Stephanie Herr: Red Gate manager

Job: development manager
Employer: Red Gate
Qualifications: BSc maths and computer science, Towson University (2001); MSwEng software engineering, Penn State University (2004)

I’ve always enjoyed maths but started university without knowing what my major would be. I didn’t consider computer science until an adviser recommended it as it goes well with maths. I worked part-time for the university in web and database development; the experience was very valuable when I started my career.

Database development

I became a software engineer with a US defence contractor and obtained my masters while working full time. I progressed through various roles, mainly in database development, before getting accepted into the advanced technical leadership programme and spending two years on assignments in different parts of the US.

Project management

In 2009 I moved to the UK and applied to Red Gate, a software company that develops tools for database administrators and developers, and .Net developers. I was offered a job project managing the development of its SQL Source Control product, which provides source control for database development (enabling a development team to track who made what change, when and why). I liaised with the product owner, who sets the priorities for the product, and led the technical team that implemented and delivered it. My team expanded to four developers, four test engineers, a part-time technical author and a part-time user experience specialist.

We used Scrum, a method of developing software by identifying which features are most important, spending a short amount of time (known as a sprint) developing a version that includes these, then reviewing it, releasing it to certain customers and seeking feedback to establish what to focus on in the next sprint. We had 3,000 keen users on our ‘early access’ programme and released a preview version to them every three weeks on average; many provided feedback and voted for new features to be added. I worked closely with the marketing and sales teams so they knew what the product would do, and with the support team, so it could assist customers in using the tool.

Taking the lead

I’m now responsible for the development of all products in our SQL tools division. I have four project managers and one user experience specialist reporting to me, working on six active projects; I make sure they have the resources they need and that the execution of the projects is going well. I also consider needs for future projects, eg working with HR to recruit new technical staff, and liaise with the heads of marketing, sales and support about products in my division. I participate in reviews at the end of sprints and attend usability sessions, when technical team members remotely watch end users using our tools to identify any issues.

I’m mainly office based but attend two or three conferences a year, both in the UK and the US, and occasionally visit clients. I work about 40 hours a week and have a flexitime system, which I sometimes use to leave early on a Friday if I’m going away for the weekend. I’m taking advantage of being in the UK to travel a lot; for example I recently took a road trip through France, Switzerland and Italy.