Jess Brock
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
St. Louis, MO, United States
Toptal member since January 12, 2021
Jess is a dynamic technical pro with over 16 years of experience in the application development industry. She has served as a senior leader, Agile coach, scrum master, product owner, developer, business analyst, and technical instructor to deliver tangible value. Throughout her career, Jess has worked closely with leadership in areas such as culture building, technical strategy, and product development and has led multiple Agile transformations.
Project Highlights
Expertise
Work Experience
Consultant
Technical Business Consultant
- Completed over 1,000 web and mobile application projects throughout the course of my career. In many cases, this meant simultaneously managing clients and building solutions.
- Managed staff augmentation for medium to large companies to assist with app development and marketing disciplines. This included executing SOWs, managing budgets and resources, and capturing customer needs.
- Acted as an independent consultant, solely managing app projects with expenditures near the seven figures.
- Adapted to the needs of each project while serving startups and Fortune 50 enterprises.
Business Analyst for Employee Experience Research
Owens Corning
- Joined the team to help lead in-person employee interviews to identify ways OC may improve employee engagement. The interviews were often sensitive which required trust building and EQ.
- Assisted in designing interview topics and questions and gathering reconnaissance and data to help facilitate successful interviews.
- Contributed to the transcription and data synthesis to ensure data quality and enable OC to confidently pursue actions based on the findings.
Vice President
Undisclosed
- Led the formation and growth of the US headquarters for an award-winning global business agility consultancy. This role blended strategic business development and hands-on coaching opportunities.
- Provided deep experience with business development for a 7-figure entity, including market strategy, product strategy, operations strategy, and staffing strategy.
- Interacted and influenced sponsors and stakeholders adeptly.
- Exposed to international consulting in Europe, LATAM, and ASPAC.
Agile Coach
mathisit
- Led a startup of seasoned professionals (creative and technical) in applying Scrum foundations to their existing work.
- Fostered a safe space for experimentation and ensured that team members learn as they go.
- Guided the team to decompose work in a way that delivers value faster than previously realized. Quick releases were crucial to carry the startup to the next rounds of funding.
Senior Agile Coach
Centene Corporation
- Led the Product Dojo program to develop the product, Lean, Agile, technical development, and DevOps skills for over 400 development teams.
- Led numerous Agile and technical training (CI/CD, Angular, and Go) sessions by taking on actual work from a team's backlog.
- Demonstrated the value realization of the Dojo model by capturing meaningful measurements.
Agile Coach
Equifax, Inc.
- Led the scrum master and multi-discipline product owner responsibilities for the respected Equifax Workforce Solutions data and analytics (D&A) department of 40+ people across multiple teams and disciplines with little to no Agile experience.
- Appointed as the authentication gateway team lead to deliver security improvements to drive an improved security posture following the massive data breach in September 2017.
- Worked alongside senior executives to ensure compliance with government standards, resulting in steep fines or the company closure if not approved. With this experience, I demonstrated that I worked well under intense pressure.
Product Delivery Lead
Panera Bread Company
- Led the product delivery for the startup inside a corporation, learning how to manage startups on the go.
- Acted as a key contributor to the project, from product conceptualization and release to supporting the game-changing Panera delivery service. Think end-to-end connectivity—back-of-house to customer-facing applications.
- Implemented test-first and rapid product releases that involved thoughtful architecture and DevOps decision-making.
- Partnered with an offshore development team, working with crew members and customers in the cafes.
Product Manager | Application Manager
Washington University in St. Louis
- Led the web application strategies from technical architecture to product owner capacity.
- Conducted vendor and budget management for key university initiatives with a sincere emphasis on cultivating and mentoring my direct reports of project managers, testers, and developers.
- Broadened my career experience by working in the public affairs setting, emphasizing user research, UX, HCD, and design thinking.
- Managed the support team over the university’s web applications. I also helped build and support a self-service website platform that served over 10,000 users, including students, faculty, and staff.
- Served as a key contributor to the agile transformation from the very beginning.
E-learning Technical Administrator
CPI Corp.
- Managed infrastructure operations for the JCPenney and Sears Portrait Studio learning management systems (LMS).
- Supported the learning modules that affected thousands of staff at all levels of the organization and were necessary for operations as they pertained to essential job training, legal, and compliance.
- Managed the third-party LMS relationship on my own, ensuring the LMS system health was stable.
Project History
Published Article | How to Spot a Great Agile Coach
https://blog.iconagility.com/how-to-spot-a-great-agile-coach-and-a-not-so-great-oneWrote articles on Agile coaching, getting published on multiple channels as a respected Agilist.
EXCERPT FROM THE ARTICLE:
If you should encounter a coach (or any Agilist for that matter) with these five traits, recognize their greatness and cultivate them. These are intrinsic qualities and usually cannot be learned.
Look for these traits during your next round of interviews. You may be able to pick up on whether the candidate is an active listener during the interview. However, don’t be shy to ask trait questions such as “How have you shown empathy in your coaching?” If you find yourself being open and honest with the coach, then that's an excellent sign!
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology
Lindenwood University - St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Certificate of Specialization in Web Development
St. Louis Community College - St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Certifications
Certified SAFe 5.1 Program Consultant (SPC)
Scaled Agile, Inc.
Skills
Tools
Atlassian Suite, Jira, Miro, MURAL, Slack, Zoom, Trello, Tableau, SQL, Adobe, TargetProcess, Rally
Paradigms
Scrum, Kanban, Agile Leadership, Agile Project Management, Requirements Analysis, Agile, Usability Testing, User Testing, Management, Human-centered Design (HCD), DevOps, Agile Product Management
Platforms
SharePoint, WordPress, iOS, Drupal 8, Shopify, Android, Blockchain
Industry Expertise
Digital Agencies, Architecture
Other
Product Delivery, Project Management, IT Project Management, Immersive Learning, Dojo, Product Development, Front-end Development, People Development, Agile Coaching, Estimations, Discovery, Planning, Backlog Management, Product Management, Scrum Master, Program Management, Stakeholder Management, Content Management, Data Migration, Quality Assurance (QA), Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Scripting, Discovery Workshops, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Product Owner, Scope of Work (SOW), User Stories, Project Planning, Project Timelines, Agile Transformation, Technical Consulting, Leadership, Team Leadership, Executive Coaching, Business Analysis, Business Agility, Web App Development, Digital Product Management, Startups, Digital Project Management, CTO, JavaScript, Engineering Management, Marketing, Paid Advertising, APIs, User Interviews, Mobile UI, Mobile UX, Jira Administration, Data Science, Big Data, IT Security, Back-end Development, Enterprise Application Design, Accessibility, QA Testing, Cloud Infrastructure, Native Mobile Apps, Data, Node.js, Python, Content Management Systems (CMS), Web Marketing, Learning Management Systems (LMS), Web Server (IIS), .NET, HTML, CSS, eCommerce, Agency, Extreme Programming, Process Flows, Process Improvement Project Management, Scope Management, Technical Product Management, Cryptocurrency, Fintech, Process Optimization, Stakeholder Engagement, Teamwork, UX Process, Technical Documentation, Web Project Management, Web Product Management, Mobile Applications, Technical Project Management, Technical Program Management, Funding Strategy, People Management, Research, Business to Business (B2B), Documentation, UX Research, Employee Relations, Teams, Budgeting
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