Michael Kurt

Experience

• 

  Talking to Ghosts Podcast

  Apr 2014 - Oct 2021

  Producer

  • Audio production (Ableton, Logic, Audacity)• Content scheduling and management• Research and guest interviews• Copy writing

• 

  JLL

  Apr 2015 - Nov 2021

  • Workload efficiently planning• Ticket analysis• Budget analysis and KPIs• Contract Change Requests• Innovation Planning and program pilots • Project management • Vendor bidding and scope validation• Regulatory maintenance • Asset Management • Fire Protection Maintenance

  • Business Operations Manager, General Building Services

    Aug 2021 - Nov 2021

  • Specialist, Fire Services

    Apr 2015 - Aug 2021
• 

  Berm LLC

  Nov 2021 - now

  Creative Producer, Co-Founder

  Berm is a print magazine based in Portland, OR with a focus on contemporary art. Berm is currently supported by grants from the Multnomah County Culture Coalition and Literary Arts Oregon's Publisher Fellowship, RACC, and Critical ConversationsPublications to date:Issue 1 - EphemeralIssue 2 - Letters & FiguresIssue 3 - Ephemeral Issue 4 - MoneyIssue 5 - JoyIssue 6 - Interactive

• 

  Planet Argon

  Nov 2021 - now

  I lead Agile software delivery across diverse client projects, focusing on outcomes that drive business value and long-term client success. I work closely with cross-functional teams and stakeholders to ensure efficient delivery, strong communication, and continuous improvement.Core Focus Areas:Agile Leadership: Guide teams using Scrum and Kanban to deliver high-quality software iteratively.Technical Oversight: Manage delivery of projects built on Ruby on Rails, Laravel, and JavaScript—our most common client stacks.Client Partnership: Act as a trusted advisor to clients, advocating for retainer health and proposing roadmap adjustments.Team & Resource Management: Align the right people to the right work, supporting both velocity and team morale.Process Improvement: Continuously optimize delivery workflows for speed, quality, and scalability. Show less Planet Argon is an award-winning Ruby on Rails development agency, recently distinguished as one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces in 2023.Roles & Responsibilities:• Drove communications across a team of remote software developers and client stakeholders to achieve well planned, estimated, and executed projects in Atlassian tools like Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket• Coordinated complex software releases to guarantee risk-free product and feature launches across a diverse set of services, like AWS, Heroku, and Render.comLed client scope discovery conversations to deliver detailed project plans, estimates, and risk matrices• Defined Scope of Work agreement contracts for new and existing client projects• Enforced Agile Scrum ceremonies across a team of remote software developers, including daily standups, backlog refinement, sprint kick off, and retrospectives• Responded to emergency requests and outages across the client portfolio to deliver accurate and critical information to both internal and external stakeholders• Implemented new finance tool, Parallax, to improve internal reporting, perspective, and awareness on company finance metrics like utilization, resourcing, profit margin, and the sales pipeline• Standardized and improved project documentation for new and existing projects across the company portfolio in both Atlassian Confluence and Github Wiki Show less

  • Software Delivery Manager

    Apr 2025 - now

  • Senior Project Manager

    Dec 2023 - Apr 2025

  • Digital Project Manager

    Nov 2021 - Dec 2023