Cliff is a seasoned Technology Consultant with over two decades of experience helping clients execute and continuously improve in order to generate long-term value. Cliff brings deep experience in Team and Organizational effectiveness.
July 2020 - Present
Cliff is founder and principal of a firm working to help teams and organizations make better decisions and operate more effectively.
Client Engagement Details:
National Technical Education Firm - In conjunction with the development of a new product line, Cliff worked with this firm's IT Organization on:
- - review of of Lean/Agile principles
- - refinement of day-to-day operating practices
- - Value-stream mapping and optimization in support of new products
September 2019 - July 2020
Cliff managed an effort to help a Fortune 500 Real Estate Services firm enhance its internal Product Development capability. Cliff maintained trusted advisor relationships with key client stakeholders and managed the work of a 3rd party L&D team in order to deliver valuable onsite workshops and virtual learning options for the client.
September 2018 - September 2019
Cliff helped Daugherty’s Fortune 500 clients execute, improve, and transform in order to generate long-term value. Cliff focused on:
- - Organizational Improvement/Transformation
- - Lean/Agile Coaching (at Enterprise, Team, & Individual level)
Client Engagement Details:
Agile Coach, Leading US Healthcare Retailer - As part of an ongoing Agile Transformation, Cliff served as a Coach helping multiple teams within the client’s Pharmacy and Call-Center business areas. This coaching included delivery of “Agile Fundamentals” workshops, as well as deep-dive sessions around various Agile topics, and small-group/1:1 coaching.
Portfolio Manager, Leading Quick Service Restaurant Firm - Cliff served as a Portfolio Manager for a leading Quick Service Restaurant Firm. Gathering and presenting data on a multi-million dollar portfolio of work in the Data & Analytics space and helping Portfolio stakeholders (Directors, Vice-Presidents) interpret portfolio data to support effective decisions about where (and where not) to invest.
July 2005 - September 2018
Cliff played numerous roles over a 13-year tenure.
Client Engagement Details:
National Grocery Retailer - Cliff served as Project Manager on a project to implement appointment scheduling functionality within the client’s in-store health clinics.
International Food & Drug Retailer - Cliff served as an Advisor/Coach for an early maturity Product Management group within the Client’s Pharmacy division, helping the client’s front-line Product Managers grow their skills and capabilities, as well as providing strategic recommendations to the larger division.
International Food Marketing & Distribution Firm - Cliff was involved in several work streams for this client:
- Lean/Agile Coaching: Cliff served as Lead Coach helping multiple teams within the client’s Business Intelligence function grow their Lean/Agile capability.
- Infrastructure Services Agile Pilot Team: Cliff served as Project Manager/Agile Coach for a team charged with building out IaaS capabilities for the client’s software development organization
International Pharmaceutical Firm - Cliff served as Project Manager for a project to develop a modeling/analytics tool allowing this client to model the impact of different combinations of commercial terms and sales incentives for drugs in its portfolio, and perform various analyses of these models against actual marketplace results.
Social Impact Organization - Cliff served as a Program Manager for a nascent internal division of ThoughtWorks charged with increasing the firm's positive social impact. Cliff helped organize and track a program containing as many as 20 disparate and globally distributed work streams, providing visibility “up” to ThoughtWorks leadership, as well as providing mentoring and coaching “down” to project managers and other team members on the various work streams.
Global Payment Processing Network - Cliff was part of a ThoughtWorks team performing assessment and providing recommendations on improving outcomes for a large program of strategically important work for the client. Specific activities included conducting interviews with client staff across a range of functional specialties to help inform the recommendations, as well as conducting large group training and small group seminars to share information on Lean/Agile practices within the client's specific context.
Software Product Organization - Over a number of years, Cliff served in several roles for ThoughtWorks Studios, the firm's software product division.
- Systems Engineer: Cliff provided technical expertise on Studios’ software products over the course of the sales cycle, and played a key role in client relationship management for large and/or highly strategic customers.
- Coach / Trainer: Cliff delivered in-person training on Studios products, as well as training/coaching on general Lean/Agile topics such as Project/Program Management, Analysis, & Testing. Training/Coaching was delivered to a myriad of customers across a wide range of industries.
Online Advertising/Marketing Firm - Cliff served as the Lead Consultant (Quality Assurance and Project Management) for this project, performing an initial implementation of automated testing utilizing Ruby, Selenium, and SeleniumGRID. In addition to the implementation work, the project team also delivered technical training and assessed the current-state of the client’s testing practices.
International Industrial Equipment Manufacturer - Cliff served as the Lead Quality Assurance Analyst for this project during a “technology refresh”, where the legacy test automation infrastructure was replaced with new tooling (switched form SilkTest to Ruby/Selenium testing framework). Cliff led a team of testers in this migration effort, setting strategy, advising on high level technical approach, and implementing tests.
National Telecom Company - Cliff served as the Lead Quality Assurance Analyst for this project to rewrite the client’s customer subscription front-end system, a critical element of this firm’s customer acquisition efforts. Cliff worked jointly with the client’s in-house test resources to expose them to Agile testing and assist with a smooth handoff of the application code from development-silo into integrated testing. Within the development-silo, Cliff created and maintained test automation for the system using the Selenium tool.
International Investment Bank - Cliff served as the Lead Quality Assurance Analyst for this project to rewrite the client’s deal management workflow system. Cliff worked closely with developers and analysts to ensure a high degree of automated test coverage for the system using the Selenium automated testing tool. Cliff also worked to educate the client’s in-house development team about Agile testing principles and practices.
Regional Insurance Company - Cliff served as the technical lead for the Enterprise Test Team supporting a major “Next Generation” program whose goal was to update the client’s existing legacy line-of-business systems over to more current technology platforms. The desired end result of this program was for the client to be able to offer new products much more quickly, thus enhancing their competitiveness in an increasingly de-regulated market. Cliff’s tasks were varied on this project. He developed test automation for an of–the-shelf claims processing package which was a major component of the program. He created and used a test harness for automated test execution and results reporting and this framework went on to be adopted by the client as their in-house tool for this purpose. He performed the QA Lead role, directing the activities of multiple testers (from ThoughtWorks as well as the Client’s in-house team). He also performed environment management activity, helping the multiple (10 plus) development teams promote their code into the integrated environment for further testing.
January 2002 - July 2004
Cliff developed and managed technical infrastructure and day-to-day back office operations for online music retailer. He utilized LAMP open-source stack (Linux, Apache Webserver, MySQL, PHP/Perl) to implement storefront and back-office functionality.
May 2002 - February 2004
Business Analyst - Cliff researched and implemented new business processes in support of new product offerings. He analyzed existing business processes in order to help increase firm’s internal efficiency. As part of the software development team, he worked with business stakeholders and technical staff during various development efforts. Focused specifically on:
- Requirements Gathering / Analysis
- Requirements Specification
- Testing (Functional Testing / User Acceptance Testing)
- Communication (Development Status / End User Supporting Materials)
Quality Assurance Analyst - Cliff performed Software Testing for enhancements and modifications to the firm’s existing online payroll product. He monitored and analyzed testing metrics in order to provide reliable estimates for this aspect of the software development process. In preparation for a major development initiative, he established Software QA procedures and implemented a defect tracking system. He also developed automated test scripts using WinRunner.
Analyst - Cliff researched and resolved customer payroll tax issues. He worked with the Tax Manager to establish workflow processes between internal Tax Group and third party service provider. He analyzed internal group workflow and developed an incident tracking system to assist in managing group workflow. He also trained Tax Group on use of this system.
Project Manager - Cliff managed a major project to migrate firm to a new Tax Service provider. He developed and executed project plan under significant time and resource constraints. He worked with internal staff members, business partners, and customers to ensure a smooth migration. He completed project within time and resource constraints with extremely little disruption to customers.
Network Administrator - Cliff was responsible for management of firm’s back-office infrastructure, which included telecom/datacom equipment, as well as servers and workstations. He developed business continuity / disaster recovery plans and performed capacity planning for data network and servers. As part of a larger team, he tracked and implemented requirements for large-scale network hardening project. He also developed and refined the firm’s internal support processes.
August 1999 - May 2002
As an independent IT contractor, Cliff engaged in network design, system implementation, and application programming for a variety of clients:
- British Petroleum: Network Administrator
- DFG Foods: Network Design & Administration
- Convulsiongear: Web Development
April 1999 - August 1999
Cliff was responsible for design and maintenance of firm’s network infrastructure. He managed multiple Windows NT servers providing file/print, messaging, and proxy services. He was responsible for performance monitoring, security audit, and capacity planning for network (including lower level network elements such as 3com Hubs/Switches and Cisco routers)
April 1998 - April 1999
Cliff was responsible for maintenance and support of a mission critical Windows NT domain. He developed tracking system for logical domain elements (computers, printers, users), and wrote administrative scripts to perform software distribution and exception reporting functions. He also designed and maintained web site containing documentation for the domain.
November 1997 - April 1998
Cliff was responsible for the redesign and maintenance of Executrain’s Chicago area IS infrastructure. He migrated the classroom network operating system from Novell 3.12 to Windows NT, and consolidated multiple administrative NT domains into a single domain. He analyzed classroom network configuration and redesigned to improve performance, and established standard support processes for the Chicago offices. He also managed the work of a small internal support staff.
January 1995 - November 1997
Kellogg Graduate School of Management ( Aug 1995 - Nov 1997 )
Manager, Student Support Services - Cliff managed a staff of 5 full time and 20 student employees. This group was responsible for delivery of technical support and training to over 2500 end users. The group was also responsible for the maintenance of Kellogg's public computing facilities (over 100 Windows NT workstations). Cliff was individually responsible for professional development of staff, and ensuring that the group’s efforts contributed to the overall goals of Kellogg.
Technical Support Consultant III - Cliff was jointly responsible for planning and management of the entire Windows NT network infrastructure for Kellogg, consisting of multiple NT 4.0 servers. Cliff coordinated large scale Windows 95 rollout for student laptop program (approximately 1000 nodes). He created a student Technology Analyst position to evaluate new technologies and write technical documentation. He also hired Technology Analysts and managed their work.
Technical Support Consultant II - Cliff assisted in planning and implementing migration of faculty and staff to a Windows NT network and desktop operating environment. He provided high level support to Kellogg students, faculty, and staff in all aspects of their information technology use. He planned and coordinated the work of student employees. He developed and managed Windows NT 4.0 and 3.51 servers used internally by IS support staff. He also developed technical documentation for incoming students.
Human Resources - Systems & Services ( Jan 1995 - Aug 1995 )
User Services Specialist - Cliff was responsible for supporting end users in the use of various software packages, including: Windows, Word, Excel, WordPerfect 5.1, Lotus 1-2-3, and various DBMS applications. He assisted in code maintenance for locally developed database applications. He performed transfer of mainframe-resident data to these in-house applications, and performed hardware/software installation and configuration for desktop PCs. He also served as back-up administrator for departmental Novell 3.x network.
Organization Behavior Studies