Experience

About

I’ve been a project manager for over 15 years, leading high-performing teams and delivering critical value
for Fortune 100 companies like AT&T, Caterpillar, and IBM.

My journey as a project manager has taken me in exciting new directions, most recently landing me at Caterpillar as a Digital Project/Program Manager. Since joining the team in October 2022, I’ve had the privilege of spearheading projects that make a tangible, observable difference to both customers and dealers.

Dealer E-site Monitoring

I’m leading a program to implement e-commerce and dealer API monitoring for over 150 individual dealer e-sites. This is allowing both the incident management team and dealers themselves to promptly detect and triage issues. This program has been nominated for the 2023 CAT Digital Process Excellence award.

Resiliency Analysis

I’m managing a program researching ways to achieve high availability and resiliency for mission-critical Cat applications. We are exploring ways to reduce complexity and single points of failure, considering forcing functions, real-time monitoring, and contracts in our pursuit of 99.99% availability. I work closely with the Operations director and architects to define and drive areas of investigation.

French Translations

I’m leading a program to ensure that UI/navigation and content are translated into French for over 70 Cat Digital applications in order to comply with Québec Bill 96. I work closely with Cat Digital Legal and Compliance to resolve questions and manage risks.

In my role as a contractor at AT&T, I was involved with Network Solutions, learning about Virtual Network Functions (VNFs), Universal Customer Premise Equipment (UCPEs), and the principles of how virtual networking and edge computing worked.

SAFe® 5 Scrum Master

I led project scrum teams through multiple Program Increments (PIs), overseeing the enhancement and deployment of new Virtual Network Functions (VNFs), Universal Customer Premise Equipment (UCPEs), and AWS cloud capabilities. Leveraging my expertise in agile methodologies, I facilitated PI planning sessions, collaborated with cross-functional teams to address dependencies and roadblocks, and monitored iteration progress using Jira Align. Towards the end of my tenture, I played a key role in transitioning the organization from a SAFe to agile methodology.

Product Development Engineer (PDE)

I played a pivotal role in enhancing devices and processes for the SD-WAN/VMware offer. In my capacity as Lead PM/PDE, I managed Kanban boards using Planview LeanKit and collaborated closely with AT&T Labs and process subject matter experts (SMEs) to prepare for product launch.

My contract ended when the product that I was supporting as a PDE lost it’s funding for the rest of the year.

After restructuring at AT&T, all former employees of AT&T were moved to IBM for a minimum of one year. I supported the AT&T contract as a provider of enterprise telecommunications and networking solutions for the General Services Administration (GSA): Some of my responsibilities included:

Testing management

I managed the testing and deployment of Spring 5.0 Framework to Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS). I triaged and tracked pairwise testing defects in Jira as defect manager to close defects quickly. I also assisted in planning test cycles.

Received Public Trust Suitability clearance from GSA

I was required to obtain this clearance to aid in viewing and managing production defects.

Assisted in sprint forecasting

I helped in forecasting IBM resources needed for upcoming sprints, assessing capability and load.

Introduced to Scaled Agile (SAFe) framework

I worked with SAFe teams, familiarizing myself with Program Implement (PI) planning, release trains, and scaled agile roles.

After one year, most of the former AT&T employees were released.

Delivered 50+ software development projects over 8 years. Negotiated timelines, resolved conflicts, and escalated issues and risks. Gathered business and operational requirements alongside client and business team. Collaborated daily with international teams. Deep knowledge of SDLC. Excelled at vendor management.

Project / Team Management

Spearheaded multiple, concurrent, cross-functional projects, working with applications and business partners to coordinate hybrid schedules and deliverables, while managing stakeholder expectations.
Created schedules for blended projects, coordinating applications using differing development methodologies to arrive at point needed for pairwise, UAT, and integrated billing testing.
Validated business requirements with client.
Managed budgets, gathered estimates, and performed trueups. Negotiated with teams to align resources.
Championed AT&T governance and compliance standards. Executed change management policies.
Served as scrum master for several projects, leading daily stand-ups and managing dependencies.

Billing projects

Led multiple projects that enhanced billing functionality, added a new service, or addressed an outstanding issue while keeping management updated on billing testing and defect tracking. Excelled at multitasking.
Led multiple projects to enhance billing functionality, improve cycle times, and automate tasks.
Drove quality management by collaborating with test manager after bills were available during cycle testing,

IT legacy transformation projects

Led projects to move products to AT&T universal biller and retire legacy billers, adding interfaces and migrating accounts. Accomplished +$2M value realization by retiring legacy billers.
Managed migration from a PMO perspective, exhibiting team leadership during daily meetings in ensuring migration plan on track. Worked with SMEs to identify reasons for fallout and resolve issues.

I was hired in 2000 as a technical writer. Over 19 years employed at there, I held three main roles: technical writer, software development process support, and lead project manager. See descriptions of what I contributed below (with the most recent first).

Software Development Process Support (July 2006 – February 2011)

Mentored project managers in SDLC best practices (deliverables, approvals, estimates, trueups, project splits).
Coached project managers in AT&T project governance activities, ensuring compliance standards. Performed SOX audits.

Technical Writer (November 2000 – June 2006)

Designed and built online help and wrote user documentation for app that let customers manage Centrex features online.

About Beth

My path has taken me from being an English major to becoming a technical writer, and now I’m a digital project manager currently learning web design and development. What better way to blend my talents than by creating a WordPress website and blogging about project management and technology topics?