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  • PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST

Design and development management of meaningful, useful and viable online products

About me

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Over the last 20+ years I have participated in developing online products and businesses in a wide range of roles as an executive and hands-on. Roles include business analyst, solution architect, UX, product manager, product designer, project manager and programmer.

My key interest as a manager is in non-binary problem solving (“…reframing contradictory demands, moving away from binary ‘either/or’ assumption towards greater exploration of the contradictions and their interdependencies…” Centre for Future Enterprise)

I have managed development teams and start-up businesses, developing products and large-scale systems that have successfully and reliably performed for clients.

I am passionate about product development, designing and producing a product that is meaningful and useful for the intended users.

My ability to adapt to contextual conditions is informed by my experience and education. I am an accredited mediator, a qualified Alexander Technique Teacher, with NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) training, and previously worked as an Oboe player and woodwind instrument repairer.

Scroll down ot view my work history, skills summary or contact details

Work History

Human Pixel – CEO

Sydney, 2024 – Current | www.humanpixel.com.au

ReadyTech Justice (formerly McGirr technologies) – Solution Architect & UX direction

Sydney, 2021 – Dec 2023 | www.readycase.com.au

Product development

  • Designed and led a whole system front-end upgrade including creation and implementation of a new design system and a front-end framework.
  • Provided analysis and design for new features and improved user workflow and interface.
  • Reviewed and directed WCAG accessibility improvements.
  • Facilitated discovery workshops with clients and managed ongoing communication with stake holders.
  • Designed front-end and API architecture, as well as solution design and architecture for new features and integrations.
  • Setup a performance testing framework

Project and Development Management

  • Managed the front-end development team.
  • 'Owned' external and internal projects and initiative.

Guided Resolution Pty Ltd – Technical co-founder, Product Director

Sydney, 2013 – 2022 | www.guidedresolution.com

Product development

  • Designed an online mediation system to enable Alternative Dispute Resolution and Negotiation.
  • Market analysis and ongoing validation of target audience and their needs.
  • Created and demonstrated customized proof-of-concept.
  • Led the Solution and Data Architecture design.
  • Planned and managed compliance aspects and integration with government organisations systems (i.e. NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal - NCAT) and Universities.

Project and Development Management

  • Managed diverse development/design teams (agile approach, onsite and remote teams).
  • Managed configuration and delivery of the system to clients in Australia, New Zealand and the US.
  • Specifications gathering and negotiations with clients and potential clients (i.e. Utilities Disputes commission NZ Government, NCAT, VCAT).
  • Managed the Software Life Cycle Development process.

Business development

  • Board member, advising on strategy, product development and technical aspects.
  • Represented the business at investor forums and in meetings with high level decision makers in government organisations in Australia and New Zealand.
  • Supported business achievements including
    • Opened an office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA.
    • Received Westpac’s Business of Tomorrow Award.
  • Participated in the application process for Expressions of Interest (EOI) and tenders, including:
    • Victoria Civil & Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) - develop an ADR system for the Victorian Courts System.
    • New York County Courts (USA) – develop an Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) system for small claims courts.
  • Successfully applied for R&D tax rebate.
  • Guest lecturer at Victoria University Melbourne (“Managing Workplace Conflict” postgraduate unit with Prof. John Zeleznikow).

Nitzan Karni – development management for online programs and projects

Byron Bay, 2008 – present | www.karni.net.au

Consultancy and development services to SME’s including:

  • Supporting clients as a de-facto CTO and project/product manager.
  • Leading new development.
  • Change management and business transformation strategy for to migration of business operations to the cloud.
  • Design and production of websites and mobile apps for e-commerce, business management systems and online product delivery systems across a wide range of industries and use cases.
  • Lean start-up guidance, management of resources and budget.
  • Collaboratively plan and execute deployment and integration of new systems.
  • Develop training materials and strategies for sustainable organisational change management.
Click to see a few examples.

Webko Pty Ltd – Co-founder and CEO Byron Bay 2000-2008

Technical

  • Created a propriety CMS/e-commerce php platform.
    • Designed the system architecture with Object Oriented Programming (OOP) methodology which increases stability, re-usability and testability of code, at a time when it wasn’t used for websites (i.e. Microsoft’s .net framework which set the OOP direction for many web frameworks was not yet released at that time).
    • Started with hands-on programming, evolved to lead a team of 9 developers.
    • Designed and implemented in the CMS several built-in SEO features, which was revolutionary for the time (early 2000’s).
    • Directed the implementation of this system in dozens of client’s websites, system maintenance, upgrades and new features.
    • Managed hosting of clients’ websites.
  • Designed and created a large-scale global directory system
    • Managed the design and development of an online directory system as an SEO machine.
    • Addressed and mitigated for technical design challenges caused by the system’s expected high traffic and data volumes.
    • led the UX design process.

Management & Leadership

  • CEO and chair of the board.
    • Created monthly activity and financial reports to the board.
    • led board meetings and fulfilled other director and chair of the board duties.
  • Addressed staffing issues and recruited/head-hunted technical staff.
  • Mentored staff in the areas of client and internal communications, technical and programming.
  • Led strategy meetings and workshops, both internally and with third party advisors.

Communication & project management

  • Led the marketing team in describing and promoting technically complex features
  • Project managed several projects in parallel ranging from a simple e-commerce website to a fully-fledges framework and high-volume systems. This evolved into delegating and overseeing several in-house project managers.
  • Introduced agile project management methodologies.
  • Managed stake holders: investors, directors, strategic partners, staff, developers, designers, external contractors etc.
  • Coordinated teams of diverse cultural backgrounds, including the mentoring of and frequent visits to our own development team in India.

Business development

  • Led the business aspects of developing and funding a start-up around Webko’s SEO directory system.
  • Managed negotiations and term sheets with investors.
  • Represented the business in investor forums.
  • Managed IP and patent issues.
  • Raised close to 1M dollars in private VC and government funds.

Forwinds | Brisbane, 1998-2002

Designed and programmed a retail business management system for stock control, sales, service scheduling and billing for a musical instruments store.

Skills Summary

SKILLS SUMMARY

Product management

Proof of concept and market validation, MVP design and development, on-boarding systems, A/B testing, co-ordination and engagement of stakeholders including developers and investors, development and monitoring of product strategy and road maps. Balancing user values with commercial realities and strategic business vision.

Project management

Project planning, budgeting and priorities, agile project management, scrum, kanban, reporting.

  • Facilitating communication between client and developers so expectations and design/development challenges are mutually understood to manage expectations and priorities and achieve successful outcomes.
  • Leading multi team development, across several time zones, cultures and languages.

Communication

  • Developing a variety of descriptions of a product or strategy to match a specific audience’s background and experience.
  • Communicating the vision and the ‘why’ that drives any strategy and decision.
  • Represent specific stakeholders/parties views in internal negotiations, and the whole organisation in external presentations and negotiations.
  • Negotiate positive outcome and ‘buy-ins’ using Interest Based Negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution best practises.
  • Facilitate training workshops and develop training material.

Management and leadership

  • Communication and collaboration tools: continuously searching, testing and implementing new tools for management and collaboration. Over the last two decades collaboration and project management technology has evolved from MSN messenger and Yahoo messenger to Jira, Trello and Slack among others. I have been an early adopter of most, and implemented them into the organisation’s work flow as relevant to the project/team at the time.
  • Change management: facilitating change of habitual business management and operation. This often involves initial resistance and requires careful and sensitive strategies to help the client open up to new possibilities, yet respect and accept their boundaries as sometimes they will only go some of the way.
  • Understanding of and working with a diverse team of various cultural backgrounds that is of mixed gender and age.
  • Minimising hierarchical top-down management structures, implementing horizontal collaborative structures that encourage engagement and commitment.

UI/UX

  • Design systems creation and implementation.
  • WCAG and related accessibility standards.
  • User work flow analysis and design.
  • Whole system UI/UX review and management of practical, sustainable and commercially viable upgrades.

Technical

Hand-on programming, database and system architecture, tests, team leadership

  • Development methodologies: Agile (19 years), Test driven development (16 years), Object Oriented Programming (23 years)
  • Languages: PHP (23 years), JavaScript (23 years), Ruby (2 years), Swift (1 year).
  • Frameworks: Various frameworks including Symphony, Meteor, Phalcon, sails.js, WordPress, Magento, OpenCart, Ruby on Rails, Css frameworks including bootstrap and tailwind, and a variety of front-end frameworks like Vue.js, bootstrapvue, nuxt, Framwork7 etc.
  • Software architecture design.
  • Databases: SQL (20 years) and noSql (6 years) databases.

Education and Past Work

My educational/career path started with being a musician which taught me attention to detail, the value of practice and team work (i.e. playing in an orchestra).

Further study through the 3 years Alexander Technique Teacher training course and the practice that followed equipped me with skills in communication and group leadership.

My professional development in the business and IT fields is built on my past careers and past learning along with a methodical self-learner attitude and ability to gain knowledge from mentors and colleagues, occasional short and informal courses, keen observation and good old trial and error. Through practicing these skills and applying regular self-reflection over many years, I have achieved a high level of proficiency.

Credentials
  • Masters degree in IT Leadership (Deakin University).
  • Accredited Mediator.
  • Alexander Technique Teacher (Australia).
  • Oboe player and wind instrument repairer(Australia, Europe, USA).
Interest and volunteer experience
  • WIRES – wildlife rescue.
  • Byron Youth House – volunteer overnight carer.
  • Repair Cafe Mullumbimby
  • Paragliding, Paramotoring, Yoga.

Contact

Phone: +61 402 263 223