Palaniappan Murugappan
Verified Expert in Project Management
Project Manager
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Toptal member since January 31, 2022
Palani is a technical project manager with 18 years of experience in the software industry. He started as a programmer, played diverse technical and management roles, and is still a hands-on technical leader. Besides being an expert in engineering and Agile management, digital transformation, and solution architecture, he has good experience working with AWS, .Net, Java, API gateway, DevOps, and microservices. Palani is also keen on stakeholder management, including C-suite-level executives.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile
- Engineering Management
- Microservices
- Project Management
- Scrum
- Solution Architecture
- Technical Delivery Management
Work Experience
Program Manager
Oil and Gas Major in the UAE
- Managed a program aimed at preparing the organization for the new ERP software implemented by the parent company across the group. Managed the stakeholders, scope, plan, and budget and submitted regular reports to the project sponsor.
- Coordinated with the data migration, integration, and change management teams to create and track the project schedule and present detailed monthly reports to the project sponsor.
- Established the required processes and governance to ensure the deliverables quality and user satisfaction.
- Coordinated with the functional managers to get the required business subject matter experts for the project and create a matrix organization.
- Owned the risk register and ensured teams identified the risks. I also coordinated with the organization's risk management team to do qualitative risk analysis and organized workshops with stakeholders to find mitigation strategies.
- Handled the complete procurement process—prepare requests for proposals (RFP), conduct technical evaluations with the technical experts, create contracts with the legal team, manage relationships with vendors, release orders on the agreed milestones.
Technical Delivery Manager
UK Client, via Tata Consultancy Services
- Built a customer's digital platform in AWS and pioneered converting it to the cloud.
- Introduced the microservice architecture to the customer organization.
- Initiated and owned the continuous integration of the customer claims application, including Jenkins configuration.
- Moved the entire development model to behavior-driven development (BDD) using SpecFlow, filled the unit testing gaps, and monitored code quality using SonarQube.
- Defined the monitoring capability for the systems in production by adding Dynatrace, Splunk, and other tools in their stack. Reduced the turnaround time of the tickets by 50% and the operation costs by 20%.
Engineering Manager
US Client, via Tata Consultancy Services
- Migrated the software development model from legacy to Scrum. I received the best program manager award in Tata Consultancy Services for this project.
- Managed around 30 people, handling identification, mentoring, and performance management.
- Introduced the CI/CD process, including automated static code analysis.
- Proposed a new business automation area, presented it to the customer's vice presidents and CTO, and proceeded with its implementation.
Associate Manager
Accenture
- Managed the Accenture recruitment platform, including the job portal, internal compensation generator, and recruiter platform.
- Managed a team of six programmers and two testers, handling career development and performance management.
- Coordinated with vendors to incorporate natural language processing (NLP) tools to achieve the resume matching service.
- Integrated with the leading recruitment portal to automatically download resumes based on an NLP-matched algorithm.
Senior Software Programmer
eGovernment Authority of Bahrain
- Oversaw the business analysis, technical design, and architecture for e-services in various channels, such as web, kiosk, and mobile.
- Provided consultation and guidance to various ministries in architecture design and services implementation.
- Designed and developed interfaces for their existing system, prepared technical design documents, and provided complete technical support.
- Played a key role at the vendor selection committee evaluating and selecting vendors. This included preparing requests for proposals, evaluating proposals, and ranking, choosing, and managing vendors.
Software Consultant
Emirates Airlines
- Acted as a technical leader overseeing the complete technical design for the assigned products.
- Made technical decisions and recommended tools and utilities.
- Provided technical guidance to developers to help them complete their modules and integrate them into the core product.
Software Engineer
iSoft PLC
- Provided technical support for the iSoft-owned healthcare product, Lorenzo, for German-based customers.
- Supported the German sales team by implementing different technical POCs to showcase the product to customers.
- Conducted impact analysis on the product, considering new enhancements. I also designed the solution and prepared the technical design document.
- Took a direct part in the programming process and mentored a few programmer interns.
- Managed the service tickets raised by users and ensured to get them closed within the defined service-level agreement (SLA).
Programmer
Eutech Cybernetic
- Analyzed the client requirements, conducted the impact analysis, designed the solution, and prepared design documents.
- Developed the solution and prepared and automated the unit test.
- Attended product review meetings in client place and subsidiary companies.
Project History
Agile Transformation for a US Major Market Research Client
Transformed the entire traditional development model into a Scrum-based one and delivered an integrated software platform for the market researching team to carry out their daily activities and generate research reports in a single place.
• Coaching the developers and senior management teams on the Agile methodology
• Mentoring three agile teams working on three products to create the complete software platform
• Ensuring the definition of done (DoD) and definition of ready (DoR) is agreed upon, and all team members know them
• Working with the product owners and business stakeholders and assisting user stories creation and product backlog prioritization
• Acting as a scrum master for all scrum teams
• Conducting daily stand-up meetings
• Facilitating sprint planning meetings and mentoring the teams on estimation and elaboration of identified user stories for the sprint
• Facilitating teams to self-organize and carry out the development activities
• Conducting retrospectives in innovative ways, ensuring the team got engaged and opened up, and all identified process improvements were implemented
• Taking the required actions to remove any impediments faced by the scrum team
• Tracking burn-down and burn-up charts and helping teams to achieve the sprint goals
• Tracking teams' velocity and assisting them on sprint planning meetings to take work based on it
• Advocating for Agile and Scrum methodologies in all leadership meetings
Migration of a Major UK Insurance's Claims Application to Cloud (AWS)
Pioneered the implementation of a cloud application within the organization, integrating the industry's best practices like CI/CD and BDD, in line with the customer digital transformation strategy.
• Managing the multiple scrum teams with an offshore and onsite model
• Initiating and overseeing the continuous integration of the customer claims application, which includes Jenkins configuration, moving the entire development model to BDD with Specflow, filling the unit testing gaps, and monitoring code quality using SonarQube
• Analyzing available tools and technology in the market, implementing POCs, and recommending the best fit
• Ensuring the platform's non-functional requirements, such as performance, security, and scalability, were always in line with the client's expectation
• Mentoring the development team on the technical needs and handling their grooming, training, and performance appraisal process
• Defining monitoring capability for the systems in production by adding Dynatrace, Splunk, and other tools in their stack
Microservice Architecture for a UK Major Insurance Company
Implemented the microservice architecture in the customer organization, helping to centrally manage the core function and offering the service through multiple channels. It drastically reduced the time-to-market with increased elasticity.
Throughout the process, my responsibilities also included:
• Acquiring the needed talent to implement the microservices architecture
• Participating in all architectural discussions and decisions
• Arranging training on microservices for the in-house team and cross-train newly acquired microservices SMEs on the business
• Creating the platform squad team to generate a platform for the new microservices architecture and implement the required groundwork, such as defining best practices and creating a CI/CD framework
• Acting as a scrum master to specific teams, coaching them on Agile, conducting retrospectives, and helping them to remove impediments
• Working with the business analyst and product owner to prioritize user stories based on the business value, cost of delay, and other factors
• Measuring the progress and impact and present those metrics to the customer's IT leadership team
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology
Bharathidasan University - Tiruchirappali, India
Certifications
AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate
AWS
Project Management Professional (PMP)
Project Management Institute | PMI
Professional Scrum Master Level I (PSM I)
Scrum.org
TOGAF 9.2 Certification
The Open Group
ITIL Foundation Certification
APMG International
Skills
Tools
Jira, C#.NET WinForms, Confluence, Project Management & Work Tracking Tools, GitHub, Jenkins, SonarQube, Cucumber, Visual Studio .NET, Git, Microsoft Project, SQL, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Silverlight, Slack, Trello, Asana, Microsoft Power BI
Paradigms
Agile, Scrum, Behavior-driven Development (BDD), Object-oriented Programming (OOP), Database Design, Waterfall Delivery, Agile Project Management, Agile Leadership, Implementation Project Management, Management, Lean, Agile Product Management, B2B2C, Agile Delivery, Business to Business to Consumer (B2B2C), TOGAF, Microservices, DevOps, Service-oriented Architecture (SOA), Kanban, Change Management, Continuous Integration (CI), Continuous Delivery (CD), Gang of Four (GOF) Design Patterns, B2B, Lean Project Management, Testing, User Acceptance Testing (UAT), Requirements Analysis, HL7 FHIR Standard, Design Patterns, Azure DevOps
Industry Expertise
Software, Technology, Insurance, Healthcare, Health, Retail & Wholesale
Platforms
Nexus, Software Design Patterns, Oracle, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Docker, MuleSoft, Android, iOS, Monday.com
Other
Project Management Professional (PMP), Engineering Management, Technical Delivery Management, Project Management, Web Services, REST APIs, Technical Project Management, Technical Program Management, Software Development Management, Digital Transformation Program Management, .NET, SOAP, UML, VB.NET, Vendor Selection, People Management, Technical Architecture, Vendor Management, Project Planning, IT Contracts, Presentations, Program Management, Agile Program Management, Backlog Management, Team Leadership, IT Project Management, Implementation, Planning, Sprint Planning, Leadership, Agile Sprints, Sprint Ceremonies, Sprint Retrospectives, Sprints, IT Projects, Project Scheduling, Scrum Master, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Web Applications, Apps, Project Tracking, Project Reporting, Progress Reporting, Stakeholder Engagement, Third-party Management, Project Coordination, Project Management Office (PMO), Hybrid Project Management, Leadership & Coaching, Software Development, Project Timelines, Project Delivery, Technology Solutions, System Architecture, Feature Planning, Software Design, Software Architecture, Module Development, Desktop App Development, Code Review, APIs, Technical Hiring, Project Scoping, Delivery, Discovery Workshops, User Stories, Product Vision, Staffing, Web Project Management, Websites, Integration, Requirements, Technology Strategy & Architecture, Risk Assessment, Waterfall Methodology, Web, Integrated Program Management , JSON, Agile Coaching, Process Improvement, Operations, Team Mentoring, Design Documentation, Procurement, Estimation & Planning, Project Discovery, Remote Work, Remote Team Leadership, Performance, Web & Mobile Applications, Resource Management, Project Consultancy, Team Management, Estimations, Agile Transformation, Teams, Cross-functional Team Leadership, Incident Management, Client Relations, Issue Tracking, Timelines, Cross-functional Collaboration, Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Best Practices, Enterprise Project Management, Coaching, Digital Delivery Management, Risk Management, Business Requirements, Workshop Facilitation, Functional Requirements, MVP Design, Multi-functional Teams, Product Discovery, Product Owner, Product Ownership, RFPs, RFQs, ITTs, Responses, Proposals & Quotes, Release Management, Delivery Management, Work Breakdown Structure, Web App Development, Web Development, Software Project Management, SDKs, Detail-oriented, Large-scale Projects, Complex Problem Solving, Organization, Project Closure, IT Program Management, Consulting, Databases, Workflow, Software Implementation, Training, Technical Leadership, Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), Tracking, Certified Project Manager, IT Strategy, Enterprise Architecture, Java, C#, NUnit, Solution Architecture, SpecFlow, API Gateways, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Redis, IT Business Analysis, ITIL, App Support, IIS, ASP.NET, JavaScript, Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), Online Payments, Performance Testing, jQuery, Risk Analysis, Stakeholder Management, Scope Management, Portfolio Management, Backlog Grooming, Feature Backlog Prioritization, Scope of Work (SOW), Reporting, PMI, Project Leadership, QA Testing, Dashboards, Feature Prioritization, Time Management, Digital Project Management, Google, Business to Business (B2B), Digital Transformation, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Service-level Agreements (SLA), SLA Management, Cloud, Communication, Schedule Optimization, System Integration, Mobile Applications, Mobile Apps, Build Pipelines, Process Design, Business Transformation, Business Architecture, Pitch Decks, New Products, Product Roadmaps, Budgeting, Cloud Migration, Data Migration, Software as a Service (SaaS), SaaS, Mobile App Development, Relational Databases, Process Improvement Project Management, Stakeholder Mapping, Process Flows, Google Drive, Stakeholder Interviews, Project Portfolio Management (PPM), ServiceDesk, Product Management, Gantt Chart, Managed Services, Website QA, Website Setup, Prototyping, Reports, Metrics, Business Cases, Roadmaps, Migration, Milestones, Project Budget Management, Customer Service, Client Services, Budget Modeling, New Product Development, Product Development, Product Strategy, Quality Assurance (QA), MySQL, CSS, Data Integration, Project Rescue, Data Management Platforms, ERP Implementation, SAP Integration, Business Analysis, AWS Cloud Computing Services, R&D, Creativity, Communication Management, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Data Structures, C++, Kubernetes, SQL Server 2008, Jira Administrator, Angular, IT Service Delivery, XML, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Cost Management, Budget Management, SAP ERP, Cloud Architecture, AWS Cloud Architecture, AWS Certified Solution Architect, PMO Development, PMO, User Experience (UX), Mobile Development, C, Innovation Strategy, Startups, Travel, Internet of Things (IoT), Mobility, NoSQL, Marketing Automation, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), React, Node.js, Manufacturing, Security, Apache Kafka, Claims Processing, System Migration, Finance, Marketing Research & Analysis, Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPT)
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