Brian Pohl, USAA
San Antonio, TX USA
Provide your thoughts on how to enhance the services Vivit provides to its membership.
I would like to see members think of Vivit first when seeking out training, technology and
technical information about HP products. For our organization to be seen as a trusted
advisor and partner.
What are your area(s) of expertise related to IT or enterprise management and the
management software industry?
Quality Assurance and Management are my areas of expertise. I speak on Mobile
Testing and Test Automation. I have managed at the first line manager, senior manager
and director level of development and QA teams. As a manager I specialized in tyring
around troubled departments/areas returning them to deliver high quality products.
Please summarize your work experience
Leader of Global high performance Software Quality Assurance teams with a track
record of successful, high quality implementations. Thirteen years of experience in firstline and second-line management. Ability to manage multiple projects and teams
concurrently through all phases of the development cycle. Established near shore and
off shore SQA teams. Change agent, excellent communication and leadership skills,
mentor, strong team player, versatile, creative, results-driven. Self-motivated and open
to new challenges and responsibilities.
Please describe your previous service/volunteer experience.
Throughout the years I have volunteered in running the community water association
and homeowners association, building houses for Habitat for Humanity, food bank,
company events and the Vivit membership committee.
What is your educational background?
I hold a Masters in Mathematics and Bachelors in Biology and Natural Science
Beyond your enterprise management experience, what skills and capabilities will you
bring to the board of directors for a non-profit organization like Vivit (formerly OpenView
Forum)?
I am passionate about teaching and sharing knowledge. In my role I bring a strategic
vision and provide the roadmap to operationalize that vision. I believe that these skills
along with my management background provide me the ability to help lead Vivit.
What do you think is the current state of the industry we call (BTO) Business Technology
Optimization? Speak to the areas that you are most familiar including: Project/Portfolio
Management, SOA Management, Application Life Cycle Management, Testing,
Infrastructure Management, and/or the Service Desk? What changes do you anticipate
happening to BTO in the years ahead and how does Vivit relate?
We are currently seeing the IT organization coming together to solve business problems
and align strategic goals. I focus on how we can move testing earlier in the lifecycle
bridging the gaps between the business and development during requirements, creating
partnerships with OPS to build and rollout development and test environments and how
to leverage QA assets in production monitoring for use within BSM. I am an advocate
for the continuous delivery of change and see this as the future of BTO because all
areas; business strategy, development and operations have key roles and dependencies
in achieving BTO goals. The key challenge is how do all of these disciplines integrate
the tools and processes they currently have and how do you break down the current
silos to have an integrated view. Vivit is in a unique position to have members that span
all the disciplines and are knowledgeable in the HP products and solutions that bring
these concepts to market. Vivit can bring the best practices and knowledge to the user
community and drive change in the IT arena and be seen as thought leaders and trusted
advisor instead of just a User’s group.
Vivit is very much an international organization. Considering our mission to provide
advocacy, education, and community services to all HP Software-related communities
across the world, what new or improved initiatives or services should Vivit consider
offering and how would they benefit the organization and its members?
I believe that Vivit should be seen as more than just a User group. We should be a
partner and trusted advisor to the Vivit user community. We need our members to think
of searching Vivit first instead of Google when looking for information on HP products.
Leverage the community to ask questions and network with others to bounce ideas and
solutions. We have blogs and communities that we need to have increase engagement
in and not just be seen as a vehicle for webinar announcements. Extending our training
beyond HP Discover to provide the foundations for HP Certifications. In other
companies their user groups help provide input into R&D on product features and
enhancements, Vivit should also play this role. Vivit brings HP PM and partners
together, we could host a meet HP R&D event at Discover or another event to provide
our members access to HP development allowing the sharing of knowledge and gaining
insight to how the community uses their HP products.
All these will help Vivit become a resource, an educator and a voice for the entire
worldwide community and be seen as a partner and trusted advisor.
Given that Vivit is a not-for-profit organization representing HP Software customers and
providers worldwide, describe the relationship Vivit should have with HP. (e.g., how
independent should Vivit be?)
Vivit should be more engaged with HP R&D and have participation in Customer Advisory
Boards and Special Interest Groups. Vivit should be the voice of small and mid-sized
companies that do not have the ability to influence the direction of HP products. We
could elicit input from our community and bring the good, the bad and the needed
enhancements to make HP products/implementations more successful.
Historically, Vivit has been funded by hosting conferences in North America. Now that
conference revenue is not an option, what experience, contacts, or ideas do you have
that can help with funding our organization?
Would it be possible to provide core product training at a reasonable cost to the
community? Developing content in the HP ART training framework that could be used
for training in HP software products. There could be a beginner, intermediate and
advanced training preparing the course taker for HP Certification exams.
We need to develop our career center better and make our members aware of it. Can
we take our LinkedIn or other social media presence to the next level by providing
potential candidates to positions listed on LinkedIn or cross reference to those listed on
Vivit. In addition work with key staffing firms to post available positions on our career
site. This would allow the staffing agencies access to our highly skilled and
knowledgeable HP community.
Vivit is looking for individuals who are dedicated to the advancement of our organization.
Please describe any previous experience you have had that is relevant to becoming a
user group board member? Have you ever participated in the leadership of a user group
or other organization? If so, what was your role, what did you accomplish, and how long
were you involved in this role? And finally, are there any additional experiences you feel
we should know about?
I have participated in user groups but never in a board capacity. I did run a nonprofit
water association and homeowners association in the rural community I lived in. After I
moved into the community I discovered that the HOA was mismanaged and that the
community drinking water was at risk of providing service to the community. I had to
make tough decisions to bring the water system up to code, bring in a management
company and secure a 10000 gallon reserve system. In the process I had to bring the
community together to understand the deficiencies and what the options were. I worked
with local government to secure water rights and fire protection for the community.
When I moved the HOA was once again in the black with an engaged community.
I believe that Vivit can become more than just a user group to our community. We
should be seen as trusted advisors and partners.
The popularity of social networking and online communities continues to increase. With
Vivit already actively involved with Facebook, LinkedIn, and the HP Community, what
experience, contacts, or ideas do you have that could help our organization in the social
networking area?
Investigate how we can integrate the various social content with our Vivit website. Many
HP leaders have blogs that could be aggregated on our website for members to
subscribe or review. For example I am connected to Paul Muller (VP Software
Marketing at HP) on LinkedIn and can follow his blog posting there, but it would be nice
to have access to other leaders that I am not connected to. As I mentioned in a previous
question we could integrate career postings. Have our SIGs tied into Facebook and
Twitter so when an update is made on our site everyone is notified on their social media
of choice.