Katherine Brown

Experience

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  NovAtel Inc.

  Jan 1999 - Jan 2005

  Embedded software development with focus on GPS RTK improvements. Regression-tested changes to settings and thresholds to ensure global improvement. Provided technical approval on new test plans. Travel to European customer locations to problem solve on-site. Created, modified, and executed tests and test tools to automate testing and data analysis.

  • Software Engineer

    Jan 2001 - Jan 2005

  • Test Automation Engineer

    Jan 1999 - Jan 2001
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  CDECS Inc.

  Jan 2006 - Jan 2014

  Ensured network and server continuity. Created user accounts and maintained permissions. Created CommuniCancer.com, an online community for those newly diagnosed with cancer to connect to others to share information and support. Used Perl and MySQL. Won an award from Avon's Hello Tomorrow Initiative in 2007.

  • Network Administrator

    Jan 2009 - Jan 2014

  • Web Site Developer

    Jan 2006 - Jan 2009
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  1822613 Alberta Ltd.

  Jan 2014 - Jan 2019

  Software and Algorithms Developer

  Used C# to develop and test a live automated options trading system. Developed regression and pattern matching algorithms to run in real time. Used historical data to back-test combinations of settings and thresholds. Used MS SQL database to store state information.

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  NovAtel Inc.

  Oct 2016 - Jun 2019

  Scrum Master / Technical Lead / Verification Engineer

  Facilitated and modelled a customized scrum implementation, worked with several cross-functional teams to see highly-complex and highly-technical projects through to completion in Scrum Master role. Creating, ordering, estimating, and refining product backlog. Worked with various teams on multiple projects to lead Daily Scrums, Sprint Planning, Sprint Reviews, and Sprint Retrospectives, as opportunities to inspect and adapt each sprint. Provided estimates and ensured process compliance. Created detailed Test Plans and managed test and/or development efforts with Algorithms group for several general and special releases. Requirement definition and testing. Communicated with overseas end-users to negotiate requirements and schedule. Developed and executed automated tests for new features. Communicated and implemented ideas to improve process inefficiencies including defect reporting. Helped provide definition of current software development process as a first step to being able to provide targeted and strategic suggestions to improve efficiency. One-on-ones with team members to provide feedback and help career growth. Helped interview candidates and provided input into performance reviews. Patent/Trade Secret submission for Ambiguity Authentication Algorithm (AAA) for RTK/PPP.Projects worked on: VERIPOS LD5 Firmware, RTK Assist, RTK Assist PRO, TerraStar-C, TerraStar-C Pro, Galileo Unlocked, Faster TTFF at lower C/Nos in 7.07.03 Firmware Release, TerraStar-X (RTK From the Sky). Show less

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  WestJet

  Jun 2019 - Dec 2019

  Senior Scrum Master, Digital & Innovation (D&I)

  Worked with distributed API DevOps Team to become the first Team to successfully implement Scrum in the D&I group. Created (from scratch) a customized software development process to continuously deliver cloud-based applications. Team designed, tested, and deployed high traffic and mission critical cloud-based API services using Azure App Services, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Azure Key Vault (AKV), Azure Event Hub, Azure Cosmos DB, and Azure DevOps for CI/CD pipelines. Facilitated Scrum meetings including Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Retrospective, Daily Scrum, and Backlog Refinement. Ensured meeting agendas were always clear so meetings could be efficient and realize intended purposes and benefits. Encouraged team members to self-organize, develop cross-functionally, share specialized domain knowledge, continuously improve, and shift to a team mindset. Helped team identify and mitigate risks to completing Sprint Goal. Helped with Product Owner role, working with other Product Owners and Stakeholders to gather business requirements and write User Stories in the Product Backlog. Created Jira Board, customized workflows, and dashboard for Team to manage and monitor progress. Created a presentation specific for WestJet to help Teams in D&I understand the purpose and benefits of Scrum. Wrote custom queries in Medallia to isolate API-related customer feedback to directly alert Team of any user-facing issues. Show less

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  ExxonMobil

  Jan 2020 - Apr 2020

  Scrum Master, Upstream Digital Accelerator (UDA)

  Scrum Master for two DevOps Teams working on innovation projects including Azure Data Lake and custom cloud-based software development. Using the Scrum Framework to leverage digital technologies and quickly turn ideas from the business into minimum viable products (MVPs). Helped a mature Agile Team achieve a 30% increase in velocity (realized over four consecutive two-week Sprints). Identifying and implementing customized and targeted software development process improvements to improve quality, consistency, and efficiency. Helping with Release Planning to forecast/negotiate scope and release dates. Coaching Product Owners on how to maximize value within fixed increments of time (Sprints and Releases). Ensuring Retrospectives always result in Action Items to help Teams continuously/incrementally improve the software development process. Helping ensure every Story is completed to a consistent level of quality and consistent Definition of Done. Modelling and encouraging full transparency to improve communication with stakeholders and mitigate project risk. Helping improve stakeholder engagement by initiating and facilitating conversations to clarify requirements and levels of priority for those requirements. Technologies used by Teams include: ReactJS, Redux, Saga, ChartJS for front end, and ASP.NET Core, SQL Server, C#, Databricks, Azure Event Hubs, Azure Data Factory, Azure Active Directory, Azure App Services, and Azure Key Vault for back end. Show less

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  Decisive Farming by TELUS Agriculture

  May 2020 - Jan 2021

  Scrum Master

  Fully remote, working with My Farm Manager, Croptivity, and Farm at Hand Teams across Calgary, Winnipeg, and Vancouver to create a customized software development process based on the Scrum Framework for Web Apps and Mobile Apps (iOS and Android). Set up boards, backlogs, and dashboard from scratch in Azure DevOps to provide release date forecasting, continuous monitoring, facilitate negotiation of scope, and provide fully transparent reporting to help identify and mitigate risk. Keeping backlog ordered and organized using correct Epics and Tags. Coaching Product Owner on managing backlog including prioritization by value and defining Sprint Goals. Helped Teams define Definition of Done to ensure consistent quality for every piece of work delivered. Helping with backend development on API endpoints (permissions/security). Technologies Used by Team: Angular, React, C#, .NET Core, Entity Framework, Microsoft SQL Server, Git, Azure DevOps. Show less

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  United Farmers of Alberta Co-operative Limited

  Mar 2021 - Sept 2021

  Senior Scrum Master - Technical Lead

  Working with a globally-distributed Team to help enhance UFA's eCommerce site ufa.com, a fully real-time ERP integrated ecommerce platform built on SAP Commerce Cloud, with backend integrations into Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations (D365 F&O). Leading User Story Refinement, backlog prioritization, sprint planning, and technical Daily Scrums. Creating technical back end User Stories including Acceptance Criteria. Suggesting and implementing process improvements to allow all WIP to be visible in the backlog thereby providing increased transparency and improving ability to forecast timelines. Showing Product Owner and Team how to work within DevOps Backlog view to prioritize and organize work, how to keep items with dependencies grouped as they are prioritized/de-prioritized, how to forecast completion dates, and to visualize the amount of work taken into Sprints to help the Team to not take more work into Sprints than can be completed. Creating Test Cases in DevOps based on Acceptance Criteria and helping with manual test case execution using BrowserStack. Show less

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  Curve Dental

  Sept 2021 - Mar 2023

  Product Owner / Product Manager

  Working with fully-remote distributed Finance/Billing & Insurance/Claims Teams on Curve Hero, the leader in cloud-based practice management software for the dental industry (B2B SaaS). Responsibilities include:- Leading two cross-functional teams in the full product development lifecycle for several features, from concept to launch and maintenance - Translating feedback from customers and stakeholders into features and specifications which align with the product strategy- Managing scope creep to keep projects on track and keep focus on highest-ROI initiatives- Performing acceptance testing to help ensure deliverables will meet user expectations- Identified and implemented several ideas for UI improvements, including UI creation in Figma- Using product analytics in Pendo to measure usage post-release to validate solutions and measure success- Managing feature release plans; setting and communicating delivery timelines, creating release notes- Providing demos to customers and training to internal stakeholders for new features- Defining sprint goals for every sprint and communicating how they tie into longer-term goals and the product strategy- Helping shape the roadmap with suggestions for features, improvements, and backend technical projects- Demonstrated ability to bring structure to, and deliver, ambiguous projects Show less

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  Stealth Startup

  Apr 2023 - now

  CEO/Founder/Product Owner/Full Stack Developer

  Vision: The in-person retail shopping experience has changed very little over the last 30 years. A digital transformation is long overdue, and essential to stop the continuous loss of market share to online shopping year after year. The problem cannot be solved one retailer or loyalty app at a time. Our vision is to bring retailers and REITS together to work collaboratively, rather than competitively, to solve the problem at scale.Industry: Retail/AdTechBusiness Model: B2B PAYG SaaSStatus: Initial MVP complete. Seeking co-founder(s), REIT and retail partners, and investors. Working towards achieving product-market-fit.Full Stack Technologies Used:- Next.js 14 with App Router - Typescript- Supabase (authentication, storage, PostgreSQL dB)- React - Tailwind CSSOther Technologies Used:- Generative AI (Chat GPT/Midjourney)- GitHub- Vercel- Cursor AI IDE- Postman (API testing)- Azure DevOps (backlog management)- Lucidchart- Miro- Figma Show less