I was supposed to write a similar post when I left Bloodwise and joined WPN Chameleon but that, unfortunately, didn’t materialise. However, this time round I’ve got a bit more time on my hands to sit down and write a few words.

WPN Chameleon

Looking back at my 2 years there, I recall the chaotic start. They had just inherited a bunch of clients with legacy websites that only a handful of people knew how to support, along with around 300 open tickets on an equally old version of Jira.

I spent the first few months firefighting where I could whilst trying to recruit another developer and more importantly put in some sort of development process in place that could help us run more smoothly. Over time, I introduced an Agile approach through a combination of Scrum (for long-term projects) and Kanban (for ongoing support work).

Similarly to the team at Buffer, we operated as a ‘squad’. Each team had a Project Manager and a set of developers, who together worked with around 20 clients (mine were mostly third sector clients, some with legacy websites) on a combination of support and new build projects.

As we evolved as a team and become more accustomed to the work and our Agile process, we became very efficient. At the end, we had whittled that number of open tickets down by 75% (it stayed at that level as new tickets came in) and delivered some exciting new projects as well.

My last project at WPN Chameleon was a redesign project for 4Children

Why I’m leaving

Over the past few years, I’ve been working with several different clients on multiple projects. I’d now like change that by focusing my skills and experience on one organisation – helping them build and evolve their digital products.

I learnt a great deal during my time at WPN Chameleon. I worked on projects of all shapes and sizes, with such experienced, enthusiastic and hard-working bunch of people.

Pearson Education

I’m now in my third week at Pearson and it’s fair to say I’ve been gently eased into the company. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I’ve joined the company at a time where the projects I will eventually go on to managing, are all in the midst of critical sprints so I’m only here to observe until I take over during the next quarter.

The team here have been nothing short of first class in bedding me in. They’ve been incredibly friendly and always around to answer any questions or point me in the right direction.

I’ll eventually be taking over management of the Pearson Qualifications website. From what I’ve seen on the roadmap, there’s some really exciting work in the pipeline and I can’t wait to get stuck in.