Max is available for hire
Hire MaxMax Butendeich
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Location
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Toptal Member Since
February 11, 2019
For over a decade, Max's successfully connected software development and business to build the right products and bring them to market. With his background in computer science and business, Max understands both sides and can translate, align, and facilitate decisions and make progress quickly. His broad experience in multiple domains and different types and sizes of companies allow him to quickly jump on board and be productive—for you.
DocumentationIT Project ManagementProduct OwnerProduct Requirements Documentation (PRD)Product ManagementAgile Software DevelopmentAgileAgile Product ManagementProject ManagementB2BBusiness Systems AnalysisTechnical Project ManagementSaaSMinimum Viable Product (MVP)Software as a Service (SaaS)Scrum Product Owner Contractor
Project Highlights
Aquatic Informatics
Delivered new SaaS platform for water-quality data to market; led development and UX along with MVP, marketing, and sales
Eventim Sports
Led the product design and development of a sports-specific CRM built for the European market.
Expertise
Work Experience
Agile Product Manager
2019 - PRESENT
Freelance
- Defined the roadmap to the MVP including all requirements and specification documents needed in order to enter the development phase: Key problems and value statements, business processes, data model and state models, user flows and UI mockups.
- Prepared all documents in order to go to RFP phase (no inhouse development team), so a partner for development needs to be found.
- Established a platform for design and documentation to share all resources required for specification and later on, related to those, track ongoing development process.
Product Manager
2018 - 2020
CTS Eventim (Ticketing and Event Management Software)
- Created the roadmap and conducted market research with customers and the sales team; the main project was replacing an old legacy tool with a new platform (SaaS).
- Formed the UX design and conducted usability research and testing.
- Integrated and reviewed the existing technology—which resulted in a change in approach and technology, to use the right tools for the right job. Also, helped to define how to integrate the new tool into the existing IT landscape.
- Prepared the launch of the MVP which included training of the support center, choosing select customer accounts for migration and early adoption.
- Acted as the product owner and implemented Scrum and Agile coaching.
- Fostered cross-team initiatives to reduce lead-time in development and optimize the deployment process.
Product Manager
2016 - 2018
Aquatic Informatics (Environmental Data Management Software)
- Conducted market analysis and competitive assessments within the environmental data domain in cooperation with the sales/marketing team.
- Gathered direct customer feedback through visiting customers onsite as part of the regular sales/pre-sales process, and attended conferences and workshops between vendors and industry experts (e.g. NWQMN National Water Quality Monitoring Network).
- Developed a '3-quarter roadmap' for the new SaaS platform to synchronize the different departments, prioritized by customer and market feedback, as well as aligned with the broader company strategy and sister products.
- Acted as the market expert/proxy for the development team to answer detailed domain questions and obtain additional customer feedback where necessary—essentially the product owner for Scrum.
- Collaborated with marketing and the customer support team to ensure the company is aligned with regards to the message, market, and solutions to the product targets.
- Supported project kickoffs for large enterprise contracts using the company's products, especially for business process/gap analysis, data migration, and integration.
- Led multiple development teams using Scrum, including UX and QA resources to ensure the development process is running smoothly. This included helping the team make technology decisions and how to run the development process.
Product Owner
2014 - 2016
Aquatic Informatics
- Owned and created user stories.
- Solved market problems.
- Created a domain model and requirements analysis.
- Helped to form the UI/UX design by holding usability workshops with customers.
- Acted as an interim product manager by creating a competitive analysis and defining the roadmap prioritization.
- Implemented stakeholder/customer validation of new design ideas and feature before building them.
- Acted as the market expert for water quality domain by conducting market research, visiting customers, and attending conferences.
- Helped with pre-sales, RFI/RFP process.
- Summarized the completed research and development to apply for state/government funded tax credits.
Project Manager | Integration Specialist
2013 - 2014
Aquatic Informatics
- Project-managed a large-scale system implementation.
- Oversaw and managed contractors and third-party development.
- Analyzed the requirements, gaps, and business process by conducting onsite workshops with customers for the project kick-off.
- Supported the EOI/RFP process and documentation (tech sales).
- Integrated a system and migrated data.
Business Analyst
2011 - 2013
Syscon Justice Systems (Corrections Software)
- Conducted a requirements analysis and set up a toolchain.
- Acted as the product owner for a sub-domain system security and offender housing (Scrum).
- Helped to develop the UI/UX design through creating mockups, wireframes, and user flows.
- Defined and specified the domain model, services, and business processes.
- Regularly conducted gap analyses for the RFP process: matching RFP requirements with internal capabilities and explaining how software meets requirements.
IT Consultant
2008 - 2011
Xenium AG
- Wrote out the specifications of the business processes specifically the interfaces to existing CRM solutions.
- Took ownership of the large-scale business architecture.
- Held workshops with international customers and stakeholders for further requirements analysis and elicitation.
- Acted as the domain expert for sales and led the sub-domain on an international CRM enterprise project.
- Designed a UAT and implemented it with interfacing systems.
- Led a team for smaller development projects (approximately six people).
Project History
Aquatic Informatics
https://aquaticinformatics.com/products/aquarius-samples/Delivered new SaaS platform for water-quality data to market; led development and UX along with MVP, marketing, and sales
On this project, I quickly became a market expert in the field of environmental water quality data to support the development, sales, and marketing team with domain knowledge and direction. I successfully connected the different departments within a mid-size company to keep the project on track.
Key Responsibilities:
• Conducted market analysis and competitive assessments, including onsite customer visits, phone interviews, and conference attendance.
• Prioritized the roadmap, including acting as the product owner for the development team in an Agile/Scrum environment.
• Collaborated with marketing, including campaign definitions based on specific market segments and their problems.
• Worked with the customer support team on training material, onboarding, and support issues.
Key Responsibilities:
• Conducted market analysis and competitive assessments, including onsite customer visits, phone interviews, and conference attendance.
• Prioritized the roadmap, including acting as the product owner for the development team in an Agile/Scrum environment.
• Collaborated with marketing, including campaign definitions based on specific market segments and their problems.
• Worked with the customer support team on training material, onboarding, and support issues.
Eventim Sports
Led the product design and development of a sports-specific CRM built for the European market.
Here, I led a team of six developers (within a total enterprise team of 20) to build a modern, sports-focused CRM system—targeted to increase ticket sales for sports clubs and increase customer retention.
The challenge was less in the technology—but in bringing structure into a highly complex work environment due to many different departments and teams (business, IT, IT Ops), sites, and technologies.
I supported the development team as a product owner in an agile environment using scrum. Here, I suggested and completed a technology change from over-customized standard software towards a properly built custom project. I also analyzed third-party software to replace custom in-house parts to SaaS/external. In addition, I helped to phase out the previous legacy system: maintenance, migration, and definition of a roadmap to phase-out the old tool.
The challenge was less in the technology—but in bringing structure into a highly complex work environment due to many different departments and teams (business, IT, IT Ops), sites, and technologies.
I supported the development team as a product owner in an agile environment using scrum. Here, I suggested and completed a technology change from over-customized standard software towards a properly built custom project. I also analyzed third-party software to replace custom in-house parts to SaaS/external. In addition, I helped to phase out the previous legacy system: maintenance, migration, and definition of a roadmap to phase-out the old tool.
Education
2002 - 2008
Master's Degree in Computer Science (Subsidiary: Business Administration)
Ludwigs Maximilians University (LMU) - Munich, Germany
Certifications
JUNE 2016 - PRESENT
Pragmatic Marketing (Foundations, Build, Focus)
Pragmatic Marketing
NOVEMBER 2014 - PRESENT
Certified Scrum Product Owner
Scrum Alliance
APRIL 2008 - PRESENT
Certified Professional for Software Architecture
iSAQB International Software Architecture Qualification Board
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