Adel is available for hire
Hire AdelAdel Du Toit
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Location
Andover, United Kingdom
Toptal Member Since
June 1, 2023
Adel Du Toit is a seasoned project and program manager renowned for delivering digital transformation initiatives at global firms like Cisco and Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Leveraging her expertise in change management, UX, and Agile, she aligns strategy to deliver projects in complex settings. Key achievements include leading Agile transformation at BCG and a $9+ million project at Cisco, consistently fostering high-performance teams, and yielding impressive business results.
Project ManagementProgram ManagementProcess Improvement Project ManagementDigital Transformation Program ManagementBusiness TransformationChange ManagementAgile Project ManagementProject Management Professional (PMP)Software Project ManagementWeb DevelopmentTechnical Project ManagementProject Management Office (PMO)Agile CoachingAgileAgile Software Development
Project Highlights
Cisco e-Store | IT Service Catalog and Mobile App Store
Assigned as the program manager at an early stage of the project to take it through the discovery phase. After the discovery phase, the vision, strategy, and execution plan were created, and I then moved into the product owner role.
Meeting Experience
Led the product team to transition to a new meeting experience solution that increased satisfaction from 69% to 93%.
Design Thinking Training
Created and delivered design thinking training to over 200 employees across 14 Agile Tribes, with 96% satisfaction and 92% saying they would recommend it to someone in a similar role.
Expertise
Work Experience
Invited Industry Lecturer
2023 - PRESENT
Nielsen Norman Group (NNG)
- Spearheaded the development of a comprehensive UX coach training program.
- Delivered high-impact training sessions to foster skill development and knowledge transfer focused on design operations, new UX manager, and product and UX.
- Managed user and stakeholder interviews and analysis to enable the creation of new training content.
Director, Digital Product Organization – User Experience Centre of Expertise
2017 - 2023
BCG
- Assumed a key leadership role to enable the Agile at scale transformation across the organization, impacting 1,300+ digital organization employees.
- Introduced a framework (backed by AI) that measured the satisfaction of 111 digital products. Measuring and holding product teams accountable increased satisfaction with products and services by +10% (74% to 84%).
- Founded a design team of 35 designers across 14 Agile tribes, contributing to 272% team growth in 2022.
- Developed and delivered design thinking training globally across the functions, resulting in 92% satisfaction and 96% saying they would recommend it.
- Improved quality, speed, and consistency across the organization during both design and delivery as part of the Agile at scale transformation.
- Led an effort to improve the meeting experience, increasing user satisfaction from 69% to 93%.
- Spearheaded the discovery phase to identify the challenges and requirements of hybrid working across workspaces, use cases, and regions.
- Enabled the change to a customer-focused organization aligned with the BCG strategic vision.
- Created a high-performing team by focusing on people, skills, ways of working, and practical knowledge sharing and communication.
Senior Manager, Digital Transformation – Team and Employee Experience Strategy
2015 - 2017
BCG
- Owned the incubation and execution of the digital transformation program aligned with the BCG 2020 strategy.
- Created the vision, strategy, and execution plans to deliver a range of digital initiatives to support the employee experience and digital collaboration business needs.
- Led an effort to transform IT self-service and delivered an MVP—ServiceNow—launched globally to all employees.
- Transitioned BCG from voice-only to digital video conferencing.
- Incubated a virtual case room concept that led to the implementation of collaborative filesharing and instant messaging globally.
Senior Manager, Product Owner - Service and Application Management Delivery
2011 - 2015
Cisco
- Founded a vision to provide a single internal digital store for employees for all IT needs by removing duplication, reducing costs, and avoiding user frustration. This vision remains a key component of Cisco's IT Service Management (ITSM) approach.
- Enabled the delivery of 294 IT services and nearly 100+ mobile apps to 100,000 end-users.
- Created a global agile team to custom-develop the core components of this product.
- Managed finances and budget for this $9+ million project.
Program Manager – Communication and Collaboration
2007 - 2009
Cisco
- Delivered the Integrated Workforce Experience program successfully and on time.
- Created an operations team of 10 in two global locations to deliver Integrated Workforce infrastructure environments throughout six weeks for four lifecycle environments.
- Managed various Web 2.0-type projects, including Jive Clearspace, Confluence, wiki, RSS, tagging, social bookmarking, and casual editing.
Project Manager – Enterprise Messaging Services
2001 - 2007
Cisco
- Managed the implementation of Exchange 2003 within budget and on time.
- Led the outsourcing and vendor selection process to outsource application support for 192 exchange servers globally.
- Implemented automated processes during the global laptop refresh project, completed two months ahead of schedule, saving Cisco £300,000 in lease penalties.
Project History
Cisco e-Store | IT Service Catalog and Mobile App Store
https://blogs.cisco.com/datacenter/introducing-the-cisco-it-estore-and-a-service-catalog-for-byodAssigned as the program manager at an early stage of the project to take it through the discovery phase. After the discovery phase, the vision, strategy, and execution plan were created, and I then moved into the product owner role.
Cisco IT has always encouraged employees to use the tools that help them work most efficiently from anywhere on any device.
As the range of IT services we offer has increased, we noticed that acquiring the various tools has become complex and confusing. We had several different internal sites (aka "stores") within Cisco, each offering different systems for employees to request services. This complexity impacted the user experience and productivity of these employees.
To simplify the employee experience with Cisco IT, we decided to consolidate all these different systems into a single online service catalog—effectively a unified eCommerce storefront for our IT services—where our employees could find the services they needed to do their jobs.
As the range of IT services we offer has increased, we noticed that acquiring the various tools has become complex and confusing. We had several different internal sites (aka "stores") within Cisco, each offering different systems for employees to request services. This complexity impacted the user experience and productivity of these employees.
To simplify the employee experience with Cisco IT, we decided to consolidate all these different systems into a single online service catalog—effectively a unified eCommerce storefront for our IT services—where our employees could find the services they needed to do their jobs.
Meeting Experience
Led the product team to transition to a new meeting experience solution that increased satisfaction from 69% to 93%.
During the pandemic, we noticed that satisfaction with our remote meeting experience was at an all-time low. As everyone returned to a new way of working, we should figure out how to improve this experience as it impacted the team and client interactions.
Supported by research and evidence-based design, the product team was able to switch to an alternate solution and improve the satisfaction of both our employees and clients.
Supported by research and evidence-based design, the product team was able to switch to an alternate solution and improve the satisfaction of both our employees and clients.
Design Thinking Training
Created and delivered design thinking training to over 200 employees across 14 Agile Tribes, with 96% satisfaction and 92% saying they would recommend it to someone in a similar role.
As part of the Agile at scale transformation, there was the need to enable the digital product organization and its employees to drive innovation and be more user-centric. To answer this need, I created a design thinking training delivered across the organization. This training was developed for a single design sprint as part of Scrum.
Education
2005 - 2007
Professional Degree in Project Management
George Washington University - Washington, DC, USA
Certifications
JANUARY 2023 - PRESENT
Organizational Relationship Systems Coach (ORSC)
CRR Global
NOVEMBER 2022 - PRESENT
Lean UX and Agile
Nielsen Norman Group (NNG)
OCTOBER 2019 - PRESENT
DesignOps: Scaling UX Design and User Research
Nielsen Norman Group (NNG)
AUGUST 2018 - PRESENT
Being a UX Leader
Nielsen Norman Group (NNG)
OCTOBER 2013 - PRESENT
Conscious Leadership Development Program
Global Warriors
JULY 2010 - PRESENT
ITIL Foundation Certification
ITIL
Collaboration That Works
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