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Software QA Manager, or Lead, or UX Designer

Location:
Watertown, MA
Posted:
November 01, 2018

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Resume:

MARK DAVID JOHANSEN

SOFTWARE QUALITY ASSURANCE / USER EXPERIENCE

ac7kxg@r.postjobfree.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/limbictesting

CUSHING SQUARE

WATERTOWN, MA 02472

(617) 775–1960

SUMMARY

My desire is to maximize user delight, increase their productivity and build users’ confidence so they feel smarter for choosing your products. I am motivated to continually improve the user experience, raise quality, streamline processes and reduce overhead without lowering quality. To always maintain a high level of confidence in results, estimates of resources, effort and time and always work to reduce risk. I have architected, led, or been an individual contributor on many different types of SQA organizations, shipped over 300 products and numerous updates. As architect, I’ve defined the processes, procedures, documentation and reporting of departments, specified the hard and soft resources required for the project and supervised testers both on and off shore. As Lead, I’ve created tools, workflows, user stories, wrote test plans and test cases, performed testing, wrote amazing bugs, assessed risk, prioritized bugs, created project status reports, defined timelines. I’ve also led UX design, built wireframes, created visual design specs, designed UI elements, wrote informational text for dialogs. All in order to get any project shippable on time. Available for full-time permanent, consultation, contract, or contract to hire employment roles. SKILLS

Quality Assurance, Process Improvement, Requirements Gathering and Analysis, Test Planning, Test Case Design, Risk Assessment, Mentoring, SDLC, Defect Lifecycle Management, Functional Specs, Smoke/Acceptance Testing, Integration Testing, Functional Testing, Negative Testing, Regression Testing, Stress Testing, User Acceptance Testing, Localization Testing, Manual Testing, Automated Testing, Apple Ecosystem SME, AppleScript, UNIX, Bash Shell Scripting, Python, Agile, Waterfall, User Experience, Human–Computer Interaction, Usability Testing, Usability Research, Design Specifications, Wireframes, Visual Design, User Interface Design, Prototyping, Graphic Design, Asset Creation, Text Authoring, Documentation Authoring and Editing, Customer Service, Wireless Networking, Ethernet, Audio Engineering, Digital Audio Workstations, Virtual Instruments, filters and simulators. MACINTOSH: System 1.1 – 7.5.x, Mac OS 7.6 – 9.3, Mac OS X Developer Preview – macOS Mojave v10.14, OS X Server, Xcode IDE, Instruments, AppleScript, Apple Remote Desktop, Utilities, System Internals, Darwin BSD layer UNIX. iOS: iPhoneOS 1.0 – iOS 12, iOS Simulator, iPhone Configuration Utility/Apple Configurator, certificates, provisioning, resigning, installing binaries, uploading builds to iTunes Connect for release to Apple App Store, jail-breaking. ANDROID: version 2.3 – 8. Use, navigation, look and feel, app installation/removal, functionality, user expectations. On smartphone handset, phablet and tablet form factors. WINDOWS: version 3.1 – 10. Windows setup, use and troubleshooting. Solving Windows configuration problems, Registry issues. Third party installation, use and uninstall problems. THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE: Jira, Git, Jenkins, Bugzilla, Adobe Creative Cloud Suite; Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, XD CC, Acrobat Pro DC. OmniGraffle Pro 7. Keynote, Pages, Numbers, Microsoft Office (Mac/PC), FileMaker Pro. ScriptDebugger, UIBrowser, BBEdit/TextWrangler, TestLink, FogBugz, HP (Mercury) Quality Center/ALM, SoapUI, Quark XPress, Corel Painter, Fontographer, Logic Pro X, AVID (Digidesign) ProTools, Propellerhead Reason, NI Komplete Ultimate, Novell Netware CNA, various debugging tools, numerous other third party applications and plugins. PAGE 1 OF 8

E X P E R I E N C E

Lead SQA Engineer, UX Designer

NOW BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE (NBI)

EVERETT, MA

April 2017 September 2018

Performed the user interface design and asset creation for projects, then once implemented designed the testing procedures and performed the testing on projects ranging from state government to stealth startups.

Software Quality Assurance.

Manual testing of a variety of fast moving projects who’s owners had contracted NBI to develop, or improve

Participation in agile scrum process using Jira to the process on time and within expected expenditures.

Defined test cases, performed testing, wrote detailed, concise defect reports, tested and verified fixes and kept the sprints moving.

Being intimately involved with the design process made testing much more efficient.

User Experience, Branding, software product design.

Worked with stakeholders to define workflows and the user experience

Developed wireframes, design specs and prototypes for developers to implement in code, worked with the developers and stakeholders to move the designs to a point where both end users and developers were excited to see them come to life.

Created assets using common design tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, OmniGraffle, and many more.

Process improvement.

Advocated for best practices use of Jira and other internal processes with a goal to making the team more efficient. Consulting SQA Engineer, UX Designer, Graphic Designer, Owner THE LIMBIC RESEARCH TESTING INSTITUTE FOR SOFTWARE, HARDWARE & WETWARE WATERTOWN, MA

1978 Present

Software Quality Assurance, User Experience, Branding, software product design, process improvement.

Consultancy and Contract Employee for Design and/or Quality Services.

Expert in usability, design and quality assurance with over 21 years experience qualifying the ship-worthiness of over three-hundred commercial and/or enterprise products plus too many updates to count.

Previous clients ranged from Fortune 500TM companies to pre-seed startups.

Design and implement custom FileMaker Pro turnkey solutions for clients.

Apple computer hardware upgrades, repair and data recovery.

Teach beginner to advanced computer skills on OS X and Windows.

Freelance Graphic Design:

Specializing in branding, identity, illustration, and logo design.

Sign painting, placard to wall-sized, interior and exterior work.

Design and silk screen an original line of T-shirts marketed under The Not Responsible Toy Company brand.

AES member Front of House and Studio Audio Engineer:

Experience on manual and motorized mixing consoles.

Digital Audio Workstations in both live and studio environments.

Supported local and international touring acts as freelance sound engineer.

Design and produce custom designs of fabricated and cast jewelry. All clients, their intellectual property and items produced for the client are treated with the highest level of confidentiality required. No employment, or role will be cited, or referenced without clearance, nor will any work created be shared, or repurposed without significant alteration without prior agreement.

PAGE 2 OF 8

Lead Software Quality Assurance Engineer

CATALINA MARKETING, INC.

BOSTON, MA

July 2015 April 2016

Lead the quality effort for a next generation, big data project to push ahead of the competition by replacing legacy monolithic databases and non-scalable systems with scalable, modular, distributed products.

Lead on e-commerce Coupon Network project, chosen to lead new project to modernize and streamline Catalina products pushing beyond what competitors offer their consumers by building a scalable, cloud-based, open source database with message queue for internal communications and web services accessible via edge server.

Advocated towards a true agile scrum process.

Streamline the QA process to eliminate administrative overhead that had built up over many years with layers of redundant middle management inertia acquired over time.

Replace legacy in-house non-scalable products and proprietary tools with open source tools and products without the overhead that the legacy products posses.

Advocated for a single resource (Jira) to perform test plan creation transparently, as well as, allow any team member to participate in test case design, testing and reporting.

Onboarded additional resources to offload testing as the project grew.

Created documentation, project functionality flowcharts and worked with architect to define project goals.

Provided management with reporting that exceeded previous levels information with much less resource overhead to create the reporting.

Interfaced between business analysts and developers to define user stories to ensure sprints kept to the product timeline.

Primary development interaction was with remote team of offshore software developers.

Interacted with third party partner developers and business analysts to ensure products and APIs were defined with enough detail to bring the products successfully to market.

Provided advice on how to best execute the design from a use and maintenance perspective.

Ensured the team was flexible, pivoting around internal changes and externalities that reprioritized the timeline. Director of Design & Quality

ADVANCED READING TECHNIQUES, LLC.

CAMBRIDGE, MA

March 2014 April 2015

Sought out by the Founders of a pre-seed status start-up to wear the hat of designer for the firm.

Granted title, Director of Design and Quality and awarded 10% equity in Advanced Reading Techniques.

Designed new branding for Advanced Reading Techniques.

Designed the Skimmer app to be iOS 8 compliant, low distraction, high efficiency automated reading and comprehension

(speed reading) app for iPhone release followed by an iPad version, then Android.

Created look and feel with a fresh new GUI that enhanced the user experience by starting with a user's perspective.

Streamlined all user interface elements in a way that retained functionality, was very clean.

Created consistent colored section highlights and icons.

Designed Passport style cards for the modules to help orient the user and drop out of sight as selection made.

Provided a distraction-free, yet powerful reading platform that would gently guide the user to achieve their goals.

Primarily development interaction was with the remote Software Developer.

Provided assets and detailed visual design specs that made implementation a breeze.

Provided advice on how to best execute the design.

Kept a close eye on app quality. Reported issues discovered to software developer, verified fixes. Quality Assurance Architect/Consultant

FISHMAN TRANSDUCERS, INC.

ANDOVER, MA

PAGE 3 OF 8

September 2012 – November 2013

Project: TriplePlay® Wireless Midi Guitar Controller v1.0 – v1.2

Solicited by Fishman to architect their QA department, provide Quality Assurance to their TriplePlay project and train resources in the quality assurance process.

Put in place all QA processes and procedures.

Interviewed, trained, mentored and supervised the SQA infrastructure to support Fishman's first consumer hardware and software package for retail.

Created in-house tools to setup test environments, collect system info/relevant logs, beta test responses, etc.

Qualified and Released TriplePlay Wireless MIDI Guitar Controller v1.0 and subsequent updates.

Defined process goals, test plans, test cases, defining the plan to ensure the agreed upon quality was hit at Alpha, Beta and Launch milestones of TriplePlay's Standalone app, AU, VST and AAX plug-ins. Plus, the hardware for the USB transceiver dongle, TriplePlay wireless MIDI unit, hexaphonic pickup and the firmware for both hardware devices.

Ensured the above was executed by my team.

Designed departmental documentation and Fishman’s Bugzilla implementation.

Ensured the multiple integration dependencies functioned between the USB dongle and wireless MIDI hardware components, its firmware, the front end GUI for controlling the package and displayed real-time settings changes.

Qualified a value added set of third party software packages on both Apple OS X and Microsoft Windows to be provided with the TriplePlay package as a download.

Tested the TriplePlay VST, AU and AAX plug-ins in a matrix of commercially available Digital Audio Workstations.

Tested a variety of commercially available VST plug-ins in a matrix of Digital Audio Workstations.

Tested use of TriplePlay on iOS devices through Apple Camera Kit USB adapter as general MIDI device.

Tested the software and firmware update functionality of the TriplePlay package and partner software.

Repackaged 3rd party installer downloads to decrease installation frustrations, data costs and download times.

Wrote Installation Guide for TriplePlay software and 3rd Party value added packages.

Created graphic assets used in the app.

Created Wireframes.

Senior SQA Engineer

SONOS, INC.

CAMBRIDGE, MA

October 2010 June 2012

Responsible for quality of software for controlling the Sonos System of interconnected wireless audio devices.

Primary responsibilities were to the quality of Sonos Controller for iPhone, Sonos Controller for iPad, and for Sonos Controller for Mac.

Pushed process improvement reducing test time from 48 hours to 16 hours, maintaining quality and reducing risk.

Converted product spec wireframes into test cases for new features and bug reports into regression tests.

Designed iOS Controller acceptance, functional and regression test plans, then adapted those to other controllers.

Executed test plans against an evolving matrix of supported hardware, OS versions and environments of all Sonos hardware and compatibility with other Sonos controllers.

Filed detailed bug reports against builds, verified resolved issues, tested for regressions.

Participated in prioritizing the reported bugs for resolution and defining what the criteria for resolution was.

Responsible for Sonos’ 2 proprietary handheld controllers, plus: Sonos Controller for PC, Sonos Controller for Android, and Sonos Controller for Amazon Kindle Fire.

Mentored others, provided support to understand the capabilities of the Sonos System.

Apple Subject Matter Expert, distilled and analyzed information from manifold sources to a likely and plausible set of actions ensuring the Sonos system maintained compatibility with Apple hardware and software.

IOS Release Engineer ensured all assets were in iTunes Connect in all localizations prior to releasing new versions.

Created and maintained certificates and provisioning for development, ad hoc and App Store distribution.

Mentored coworkers on OS X and iOS expected functionality and proper bug reporting methodology.

Worked closely with UX, Devs, Marketing and PMs to evangelize for superior customer usability.

Assisted in UX redesign for controller UIs, pushed for separate design implementations for devices in portrait display, or in landscape (desktop, tablet) to layout UI elements to best display useful info to users.

Assisted hardware engineering with a trained sound engineer for listening tests and isolating audio issues. PAGE 4 OF 8

Senior SQA Engineer

H&R BLOCK FINANCIAL, DTS DIVISION

CAMBRIDGE, MA BILLERICA, MA

October 2006 May 2010

Manual and automated testing of Block's tax software, H&R Block At Home (née TaxCut) for Mac.

Introduced automated testing on the Mac platform

Constructed a test harness built with AppleScript, Shell Scripts and 3rd Party freeware apps that tested builds for acceptance and regressions.

Generated Pass/Fail styled text, tab delimited reports with timestamps for performance regressions plus screenshots at test fails. CSV files auto-imported into the Bug database for manual verification.

Wrote setup and cleanup scripts to install OS, copy data files and scripts to the DUT, setup the test environment. When done, all relevant apps, scripts, outputs, preferences files, screen shots, etc. with a System Report were archived and copied to a server so the environment could be revisited.

Designed and wrote Mac test plans and designed test cases unique to the Mac product (where cross-platform – existing test cases were adapted).

Lead QA engineer (white/grey box testing) of Mac products via automation and assigning testers for manual and with ad hoc testing.

Dictated Apple hardware and 3rd party software purchases.

Created automation scripts for other groups.

Tested Block's web based tax products for Mac functionality and browser compatibility as above.

Mentored coworkers on issues seen in testing and proper bug reporting methodology. Contractor

GENENTECH, INC.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA

2005

Project: AppleScript Engineer for internal tools refactoring. SQA Contractor

DIGIDESIGN, INC.

DALY CITY, CA

2004

Project: Pro Tools Digital Audio Workstation.

Quality assurance testing of updates of Pro Tools 6.x for Mac. Engineer/Scientist II

APPLE, INC.

CUPERTINO, CA

November 1998 October 2003

MAC OS X UPDATE GROUP: Testing updates to Mac OS X 10.1 – 10.3.3.

Qualified all Mac OS X major, minor and point releases from 10.1.0 through 10.3.3

Instituted and maintained the Release Site Watch report to scrape web forums, build dynamic rapid response reports culled from user posts to quickly determine issues on release.

Integration testing, Upgrade testing, validation of pre-integration OS X components.

Regression testing, stress testing, ad hoc and negative testing, localizations testing, user acceptance testing.

Designed Classic Mac OS Test Plan to test compatibility of select applications not native to OS X.

Test Plan, test cases, test matrices, documentation and reports.

Advised third party software companies on compatibility issues with Classic Environment.

Maintained the internal database of 3rd party application compatibility in Classic Environment and Mac OS X.

Maintained test plans and updated test cases to keep them apropos over time.

Mentored coworkers in bug isolation, root causes of issues seen in testing and proper reporting methodology. PAGE 5 OF 8

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT TEAM: Performance testing of Mac OS 9.0.1 – Mac OS X 10.1

Researched, designed and implemented the Battery Life Performance Suite (to ensure no use-time-Δ regressions on battery due to OS code changes).

Test Plans, test cases, test matrices, documentation and reports.

Worked with marketing and engineering groups for input to design the semi-automated suite to capture reproducible, realistic data valuable to stakeholders.

Initiated Performance Lab procedures

Assumed primary testing with the Virtual User and AppleScript Performance Suite.

Tested internal OS releases, posting HTML results processed through a custom FileMaker Pro database.

Wrote and updated lab AppleScripts and Virtual User Performance Measurement Suite scripts.

Maintained Performance Lab, 3rd Party Software, Restore Images and test files.

Advised third party software companies on compatibility issues.

Decision maker for the hardware and software lifecycles used in the performance suite. MAC OS SYSTEM GROUP: Mac OS 8.5.1 – 9.0.1

Smoke/Acceptance testing of System file and kernel builds.

System integration acceptance testing of full OS builds for go/no go of release to general testing.

Regression testing OS builds.

Assisted coworkers in defining, isolating and verifying bugs. Lead SQA Contractor

PICOSTAR, LLC.

MENLO PARK, CA

July 1998 November 1998

Project: Test and verify integration of Assistive Technologies’ Freestyle, Augmentative and Alternative Communication

(AAC) device based on modified Apple Mac PowerBook 5300s.

Responsibilities included Testing the patched OS software and underlying hardware

Defined remanufacturing defects.

Uncovered driver issues introduced by patching the OS to recognize the touchscreen, eye tracking, switches, etc.

Tested the assistive modules and custom assistive applications.

Designed solutions to the issues uncovered with the hardware retrofitter and software developers.

Designed and built a bug tracking relational database in FileMaker Pro for PicoStar. SQA Contractor

PIONEER DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, BROADBAND APPLICATION DIVISION BURBANK, CA

March 1998 July 1998

Project: Testing of pre-1.0 release of a new hardware Set-top Box platform.

Acceptance, System, Functional and Regression testing the Java-based software client with NT3 server backend on 3 pre- release set-top hardware consoles.

Tested On Screen Guide for functionality, content ability to schedule/cancel future selections and device Settings persistence.

Tested Near-VOD feature ordering ability, stream selection and ability to return to correct stream on return.

Tested downloadability, functionality and removal of Java applets.

Tested System messaging and notifications.

Designed and maintained the division’s bug tracking database with a FileMaker Pro front end.

Wrote documentation for the database.

Mentored coworkers on issues seen in testing and proper bug reporting methodology. SQA Contractor

GENOA TESTING LABS

MOORPARK, CA

October 1997 March 1998

PAGE 6 OF 8

Project: Validation of client company’s printer drivers.

Created, or modified/clarified printer test cases designed for several manufacturers (e.g., HP, Brother, Ricoh).

Wrote test plans/test cases for new features and models of printers.

Black & Grey Box testing on Macintosh, Windows and Windows NT. Lead SQA Engineer

DAVIDSON & ASSOCIATES

TORRANCE, CA

July 1996 October 1997

Mac Quality Lead for products shipped under the Davidson, Simon & Schuster, Inc., Blizzard and other publishers.

Mandated testing following test plans with detailed test cases across a matrix of hardware and OS versions.

Developed test plans and test cases executed by testers.

Supervised up to 13 QA testers perform directed and ad hoc test sessions.

Compiled data from testers and reported on each product’s quality to VP of Engineering.

Determined root causes of issues uncovered by testers.

Ensured proper bug report methodology was followed.

Worked with standard and custom diagnostic tools to expose and isolate issues others were unable to define.

Managed Macintosh Quality Test Lab.

Specified hardware acquisitions and test device lifecycle definition for QA Lab.

Maintained software licensing for usage compliance.

Mentored Producers, Developers and Testers in Mac OS UI conventions and Mac customers’ expectations.

Worked closely with Technical Support in the isolation of customer issues.

Incorporated external information into knowledge base for future product releases and testing procedures.

Designed and organized training materials.

Reviewed code ported to Mac OS with software developers to match functionality and design with requirements.

Evaluated Mac OS platform assets acquired through M&A.

Prepared reports quantifying the application’s viability prior to being developed as Davidson products. Lead SQA Engineer

SYMANTEC CORPORATION

BATON ROUGE, LA EUGENE, OR SANTA MONICA, CA

April 1994 July 1996

Quality Assurance Engineer Lead on Symantec products for Macintosh.

Responsible for leading the quality effort for the complete rewrite of the Suitcase font manager.

Developed testing plan for a matrix of supported Mac OS versions with a large number of third party products and fonts to ensure Suitcase 3 compatibility.

Reported on current level of quality to VP of Engineering.

Opened relationships with 3rd party developers to rapidly resolve issues found with their software. Set up engineering points of contact to facilitate compatibility. Promoted exchange of software licenses for cross-company compatibility testing.

Curated Symantec's Mac software compatibility library.

Ensured all supported hardware represented in the Apple hardware and networking testing lab, Set lab protocols.

Performed supervisory duties as required.

Mentored Software Engineers, SQA Testers and Technical Support Analysts.

Leveraged subject matter expertise in Apple hardware and software to advocate customers’ expectations.

Worked directly with support analysts and customers as a top tier problem solver.

Extensively tested all Symantec products for compatibility with other Mac products on the market.

Support for Norton Utilities for Mac, Symantec AntiVirus for Mac, all legacy Fifth Generation Systems’ products and Public Utilities for Mac.

PAGE 7 OF 8

EDUCA TION

DEANZA COLLEGE

CUPERTINO, CA

Advanced UNIX, 2002 – 2003

UNIVERSAL LIFE CHURCH MINISTRIES SEMINARY

MODESTO, CA

PhD. Theology, 1994 – 1997

Doctor of Divinity 2001

LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY A&M

BATON ROUGE, LA

1978 – 1979, 1988 – 1992

CERTIFICATIONS

H&R Block Data Privacy 2010

Apple Macintosh Desktop/Laptop Service, 10/17/2003 Novell Certified Novell Administrator (CNA) 1995 Symantec Customer Service Training 1995

PROFILE

I have spent my career devoting considerable attention to quality through providing a superior user experience (UX) with an eye trained in graphic design. I work from a comprehensive background in all aspects of fine arts, graphic design and printing professions and belong to the early adoptees of software-based design and production tools, which I still use often, along with a wide breadth of different software packages to provide a comprehensive experience of what makes a good software package. That iterated throughout the entire design and production phases of building software products is experience unlikely to be found in any other candidate you will to encounter for this role. Seriously, this is the last résumé you need to read. Growing up with the frustrations that caused the then unrecognized need for thinking in terms of how the user experience (UX) affected a user’s interacted with software; defined by interfaces that required thick user manuals and frequent support calls to just manage perform what the bullet points on the application’s box claimed was easy to use while the ever lengthening, encyclopedic, list of hacks, workarounds, spells and incantations needed just to stay productive grew. That background of use provides me with deep insight into the importance of all phases in product’s lifecycle. Experience gathered by shipping, using and reviewing a large cross-section of software, my previous design experience, consulting and insights from training beginning computer users of all ages provides me with the knowledge that I leverage to accurately assess usability and risk in real-world terms provides me the ability to perform the cross-functional tasks required to keep a project on schedule.

High intelligence agility enables me to quickly assess complex issues to uncover previously missed solutions to problems and articulate them using excellent verbal and written skills. Even when presented minimal data, these skills allow me to present reasonable solutions based on time available, risk averseness and budget constraints. I can rapidly refactor plans to reassess the plan of action as more data arrives and lay out reasonable reasons why other solutions should not be pursued. I am comfortable speaking to a group, or conversing one on one and have a calm, yet driven, demeanor that works well within most corporate cultures and, as an added bonus, I can comfortably speak to software and hardware engineers, designers, docs writers, marketers, program managers, support personnel and end-users, using ability- appropriate language for each group.

It gives me a big happy making every product I choose to devote the blood, sweat and tears to become something that stands out from the pack while still feeling as familiar as a favorite comfy chair. Also, the challenge of sleuthing-out problems, working closely with highly intelligent, motivated people on a cross-functionally-abled teams is rewarding and provides a chance to shine while learning from new experiences. I dig deep, below the low hanging fruit, identifying while documenting the business and user-facing needs and potential issues early on. When unforeseen, or out-of-spec usage issues are discovered in the field, work diligently to patiently extract, then distill those experiences, (turning all pain points into concise, salient, comprehensible bug reports and regression test cases). Finally, drive a solution that is viable to both business needs and users’ desires, following through to see those solutions implemented While always looking to find even better solutions. PAGE 8 OF 8



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