David Horton provides a summary of his background and experience in project management and leadership. He discusses key skills like leading teams, project management, problem solving and web development. Horton also shares three case studies highlighting successful projects where he showcased traits like being a charismatic innovator, effective listener and empathetic leader. He learned from weaknesses like taking on too many tasks and has principles for leading projects like tracking progress, learning continuously and servant leadership. Horton's goal is to add value to organizations through his experience and management philosophies.
2. Hello!I am David Horton
I am excited to share with you how I can add significant
value to your organization!
You can find me at @davidhortonweb on Twitter and my
online home is at http://www.davidhorton.info
3. What to Expect
Introduction and Background
Learn about who I am and what makes me
unique.
Discuss a little personal and professional
background.
Case Studies, Awards and
Lessons Learned
Discuss hard and soft skills through actual
experiences and case studies discussing
important themes instrumental in my
development and success as a professional.
Look at what I have accomplished, learned and
contributed during my professional career.
Discuss how some experiences helped me
further grow as an effective professional and
have helped me in my career.
5. Who Am I?
▪ Natural leader
▪ Quick Learner
▪ Empathetic technologist
▪ Patient Teacher
Empathetic technologist and patient
teacher, mentor and coach, helping
everyone do their best work.
8. Who I Am...
A natural leader, able to quickly
come up to speed and
immediately deliver value by
jumping in to new and existing
projects, gaining the support
and trust at all levels of the
organization to effectively
deliver projects.
An empathetic technologist and
patient teacher, mentor and
coach, helping everyone on the
project team to do their best
work
11. What I Can Do
Lead Well
I am good at leading cross-functional teams in supportive,
achievement-oriented ways to work together to complete
complex and challenging projects
12. What I Can Do
Project Management
Systematizing and
prioritizing tasks and
projects
independently and
effectively, planning
workloads and
managing projects in
a creative and
effective way.
Web Development
Familiar with HTML,
CSS and JavaScript
and have led projects
to create engaging
and useful websites
and applications for
internal customers as
well as external
customers and
vendors.
Problem Solving
Effective at problem
solving with team
members in
supportive, patient
and tactful ways,
when working on a
significantly tough
and challenging issue.
13. What I Know
SDLC Project Life
Cycles
Excellent
understanding and
deep experience of all
phases of IT & SDLC
Project Lifecycle from
Discovery, Initiation
and Planning,
Executing and
Monitoring and finally
Closure.
Agile & Waterfall
Methodologies
Strong knowledge
and experience in
both Agile and
Waterfall
methodologies,
knowing when to use
each.
Application
Integration
Able to navigate the
plethora of apps and
systems, finding
common
informational and
functional needs and
can integrate them
effectively using
Service Oriented
Architecture
principles.
14. What I Know
Multiple Technology Frameworks
Familiar with both open-source and commercial
development tools and technology platforms. Specifically, I
have good knowledge experience with the following
frameworks: Microsoft .NET platform, Apache LAMP stack,
Microsoft BizTalk. I am also familiar with the following
front-end web development frameworks: JavaScript React,
Vue, Redux, Flux and Node.JS.
15. Case Studies - Successes
and Lessons Learned
How my skills and knowledge translated into
successes in some very critical projects
2
16. 3 Successful Traits
▪ Charismatic Innovator
▪ Effective Listener
▪ Empathetic Leader
Let’s talk about three case studies of
successful projects, showcasing my
following skills with emphasis on my
strengths as a Charismatic
Innovator, Effective Listener and
Empathetic Leader
17. Skills and Knowledges Showcased
Application
Integration
Problem
Solving
Project
Management
Leadership Project Life
Cycles
Planning
Multiple Tech
Frameworks
Create,
Innovate, Pioneer
Systematize
and Get Things
Done
19. Case Study #1: Business As Usual
The Problem
Current Bill Payment Vendor bank
integrated with was shutting down its
service, with little advance notice. Our
team had to quickly find a new
payment vendor system to integrate
with, where our clients could continue
business as usual.
The Solution
Strategically work with existing vendor
partnerships and network to identify
new vendor bill payment system,
rewrite and future proof and
modularize our system to integrate
easily with this and any future
vendors, allowing for seamless
cut-over to new system.
The Benefits
● Significant cost savings as new
vendor system was cheaper per
transaction.
● Improved reporting and dashboards
allowed clients and bank to be
proactive in identifying problems
● Quicker accounting reconciliation
time for clients
Important Themes and Lessons
● Ensure system integrations are modularized so switching vendor
implementations is quick and seamless, while not impacting other back-end
processing systems.
● Communicate and coordinate often when facing tight, unmovable deadlines.
20. Case Study #2: A Tale of Competing Projects
The Problem
Two critical projects had to be
completed for two departments with
very different priorities, agendas and
perspectives. Both had competing
and largely conflicting priorities and
deadlines. Both projects had to be
delivered on time and under budget,
meeting all stakeholder expectations.
The Solution
Establish expectations and project
scope and deliverables from very
beginning of projects. Utilize careful
problem solving, multiple technology
frameworks, leadership and tact to
effectively manage diverse
stakeholder expectations for both
projects. Pioneered new methods to
effectively meet needs of diverse
stakeholder groups.
The Benefits
● Ensured safety of emergency response
personnel by implementing reliable
personal protective equipment
inventory management system.
● Increased business license revenues
by rolling out online license
management portal.
● Increased staff efficiency almost
tenfold in both departments by
automating workflows
Important Themes and Lessons
● Communicate and set expectations ahead of time; don’t over-promise and
under-deliver, especially with competing stakeholder priorities and deadlines.
● Don’t be afraid to come up with new and improved ways of managing time, staff
and priorities to creatively meet diverse stakeholder needs.
21. Case Study #3: Championing Change
The Problem
Legacy law enforcement mainframe
system built in 1960’s needed to be
quickly upgraded, rewritten and
brought to current technology. Over
20,000 user community was resistant
to change and wanted to keep status
quo with old system, not realizing that
underlying technology and
infrastructure was no longer
supported or maintainable.
The Solution
Form strategic relationships with key
“power” users from user community
to have them champion new system
to rest of community groups. Develop
easy to understand training programs
to train users early on new system
before go-live. Use future-proof
technology to ensure continued
support and maintenance of new
system.
The Benefits
● More accurate data-entry by using a
graphical user interface instead of “green
screen” terminal.
● Better user management and security,
saving potential hundreds of thousands of
dollars to agencies in security audits due
to fraud and data theft.
● Won National Information Exchange
Model 2014 award, saving agencies $8
million a year in cost savings.
Important Themes and Lessons
● Be empathetic listener and diplomatically and strategically form relationships
with “influencers” in user communities to champion change of new system.
● Focus on effective training and preparation before project go-live; preparation
and training of user-community is key.
22. Key to Success
Put others first and
find ways to add
value to their work.
23. Awards and Achievements
Through my hard work, dedication and
servant-leadership, I have earned both professional
and academic awards
3
25. “Our ‘stretchy superhero’ you
got pulled in many directions
but always came back and
supported Business License
- Jacqueline R. Holloway,
Director
26. “...willingly and sensitively
sharing his perspective to
enhance the operations of
those he comes in contact with
for the overall betterment of
the whole organization he
deals with.
- William P. Roe, Retired
USAF Master Sergeant
27. Awards and
Certificates
I had the privilege of
earning many awards and
certificates in my academic
and professional career.
30. Case Study #1: Just Say “No”
Key Takeaways
● Set expectations and be realistic (not
too optimistic).
● Communicate workloads via established
systems (or create your own) so
accurate reporting can be done.
● Keep communication lines always open
with your superiors so there are no
“hidden surprises”
What Happened
Eager to please, I had the
tendency to take on too many
support tickets, optimistic I
would be able to resolve all of
them in a timely manner. I even
took on extra assignments to try
to prove my value.
The Situation
As an entry-level analyst, I was in
charge of handling and resolving
support tickets that landed in my
queue.
The Result
Some tickets already in my
queue didn’t get resolved in a
timely manner. Because of this
management did not have an
accurate picture of my workload
and asked for explanation why
my tickets were not getting
resolved in a timely manner.
What I Learned
It is important to be mindful of
current workloads and priorities.
Do not be afraid to say “no” or
“not yet” when I know extra work
would affect my existing work
negatively. Continual
communication and visibility of
tasks is also important.
32. 5 Principles to Lead By
Copy
Try to “franchise” successful projects for future project success.
Copy and adapt what works - don’t reinvent the wheel if you don’t
have to
Track
Articulate clear, measurable and obtainable tasks and track
daily/weekly/monthly progress with consistent
communication of status.
Lead
Surround yourself with good, competent team and
match tasks with their natural strengths (get to know
your team!)
Serve
Servant Leadership, lead by example. Let those being
led, lead; give them opportunities to speak out and
show initiative.
Learn
Never stop learning, be adaptable and
understand new circumstances and be flexible.
Harness the power of visual thinking.
33. Thanks!Any questions or thoughts?
You can find me at:
@davidhortonweb on Twitter
http://www.davidhorton.info on the web
D.R.Horton@outlook.com
34. Credits
Special thanks to all the people who made and
released these awesome resources for free:
▪ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
▪ Photographs by Unsplash & Death to the Stock
Photo (license)
▪ Infographics powered by PiktoChart
