

Clearing & Settlement Schema's Admin Portal

Analysis and design of a new admin portal to manage card transaction rules from network payment processors. Removing the dependency on development teams to configure the back end and reduce penalty fees incurred due to misaligned data

Mercury Processing Services International is a European payment processing partner for banks that calculates and processes millions of transactions annually.

The admin web portal allowed our business specialists to configure and schedule rules per network processor via a web front end prior to the changes taking effect, thus reducing the overall accumulated financial loss to the company.

DebiCheck - Authenticated Collections

https://debicheck.co.za/

Implemented a new payment system to process bulk transactions for financial institutions, reducing fraud and losses. We collaborated with other banks to incrementally release the functionality across key corporate clients

As part of the Standard Bank South Africa, we implemented a new back-end system to process bulk payments. I served as a product owner and helped implement the regulatory requirements as outlined by the Payment Association of South Africa (PASA).

I participated in regular collaboration with other bank partners on change requests with my main focus on ensuring the prioritization of our team’s requirements. I was involved in frequent collaboration, planning, communication, and release management activities.

In my role, I helped implement monitoring solutions and the ITSM processes that are aligned with the overall Bank's support procedures (Bulk Payments System Run Book owner).

Organizational change management and program alignment for the new back-end system was a critical component of my daily activities. On my assignment, I supported the team with defect management activities, daily standups, and remote vendor management.

We introduced new ways of working and redefined the team’s internal processes. I assisted in building the team's capability by helping with the resource planning, defining roles and responsibilities according to the SAFe Agile model, including knowledge transfer and coaching of the team

Admin Portal Redesign for Cardholder’s Account and Card Limit Management

https://www.nets.eu/

Improved the customer-facing web admin to help them better manage their cardholders' accounts and limits.

I worked on the improvement of a strategic banking partner’s customer journey. We implemented various optimizations and simplified the overall process to dramatically improve the overall customer experience.

I assisted with business process analysis, customer journey mapping, story mapping, and estimations.

I acted as both the PO and Agile coach for all planning and execution events. With the implementation of Scaled Agile Framework, I coached the local team on Agile practices, introduced and set up the Agile tooling, ensured alignment of the backlog within the value streams, release management activities, and defect management, and ensured that teams reach their sprint goals that progressed toward the product vision and overall business value.

Program Manager

https://www.spin.app/blog-posts/spin-integrates-with-google-maps

Managed the IT delivery of Spin's largest platform integration in partnership with Google, enabling Google Maps users to take multi-modal journeys with e-bikes in 84 towns, cities, and campuses in the United States, Canada, Germany, and Spain.

Worked on the Google partnership that enables mobile users to discover Spin’s Ford-owned electric bikes and scooters in popular urban areas via Google Maps. The solution helps commuters use sustainable, multi-modal transportation for shorter city journeys, helping municipalities and cities reduce traffic in populated areas. I managed the end-to-end engineering program management activities and post-launch IT service management readiness and worked with internal and external stakeholders to launch the Google partnership.
2021 - 2023

Master's Degree in Psychotherapy

The New School of Counselling and Psychotherapy (NSPC) - London, England

2020 - 2022

Honours Degree in Psychology

University of South Africa - Johannesburg, South Africa

2014 - 2018

Bachelor's Degree in Counseling Psychology

University of South Africa - Johannesburg, South Africa

SEPTEMBER 2022 - PRESENT

Practitioner Use-Case 2.0

Ivar Jacobson International

JUNE 2020 - PRESENT

Certified SAFe 5 Release Train Engineer

Scaled Agile, Inc.

APRIL 2020 - PRESENT

Certified SAFe 5 Program Consultant

Scaled Agile, Inc.

MARCH 2020 - PRESENT

Certified SAFe 5 Agilist

Scaled Agile, Inc.

MARCH 2020 - PRESENT

Certified SAFe 5 Scrum Master

Scaled Agile, Inc.

FEBRUARY 2019 - PRESENT

Certified SAFe 4 Scrum Master

Scaled Agile, Inc.

FEBRUARY 2015 - PRESENT

Advanced Business Process Modeling with ARIS v9

Software AG

JULY 2014 - PRESENT

ADKAR Change Management

Prosci

JANUARY 2012 - PRESENT

Certified Professional in Business Analysis (CPBA)

IIBA

Tools

Confluence, Jira, Provisioning Tools

Industry Expertise

Banking & Finance, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)

Paradigms

Agile, Change Management, Agile Product Management, Requirements Analysis, DevOps, Scrum, Agile Project Management

Other

Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Product Delivery, Mentorship & Coaching, Change Leadership, Agile Leadership, Agile Coaching, Scrum Master, Business Analysis, Product Ownership, Product Management, Project Support, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Feature Backlog Prioritization, User Stories, Lean Portfolio Management, User Research, Product Owner, Story Mapping, Wireframe to Product, Backlog Grooming, Backlog Management, Feature Roadmaps, Payment Networks, Payment Processing, IT Service Management (ITSM), Scrum Coaching, Employee Training, Process Analysis, Business Process Flow Diagrams, Agile Transformation, Incident Management, Planning, Digital Payments, Teams, PI Planning, Sprint Planning, Customer Journeys, Product Vision, Sprint Reviews, Sprint Retrospectives, Scope Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Training, Use Cases, Process Flows, Estimations, Process Documentation, Product Requirements Documentation (PRD), Training & Training Content Development, Discovery Workshops, Discovery, Two-sided Marketplaces, Marketing Plans, Software Integration, Business Process Automation, Workflow, Product Development, Digital Transformation, Product Roadmaps, User Requirements, Management Consulting, Business Process Optimization, Process Optimization, UML Diagrams, Strategic Planning & Execution, Content Writing, Feature Prioritization, IT Consulting, Business Cases, Business to Business (B2B), Process Design, Unified Process, Process Automation, Business Process Improvement (BPI), Executive Support, Software Implementation, Writing & Editing, Operations & Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS), Talent Management, Project Coordination, Cross-cultural Management, Training Materials, BABOK, Analysis, Enterprise, Business Requirements, Data Flows, Finance, Product Design, Software as a Service (SaaS), Business Process Analysis, Software Requirements Specifications (SRS), Project Management, Release Management, Business Process Modeling, UI Design, Monitoring, Vendor Management, Financial Systems, Miro, Microsoft Teams, IT Strategy, Fintech, Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Financial Operations & Processes, Strategy, Business Unit Strategy, Policies & Procedures Compliance, Credit Card Processing, Business Logic, Frameworks, eTOM, Managed Service Providers (MSP), Reports, Standard Operating Procedures Development, Business Proposals, Presales, Distributed Team Management, Offshore Team Management, Human Resources (HR), Hiring, NGOSS, Client Management, Client Relationship Management, Market Strategy and Research Product Manager, Development, Dashboards, Data Reporting, Web & Mobile Applications, COTS, Requirements, Media Production, Information Systems, Next-generation Sequencing, Research, Psychology, Leadership, Transformational Leadership, Culture, Multicultural, Audit Management, Technical Project Management, Project Planning, Project Management Professional (PMP), Python, Mortgages, Product Discovery

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