vodafone SAAS marketplace
quality assurance manager
Vodafone Group Business > Connectivity Portfolio. Newbury (2014 - 2015)
the problem
Vodafone was about to launch for the first time a Software as a Service (SaaS) Marketplace for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). The selected market for the pilot was Italy. They needed a Project Manager lead to drive the execution and testing of all the integration.
The stakeholders environment was complex: Developers of the Marketplace integration in Vodafone US, Testers in Vodafone India, UK, Germany and Aricent UK, apps Developers in Italy… They needed someone with Italian skills and great communication and coordination skills.
The success of this pilot was key as Vodafone had expansion plans for this solution to be implemented in the rest of the 26 Vodafone markets.
At the same time, I was working as a QA Analyst in the same organisation (Connectivity portfolio). I exceeded expectations and my manager suggested my name to lead the pilot launch, as I speak Italian.
THe contributionS
* Designed the Testing Strategy and acted as Defect Manager, coordinating efforts for bug fixing.
* Developed Automation of Regression Testing in C# using Ranorex.
* Strengthened strategic corporate associations with virtual partners and 3rd parties in Italy, Egypt, US, and India, coordination of highly complex stakeholder ecosystem
* Coordinated a team of 7 for the first time. I served as a functional manager.
* Improved team culture by engaging more with US team and understanding each team member’s point of view.
* Served as end to end Project Manager to lead and manage overall software launch in Vodafone Italy.
* Implemented TDD approach in the testing rather than just BDD, which helped a lot with the integration testing.
* Suggested improvements in branching strategy and implemented, reducing probability of error
* I worked under an Agile methodology using JIRA and HPQC.
* I delivered the pilot in Italy on time and budget with high quality. This led to the subsequent approval of expanding into the rest of the 26 Vodafone markets.
the learnings
To give my opinion with security and act as the Subject Matter Expert when you know your expertise and value.
Going extra mile and suggesting solutions to reduce costs and time to deliver - I saved 1 headcount of value by implementing a plugin I mentioned.
As I got promoted to Software Testing Analyst to Software Testing Manager, I learnt that hard work and setting up expectations with a supportive manager pays off.
I realised that I loved that middle spot of understanding the Technical part of the Developers and Testers and coordinating the communication, tracking and reporting of execution progress. Any complex space where I can exploit my mix of technical and soft skills is where I trhive.