Ekaterina Berlova

For an Australian government project supporting farmers, I managed the development of an online portal housing two pivotal tools:
1) Financial calculator
2) Interactive risk checklist

KEY HIGHLIGHTS
• Seamless integration with Salesforce CRM, simplifying farmer registration.
• Interactive UX design utilizing a traffic light color system, instantly contrasting user data against regional farming benchmarks.
• Capability for farmers to produce high-spec PDF reports with dynamic graphics.

PROJECT PHASES
• Discovery: determined functional and UX needs.
• Design: crafted user-centric interface.
• Build: developed the portal and tools.
• Early life support: addressed minor enhancements and any bugs.

ROLE
• Comprehensive agile project management: oversaw scope, timeline, budget, and risks, facilitated workshops.
• Product management: Defined and prioritized product requirements, translating user needs into clear user stories and feature roadmaps, ensuring the tools were intuitive, high-impact, and aligned with government objectives.
• Agile mentorship: educated the client team, specifically focusing on product owners and testers.
• Solution architecture oversight and establishment of post-release support.

The delivery team struggled to reach the desired velocity level due to a lack of Agile processes. I was called in for a review and coaching to improve the delivery and meet the client's expectations.

A review of the two streams of work was performed:
• BAU stream
• Ongoing support stream of work (ServiceNow)

Role:
• Establishing regular Agile ceremonies and leading them.
• Coaching the delivery team and client stakeholders on the best approach to communication through the sprints.
• Reviewing and improving processes around supporting tickets arriving from business users.

Goals achieved:
• Velocity has increased more than two times in the first two sprints.
• Decrease in the number of times tickets were required to be investigated.
• Faster resolution of support tickets.
• Decrease in bugs discovered during testing.
• Improved communication among team members.

Managed a team of developers to set up an integration of a cloud call center solution with a CRM for a large primary industries company, thus replacing a legacy call center solution. The new solution allowed the company the following features:
• Registering all the phone calls in CRM and automatically linking them to the contact records present in the system by matching the phone number of the caller
• Recording information about the call, such as duration, the recording, and the time received, within the CRM system
• Receiving chat support inquiries within the same window inside the CRM screen
• Assisting customers with technical queries by connecting to customers' computer screens for troubleshooting

ROLE
• Led the discovery and delivery of the project
• Managed a go-live where phone lines were redirected to a new solution—10 hours of go-live window during the night
• Led early life support (ELS) stage after going live, supporting the call center users with training

During a tumultuous period post-acquisition, I assumed the pivotal role of guiding three diverse squads, encompassing over 30 members, through a transformative adoption of Scrum methodologies.
My tenure was characterized by adeptly navigating teams unfamiliar with Scrum, especially two external vendor teams, all while mitigating the heightened stress resulting from the challenging business landscape.
I championed the migration of the product backlog from Trello to Jira, optimizing workflow management.
A standout accomplishment under my leadership was the significant reduction of a squad's backlog by 70%, showcasing the efficacy of the Scrum processes I implemented.
Also, my strategy for change was intentionally gradual and nurturing, which led to enhanced team engagement, notably during retrospectives rich in actionable insights.
I diligently identified and addressed developer skill gaps, emphasizing comprehensive documentation and transparent reporting. Also, my dedicated mentorship of a junior product owner culminated in the successful roll-out of software functionality for Australian schools, earning high praise from end users.

I undertook a pivotal discovery project for one of New Zealand's premier banks to evaluate the viability of nCino, a prominent 3rd-party lending software, regarding functionality and technical fit. My key responsibilities and accomplishments included:

FACILITATION
• Led crucial workshops, ensuring stakeholder alignment and understanding.

SCOPE DEFINITION
• Articulated the project's boundaries and expectations, streamlining the assessment process.

PRESENTATION
• Conveyed intricate findings, highlighting nCino's potential value and integration challenges.

RECOMMENDATIONS
• Collaborated with engineers to formulate strategic insights, driving the project's direction.

My adept leadership during the discovery phase provided the foundational insights that spearheaded the successful implementation of nCino over a subsequent 18-month period, reinforcing the bank's commitment to leveraging top-tier technology solutions for optimal operational efficiency.

I led a strategic initiative to re-design user permissions across six Salesforce instances, transitioning from role-based to function-specific access. This 12-month project, delivered in one of the most technically complex Salesforce environments globally, aimed to enhance security, usability, and system scalability.

As a delivery lead with strong product management expertise, I:
• Led stakeholder workshops to identify functional needs, pain points, and security requirements.
• Defined and prioritized product requirements, ensuring the new permission model aligned with business objectives.
• Oversaw the build, deployment, and UAT, ensuring seamless adoption with minimal business disruption.

I successfully navigated:
• Balancing security, usability, and performance to create a scalable access structure.
• Addressing technical debt while ensuring maintainability.
• Managing cross-stream dependencies and coordinating multiple development teams.

The implementation reduced technical debt, improved security, and lowered user support costs, making Salesforce access management more efficient and business-aligned.

The project aimed to replace their outdated, paper-based booking and reporting processes with a streamlined digital system.
• It spanned two months, commencing with two weeks of discovery workshops to understand existing workflows, requirements, and complex regulatory constraints.
• A functional prototype was then developed over three weeks and iteratively refined based on daily feedback from internal stakeholders.
• Following approval from senior stakeholders and the Design Authority, a comprehensive backlog was defined and estimated, informing team size, skillsets, and budget.
• The project's eventual approval and allocation of over $2.7 million underscored the agency's commitment to modernizing detention center management.