Patrice Tardio

I joined the product team in March 2021 with the scope of the historical SQOOL solution created in 2015. The assessment was harsh: it was aging and no longer maintainable due to significant technical debt and lost knowledge about its operation.

My initial goal was to ensure a final, stable version for the start of the school year in September 2021, a critical milestone for Unowhy's clients. I was responsible for gathering all needs from users and internal departments to decide on what to include and exclude. I then managed the development and deployment of this scope.

In parallel, my mission was to conceptualize and design what would become the new SQOOL suite with major challenges:

・Synergy with the HiSQOOL solution released two years prior

・Transition from installable and executable applications to web applications

・Simplify authentication

・Release a first version by mid-April 2022 to onboard the first institutions for the September 2022 school year

I defined a realistic and comprehensive roadmap:

・Interview stakeholders from each company department to identify what works and should be kept, what should be abandoned, and what could be tried.

・Facilitate workshops with key institutions (based on their size and tenure) to gather their feedback on the current solution and their expectations.

・Synthesize and formalize these needs, integrate them into the product team's original vision, and then prioritize all these elements.

・Organize and lead workshops with the technical teams, addressing various issues raised, to find technological solutions and estimate the effort they represent.

I then proceeded to describe these various features in a product backlog, breaking them down finely and detailing business rules and acceptance criteria. My role also involved maintaining this backlog throughout the project, as well as tracking the development of each element, notably with the implementation of ceremonies (Backlog Grooming, Sprint Planning, Retrospective, and Review).

Finally, I was responsible for internally training the customer success (CSM) and support teams on this new solution and its specificities:

・Training sessions on each component.

・Weekly open Q&A sessions.

・Creation of a documentation base, ranging from the user guide to the technical integration guide for a new institution.

・Video training.

Responsible for a team of 2 Product Owners and 1 UX/UI Designer, I designed and delivered products "from scratch," based on an idea or a client problem.

・Shape our methodologies and internal organization with a philosophy of continuous improvement

・Lead recruitment and manage the product team

・Identify and prioritize user and business needs

・Build the product roadmap

・Break down and specify features, maintain this product backlog

・Manage and track development

・Test delivered features and ensure quality

Within the technical team, I accomplished two essential missions: operational management of web projects and the transition of the team's organization towards agility.

・Transmit and apply agile best practices and rituals

・Gather and qualify needs from internal sales teams and the client

・Break down features and prioritize them, detail business rules

・Manage the team's development