Clinical research organization · Delivery & scoping
159 tracked work items, scoped and sequenced for a database automation program.
Context
A clinical research organization automating its Azure Database for PostgreSQL change management — moving from hand-applied schema changes to a version-controlled CI/CD pipeline, under a VP-level sponsor with limited technical detail appetite.
Problem
The development team understood the target state and could not express it as a plan the sponsor could fund or track. Requirements existed as conversations. There was no work breakdown, no sequence, and no way to report progress that meant anything to the person approving the budget.
Role
My role: scoped and structured the program, and acted as the translation layer between the development team and the VP sponsor. Team: the client's database and platform developers owned technical design and implementation.
Work
Ran requirements discovery with the development team, decomposed the program into 159 tracked work items with acceptance criteria, and sequenced them into phases with dependencies made explicit. Established the reporting cadence and the status format the sponsor used to approve continued investment.
Outcome
A fundable, trackable program: 159 work items with acceptance criteria, phased and sequenced, and a status format the sponsor read without translation.