Grant Harvison

Starting with a very broad scope to build a culture of innovation, but ending with a focus on global transformation as part of the “Transformation Office” team. Responsibilities included; project managing key innovation projects, researching and presenting competitive information on disruptive technologies, running ideation sessions, owning various Agile development processes, and training and coaching global teams in Agile best practice.

The role of Product Owner of Job Search was a challenging one which required three key skills. Business Savvy, Communication, and Commitment. Responsibilities included; stakeholder management, aligning product strategy with company and stakeholder priorities, optimising UX, writing user stories (business requirements), backlog management, release planning, sprint planning, sprint review, retrospective, managing offshore development teams and process.

This contract was to coordinate all aspects of a new global online team initiative to roll out Sharepoint based websites to over 200 business units in 60 countries. The challenge was coordinating multi-functional and multi-cultural teams in the testing and deployment of the new software and platform and working with the business to identify potential risks and work through scheduling and resourcing issues.

Role: Founder of New Zealand’s first e-commerce digital photographic printing company. I made all the key technical decisions to drive the development of the product and all the supporting systems. In managing the business, I was also heavily involved in marketing and negotiations for major partnerships. Won contracts with Microsoft, Yahoo, NZ Telecom, Telstra Clear, Dick Smith Electronics and more than ten other companies to deliver own brand solutions.

As a Digital Transformation Consultant, my role was to work with clients to define threats and opportunities made possible by new technologies and new ways of doing business from customer facing systems to supply chain improvements. The process involved bid preparation, presentation to client, running ideation sessions with clients and business case preparation. These projects were high intensity, short timeframe, and involved key members of the client company in a highly collaborative process.