1 Delivery Discipline

Maintaining sprint scope, tracking velocity, and keeping teams accountable to delivery dates—no surprises.

⚙️ My Delivery Approach with Jira

Tight, disciplined delivery requires obsessive focus on backlog grooming, sprint scope, and velocity tracking. I use Jira as my central nervous system:

Sprint Planning Backlog Grooming Velocity Tracking Definition of Done
  • Backlog Grooming (Bi-weekly): Every story refined with acceptance criteria, estimates, and dependencies before sprint planning
  • Sprint Scope Lock: Once committed, sprint scope stays locked—no mid-sprint changes. Trade scope, not quality
  • Velocity Tracking: Historical velocity data informs realistic forecasts; I track and forecast early to call risk
  • Definition of Done: Every story meets clear, non-negotiable criteria (code review, unit tests, staging deployment, zero critical bugs)
  • Jira Discipline: Every ticket accurate, up-to-date, owned. Tickets are the contract between Product and Engineering
🎯 Real Example: MAF International – Managing 12 System Integrations in Parallel

The Pressure: Mission Aviation Fellowship faced fraud across 10 countries. I had to deliver 12 critical system integrations (NetSuite, Mendix Banking, Custom Booking System, etc.) without losing quality or missing fraud prevention deadline.

My Delivery Discipline Approach:

Sprint 1-4 (First Push):

  • Backlog Grooming: Broke 12 integrations into 47 user stories (average 3-5 story points each)
  • Dependency Mapping: Sequenced integrations so critical fraud-prevention features (NetSuite, Bank Transactions) shipped first
  • Sprint Velocity: Tracked team capacity at 35 points/sprint; forecasted 4 sprints for Phase 1 delivery
  • Definition of Done: Every integration required API testing, Jira documentation, staging QA sign-off, zero critical bugs before release

Delivery Under Pressure:

  • Standup Discipline: Daily stand-ups (15 min), same time, immediate blocker resolution
  • Scope Protection: When urgent requests came mid-sprint, I pulled equivalent stories out—held scope line
  • Quality Gate: No sprint demo without meeting every acceptance criterion. Rejected incomplete work
  • Forecasting: After Sprint 2, velocity was clear at 34 points/sprint. Forecast: Phase 1 complete by Sprint 5. Delivered exactly on date

Result: All 12 integrations delivered on time, zero fraud-prevention features deferred. Eliminated ÂŁ200K+ annual fraud losses. Team hit every sprint commitment for 6 straight sprints.

đź“Š Velocity & Forecasting

Predictability is a leadership trait. I track velocity to make realistic commitments and call risk early:

  • Weekly velocity tracking: Plot completed story points in Jira burndown; identify trends
  • Forecasting with confidence: Use historical average to forecast release dates; include buffer for unknowns
  • Risk flagging: If velocity drops or blockers emerge, escalate Friday (not Wednesday before sprint ends)
  • No-surprise updates: Stakeholders always know exactly where we stand; forecast confidence bands, not guesses

At Smart8, consistent velocity tracking reduced delivery surprises by 80%; stakeholders trusted sprint commitments so completely we shifted to outcome-based contracts.

2 Technical Execution

Breaking down complex requirements, coordinating code reviews, managing QA/releases, and ensuring quality at every gate.

🔧 Deep Technical Collaboration

I'm not just managing tickets—I'm embedded in technical decisions, code quality, and release management:

API Architecture Code Reviews QA Coordination CI/CD Release Management
  • User Story Writing with Tech Depth: Write clear acceptance criteria that engineers can build to; understand database schemas, API contracts, deployment pipelines
  • Code Review Participation: Actively review PRs for scope alignment, architecture fit; ask technical questions
  • QA & Test Coordination: Co-plan test strategy with QA team; ensure acceptance criteria map to test cases
  • Release Management: Coordinate feature flag rollout, staging validation, production deployment; manage rollback scenarios
  • Defect Triage: Classify bugs by severity; critical bugs block releases; lower severity queued for next sprint
📝 Real Example: MAF International – Bank Transaction Sync (API Design & Release)

Technical Challenge: Build real-time transaction sync from Mendix (banking system) to NetSuite (financial records). Data must sync within 2 seconds; duplicates must be prevented; audit trail required.

My Technical Execution Approach:

Step 1 – API Story Design:

User Story: "As a finance officer, I want bank transactions to sync automatically with NetSuite within 2 seconds, so that I prevent duplicates and eliminate manual reconciliation."

  • API Acceptance Criteria: POST /transactions endpoint accepts bank transaction payload; calls NetSuite API; returns confirmation within 2 seconds or queues for retry
  • Duplicate Prevention: Query NetSuite for existing transaction_id; if found, reject with error; if not, create new
  • Audit Trail: Log every transaction attempt (successful/failed) with timestamp and reason
  • Error Handling: Graceful retry logic; failed sync attempts logged; alerts sent to finance team

Step 2 – Code Review & API Alignment:

  • Reviewed engineer's PR; validated API response structure matches acceptance criteria
  • Checked error messages are user-friendly (not stack traces)
  • Confirmed audit logging captures all required details
  • Validated timeout handling (2-second SLA)

Step 3 – QA & Staging Validation:

  • Co-planned QA test cases: happy path (success), duplicate detection, timeout scenario, network failure
  • Deployed to staging; ran smoke tests with QA
  • Tested with 1000+ transactions; confirmed latency under 2 seconds
  • Ran chaos test: failed NetSuite API; confirmed system queued and retried correctly

Step 4 – Managed CI/CD Release:

  • Feature flag controlled rollout: 10% of transactions first day, 50% day 2, 100% day 3
  • Monitored error rates and latency metrics in real-time dashboard
  • Finance team ran parallel reconciliation day 1 to validate data accuracy
  • Zero critical issues; promoted to 100% on schedule

Result: API live, processing 300+ transactions daily, zero duplicate payments, full audit trail. This was one of 12 integrations delivered in parallel—each with same technical rigor.

âś“ Acceptance Criteria with Technical Teeth

Acceptance criteria aren't wishful thinking—they're testable, unambiguous contracts:

Given-When-Then Format:

Every criterion written in testable language engineers can code to and QA can verify

Technical Specificity:

I specify APIs, response times, error codes, database queries where relevant

Measurable:

"Sync within 2 seconds" not "sync quickly". "200 response code" not "works"

Definition of Done:

Every story also meets DoD: code review, tests, staging validation, zero critical bugs

3 Team Leadership & Accountability

Running ceremonies that move the needle, holding people accountable, and partnering with technical leads for fast, predictable delivery.

🎯 Leading Through Clarity

I motivate by clarity and consistency, not noise. Every sprint has a clear goal tied to business outcome:

  • Sprint Planning (2 hours): Define sprint goal (business outcome, not just tickets). Walk through refined stories. Team commits based on velocity. Lock scope.
  • Daily Standups (15 min): What done? What doing? Any blockers? I'm there to listen, remove friction, escalate risk.
  • Sprint Reviews (1.5 hours): Demo complete work live. Walk through acceptance criteria. Get stakeholder feedback. Celebrate wins.
  • Retrospectives (1 hour): What went well? What didn't? What should we try? Track actions sprint-over-sprint; hold team accountable to improvements.
  • One-on-ones (weekly): Coach individual contributors; understand blockers before standups; build trust.
🎯 Real Example: Tailored Implementation – Flight Booking Dashboard & Scope Discipline

The Brief: Client wanted a real-time flight booking dashboard (tailor-made system for reservations) in one sprint. Original request: live flight status, booking history, payment history, customer analytics, admin controls, 3 integrations, mobile app.

My Scope Discipline Approach:

Sprint Planning Conversation:

  • I said: "We can ship live flight status + booking history in one sprint (MVP). That's the core value. Let's ship, get client approval to continue, then add payment history and analytics in Sprint 2."
  • Client hesitation: "But we wanted everything."
  • I countered: "We can either ship incomplete features in one sprint (risky, lower quality) or ship two complete features. I recommend MVP first—prove concept, get feedback, then expand."

Sprint 1 (MVP - Live Flight Status + Booking History):

  • Scope locked: 8 user stories (35 points), live flight integration + booking history display
  • Team committed: Based on 35-point velocity
  • Daily stand-ups: Monitored progress; no scope creep requests accepted mid-sprint
  • Sprint review: Shipped working MVP; client saw live data. Approved quality.

Result: MVP delivered on time. Client could approve to invest in Phase 2 (payment + analytics). No "we're 80% done but delayed" situation. Clean handoff, team trust, client confidence.

Why This Matters: I deliver when I commit. MVP-first keeps quality high and builds momentum for next phase. Client sees value fast instead of waiting for everything.

đź’Ş Holding the Line on Quality

When timelines get tight, I protect quality by managing scope, not cutting corners:

  • Scope Trade-offs: Timeline compressed? We defer nice-to-haves, not quality gates. MVP ships, Phase 2 follows.
  • Definition of Done is non-negotiable: Every story must pass code review, unit tests, staging QA. No exceptions.
  • Defect Management: Critical bugs block release. High bugs assessed; lower severity queued for next sprint.
  • Stakeholder Communication: If timeline is at risk, I say so early and propose solutions (scope cut, timeline extension, or accept risk).

At Smart8, this "quality non-negotiable" principle with scope flexibility resulted in 25-30% delivery efficiency gains—fewer bugs, less rework.

🤝 Partnering with Technical & Commercial Leadership

I thrive at the center—translating business priorities into technical work, keeping teams unblocked:

  • With Head of Delivery: Co-own timeline forecasts, resourcing decisions, cross-product dependencies
  • With Commercial Director: Communicate scope trade-offs, timeline options, resource costs upfront
  • With Engineers: Remove friction; provide clear requirements; run safe retros where feedback is heard
  • With Clients: Manage expectations; be honest about risks; deliver predictable outcomes

4 Proven Results

Real-world outcomes: fraud eliminated, ÂŁ1.2M scaled, 40% engagement growth, 25-30% delivery efficiency.

🌍 Featured Project: MAF International

Product Owner Technical Lead 10 Countries
"Source of Truth" – Eliminating Fraud Across 10 Countries

The Challenge: Mission Aviation Fellowship faced ÂŁ200K+ annual fraud from duplicate flight ticket transactions across 10 countries. 12 disconnected software systems meant no single source of truth.

My Role: Technical Product Manager & Lead Developer—owned delivery from concept through production across 6 sprints.

Delivery Approach:

  • Broke 12 integrations into 47 user stories; sequenced fraud-prevention features first
  • Locked sprint scopes; hit velocity targets for 6 straight sprints
  • Led code reviews on each integration; coordinated QA; managed CI/CD releases
  • Held daily standups; escalated blockers same day; kept team accountable

Technical Stack: Python, Mendix (Banking), Java, Azure, .NET, Custom Booking System, NetSuite Integration.

âś… Fraud Eliminated

Prevented ÂŁ200K+ annual fraud via duplicate detection

🎯 12 Integrations

All delivered on time, zero deferred features

đź’Ľ Single Source of Truth

Unified data platform across 10 countries

đź“Š Real-Time Dashboard

Leadership visibility via BI; instant transaction audit trail

Additional Case Studies

Hub8.tech: ÂŁ1.2M Scaled

ÂŁ1.2M
SaaS Technical Leadership 15+ Clients

Technical Product Manager coordinating 15+ enterprise clients (L'Oréal, Telefónica) across Europe on single SaaS platform.

Key Achievements:

  • Maintained sprint velocity across parallel client projects
  • 30% reduction in delivery time via Agile discipline
  • Client retention improved to 85% through transparent communication

Smart8: 40% Engagement

40%↑
E-commerce SaaS Product Strategy

Led product strategy and Agile delivery for UK e-commerce platform; drove 40% user engagement growth through data-driven feature prioritisation.

Key Achievements:

  • Velocity-driven delivery across 12 sprints
  • 25-30% efficiency improvement via Definition of Done
  • Zero critical bugs reached production