Jan 2021 – Present · 5 yrs 4 mos · Oxford · Remote

• Renown cybersecurity presenter, video host, and writer with a reputation for explaining complex threat intelligence in an engaging, humourous, and easy to understand way.

Jul 2011 – Present · 14 yrs 10 mos · Oxford, United Kingdom

Dec 2009 – May 2011 · 1 yr 5 mos

• In this role I used Agile best practices to affect a complete turn-around in the fortunes of a Web Development team within 1 year. When I arrived the team were operating as individuals, had low morale and no methodology.
• I introduced many small changes but our rapid turn-around was underpinned by 5 key activities:
• 1. Implementing Scrum and Agile estimation and planning methods.
• 2. Creating a compelling narrative for the changes we would undertake.
• 3. Fostering a strong and professional team culture.
• 4. Bringing customers into the development process.
• 5. Separating development from support and maintenance.
• To improve the stability and security of our codebase I accelerated the transition to .NET and introduced regression testing, code reviews, a security champion and an extensive program of cross-training.
• SDL Web Development projects are now executed in a transparent and predictable fashion, finish on-time and deliver real busienss value. Separating development from support has allowed the support function to deliver quarter-on-quarter improvements in user satisfaction and the time taken to close tickets. Our user satisfaction score for 2010 was 97%.
• My responsibilities in this role included rolling-out Scrum and working variously in each of the Scrum Coach, Scrum Master or Product Owner roles. I was responsible for the successful project management of many significant web projects on both sdl.com and freetranslation.com. On the technical side I acted as coach and advisor to each of the support, design and development functions and took a lead role in requirements solicitation and business analyses.

Jun 2008 – Dec 2009 · 1 yr 6 mos

• Working initially as Scrum Master I was asked to take over as Product Owner in December 2008 with the task of turning-around the project in a limited time.
• The project presented a particularly difficult leadership challege because by the time I took over the majority of the in-house team had been told they were either being made redundant or were at risk of redundancy. I pulled the team together into a cohesive and focused group and in spite of this huge setback we delivered the site on-time and on-budget.
• Our task was to deliver a new global partner website that integrated an off-the-shelf PRM product, our existing business systems and a brand new set of complex global business rules for managing our channel partners.
• My responsibilities included rolling-out Scrum, business analyses, UX design, controlling the budget and managing a large cross-departmental team of 3rd party contractors and specialists from the IT, Marketing and Education departments.

Jun 2005 – Jun 2008 · 3 yrs

• As the senior Web professional I was technical lead for web design and development with responsibility for the global digital marketing strategy; recommending to the Senior Management Team the technical architecture, technology, staffing, skills and methodologies required to deliver our business goals.
• I provided technical leadership, business analyses and UX guidance for our most complex and difficult web projects. The most significant project was Solo, a strategically critical ecommerce system. Until Solo was delivered ecommerce at Sophos had proved prohibitively difficult. To overcome the problems that had thwarted previous efforts I instigated our first use of Agile project management. Drawing on UX best practice and my own research I designed the solution and guided the developers in its successful creation.
• During this time I also became the company's analytics expert. I created and rolled-out our fist SEO strategy, provided SEM best practice and delivered our first effective marketing campaign ROI metrics by integrating Google Analytics with our CRM system.

Feb 2003 – Jun 2005 · 2 yrs 4 mos

• After 6 months as a programmer (see previous position) I was promoted to line-manager and technical lead for all web designers and programmers working on Sophos websites. In 2 years I recruited a new team, growing it from 4 to 16 people during a 60% expansion of the business. The team was transformed into a highly motivated and multi-skilled team featuring our first specialist copy editors and web designers.
• As technical lead I created specifications for business critical web applications including our CMS and knowledgebase. Acting as lead developer and designer I oversaw their production, delivery and support. I also introduced or tested use of the following best practices: written specifications, our first QA process, Object-Oriented programming, peer reviews and API documentation.

Aug 2002 – Feb 2003 · 6 mos

• Working as a Perl programmer with UI and design skills I helped drive the adoption of an Object-Oriented approach to programming, fostered an awareness of usability issues and campaigned for the recruitment of Sophos's first specialist designers and copy editors.

Nov 1999 – Jul 2002 · 2 yrs 8 mos

• Sole developer for one of Mars’ most visited websites. Re-built entire site including; design, architecture and server-side programming. Took over and rescued development of a failing, £100,000, multi-lingual CD-ROM project.