Boris Zivkovic
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Toptal member since June 17, 2021
Boris is a Certified Scrum Product Owner and has been an Agile practitioner for 10+ years. After starting his career as a QA software engineer and gaining expertise in the technical product development process, he became a scrum product owner. With data-driven, analytical, and organizational skills, Boris solves problems with improvisation, where no books or rules can help. His technical expertise and enthusiasm are backed by a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Coaching
- Agile Transformation
- Electric Vehicles
- Product Management
- Product Owner
- Scrum Coaching
- Scrum Master
- Servant Leadership
Work Experience
Project Manager | Product Owner
Givelify LLC
- Joined the team as a scrum master/product owner. Built and led three teams to the performing phase.
- Set up a hybrid Scrum/Kanban framework based on the company's requirements for maximal efficiency. After six months, teams started delivery with 0-1 escaped defects (bugs in production after release).
- Unified the process for all teams and established team lead roles. Educated team leads to participate in scrum rituals on a path to a self-controlling team.
Project Manager | Scrum Master
VIVANT
- Joined the team as a product manager and became a product manager and scrum master.
- Set up workflow process and created the initial MVP roadmap. Trained other teams on Asana and found a way to utilize the tool to suit the needs of each team best.
- Trained the development team in Scrum rituals and set up the basics of the Agile mindset. Divided a large team into smaller features teams to enable faster delivery.
- Prepared a product backlog of MVP requirements for development and worked with stakeholders constantly to clear impediments.
- Managed the product backlog and development process, performed acceptance testing, and presented increments to the stakeholders.
- Built a team atmosphere with the core values of teamwork, fun, dedication, and accountability.
Scrum Product Owner
Propel Media
- Joined the team as the scrum product owner and became the agile transformation leader throughout the transition from component teams to Scrum teams.
- Created and held a series of Agile workshops to help component teams understand the benefits of the Agile transformation.
- Transformed component teams into Scrum teams and divided a monolith company project into simpler, user-valued products.
- Led two teams (around 20 developers). Collaborated with the scrum master to improve team effectiveness, such as velocity, task estimation, and reduced context switching. Evaluated team members and suggested personal improvements.
- Created and updated a roughly estimated roadmap on a quarterly basis. Created epics and user stories to gather from clients and adjusted them to the developers' language.
- Communicated with clients on a daily basis. Recognized clients' needs and worked with them to calculate the business value of features. Created and maintained product backlogs with user story estimations in story points.
Agile Transformation Project Manager
Propel Media
- Selected by top management to be part of the team that led the Agile transformation.
- Set up Scrum teams based on company products and transformed the classic component teams.
- Worked with multiple teams at the same time and set up the Scrum framework in collaboration with the agile coach and scrum master team. Set up various Scrum workshops to help teams understand its values.
- Pitched Agile practices and led top management through the transformation process. Reported on the transformation progress to top management on a weekly basis.
QA Test Engineer
Bravo Systems
- Set up and conducted website functional and visual testing; web applications functional testing; functional, visual, and regression testing on Windows desktop applications; and comparative tests between a competitive application and ours.
- Researched and analyzed competitive applications to help us improve our own products.
- Developed tools to automate some aspects of testing and created test cases for specific applications.
- Mentored and tested new QA team members, created test plans for other team members, and coordinated the QA team for specific conditions.
Project History
VIVANT Interactive Streaming Wine Platform
Managed the MVP release of the first live streaming wine platform in the world.
Key Activities:
• Managed s team of eight developers, testers, and designers.
• Created wireframes and reviewed them with stakeholders.
• Collaborated with designers in the design process.
• Researched benchmarks and prepared presentations for stakeholders.
• Made data-driven decisions about how the MVP should look.
• Managed the development process and introduced Scrumban to the inexperienced team.
• Introduced Scrum rituals, daily scrum, backlog refinement, and retrospectives.
• Managed the roadmap on a quarterly basis and reported on OKRs.
• Divided a large team into smaller feature teams to enable faster delivery and trained them in Agile methodology.
• Resolved team member conflicts and created an atmosphere of teamwork.
Internal Media Buying Web App
Introduced and managed implementation of the idea to connect the internal media buying platform with Google and Facebook ad tools.
I launched and managed releases of an internal media buying web app, prepared and presented the MVP for clients, and continued to work on improving the platform based on insights from usage. This included optimizing the resources spent on media buying by introducing A/B/C landing page tests, resolving conflicts between team members, and creating a teamwork atmosphere.
Key Activities:
• Managed a team of 11 developers, testers, and designers.
• Introduced the Scrum framework and trained the team in Agile methodology.
• Prepared user requirements and kept product backlog up to date.
• Addressed dependencies and enabled the team to deliver successful increments.
PDF Convertor Extension for the Chrome Web Store
Created an idea to add a PDF convertor extension for the Chrome Web Store and then managed the build process and the first launch of the extension, which was monetized with ads.
To develop the PDF converter extension, I found a way to respect the Google single-purpose policy by communicating directly with the Chrome Web Store product manager. I managed the build, prepared and presented the completed extension to stakeholders, observed users’ behavior, and improved extension functionalities.
Key Activities:
• Managed a team of nine developers, testers, and designers.
• Introduced and practiced the Scrum framework and Agile mindset.
• Led and reported on all team improvements to top management.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering
Faculty of Electrical Engineering - Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Certifications
Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
Scrum Alliance
Skills
Tools
Slack, Zoom, Google Docs, Chrome Developer Tools, Jira, Asana, Git
Paradigms
Testing, Acceptance Testing, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Scrum, Agile, Servant Leadership, Agile Workflow, Agile Leadership, Planning Poker, Kanban, Agile Project Management, Agile Product Management
Industry Expertise
Music
Other
Product Owner, Scrum Coaching, Website QA, Manual QA, Manual Software Testing, Chrome Extensions, Coaching, User Stories, Electrical Engineering, Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Backlog Grooming, Chrome, Mathematics, Electric Vehicles, Estimation & Planning, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Scrum Master, Product Management, Project Management, Benchmarking, Agile Transformation, Agile Practices, Product Research, IT Product Management, Facilitation, Agile Sprints, Risk Analysis, Media Buying, Optimization, QA Automation, Test Automation, Wireframe to Product, Product Benchmarking, Scrumban, Agile Coaching, Jira REST API, A/B Testing, UI Testing, Website Testing, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, Coding, Scrum Product Owner, Team Leadership, JavaScript 6, User Personas, Sprints, SaaS, Startups, Product Roadmaps, Story Mapping, Multi-functional Teams, Product Ownership, Software as a Service (SaaS), Backlog Management, Quality Assurance (QA), QA Leadership, QA Testing, Test Management, Software QA, Feature Roadmaps, Sprint Planning, Sprint Master, Sprint Ceremonies, Sprint Retrospectives, Product Vision, Process Improvement
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