B. Joan Byars
239-***-**** *******@*****.***
REQUIREMENTS ANALYST TECHNICAL WRITER JR. PROJECT MANAGER
Capable, enthusiastic and skilled professional with a life-long commitment to learning. More
than 25 years of demonstrated leadership and experience with premier organizations, including
the US Navy. Quickly adaptable and able to multi-task in fast-changing technical and
managerial environments. Clear, concise and effective communicator. Areas of expertise
include:
Agile Scrum & Waterfall Methodologies Certified Scrum Master Asset Management Systems
Configuration Management Requirements Analysis Functional & User Acceptance Testing
Management & Project Reporting SOPs, Manuals & User Guides Test Scripts Outstanding
Attention to Detail Jira & Confluence Substantial Government Experience Top Analytical &
Organizational Skills All MS Office Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop and InDesign Enterprise
License Agreement Deployments IT Expenditure Tracking
Clearance: Completed Public Trust (Through US Department of Labor)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
August 2014 to Present
Customer Services Specialist II, BAE Information Systems, Inc., Herndon, VA
Recruited by BAE to provide ongoing customer service support for the US Department of Labor –
Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Office of Technology and Survey Processing.
Assisted with the deployment of a new Enterprise License Agreement for Adobe products throughout the
BLS. Helped coordinate installation of over 800 different Adobe licenses. Resolved issues around testing
and certification. Conducted regular license counts, prepared progress reports for senior management
and tracked new license installations for the true-up process.
Tracked and analyzed BLS IT expenditures and prepared the FY15 IT Spend Plan.
December 2013 to Present
Requirements Analyst, Convergenz, Inc., Reston, VA
Participated in requirements gathering and user story development in support of The College Board’s
redesign of the SAT, PSAT10 and readistepTM assessments.
Successfully used the Agile Scrum methodology for gathering requirements, preparing user stories and
developing appropriate acceptance criteria.
Guided the development teams in breaking down large and complex user stories into simplified versions
for execution.
Performed user story walkthroughs with the development and QA teams in order to develop testing
strategies and test plans that effectively evaluated user needs.
Served as a Jira Agile administrator, creating and maintaining user stories and assisting with project
settings and statistics.
Acting Scrum Master for two development teams.
October 2012 to November 2013
Associate Requirements Analyst, BAE Information Systems, Inc., Herndon, VA
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B. Joan Byars Page
Recruited by BAE to provide ongoing requirements gathering and software development support for the
US Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Office of Technology and Survey
Processing. Involved throughout the entire software development cycle for a new content management
application.
Prepared user stories for a new content management application using an Agile SCRUM approach.
Prepared supporting documentation, including workflow diagrams and specifications, in an effort to
identify and clarify processes needed for the development of this new application.
Participated in requirements/user story prioritization.
Worked with the project manager, stakeholders and team members to document the project’s vision and
scope.
Drafted test scripts and conducted functional and user acceptance testing for several new applications.
Reviewed and compiled test findings and forwarded results to stakeholders and the development teams.
Prepared a users’ guide for the new application and participated in user training.
July 2009 to May 2012
Jr. Business/Requirements Analyst, Cherokee Information Systems, Arlington, VA
Combined operational knowledge of project management to conduct requirements development,
technical writing and asset management for the Social Security Administration’s Benefit Offset
National Demonstration (BOND) project.
Helped draft numerous BOND artifacts, including the BOND Operational Data System (BODS) System
Design Document, the Deployment, Communication, User Set-Up and Go-Live Instructions and the
Configuration Management Plan.
Documented the project requirements and coordinated requirements reviews, verifying with user
representatives and stakeholders that the user stories accurately portrayed their needs.
Implemented the Case Spec commercial requirements tool for managing the BOND requirements.
Designed the user interface, managed accounts and served as Administrator. Acted as sole provider of
end user technical support.
Created and administered the BOND government-furnished property asset management system, tracking
all items and recording that information in Case Spec. Implemented a bar-code system and built the
inventory structure from the ground-up to create “cradle to grave” tracking of all assets. Conducted
regular queries in Case Spec to create reports for distribution to senior management. Reviewed
applicable contracts and purchase records to identify new assets.
March 2009 to July 2009
Sales Associate, Northwest Honda, Owings Mills, MD
Ranked among the top four sales associates during June 2009.
August 2004 to June 2008
Landscape Design & Sales, D & E Landscaping, Apopka, FL
Ranked most successful salesperson in the company during my tenure.
TECHNICAL SKILLS
Certified Scrum Master, March 2014, The Scrum Alliance.
Adobe: Acrobat, InDesign, Photoshop Case Spec Requirements Tool MS: Access, PowerPoint, Project,
SharePoint, Visio, Word Jira & Confluence
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B. Joan Byars Page
EDUCATION PROFESSIONAL
B.S., Biology (with Honors), Kansas University, Lawrence, KS. Elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Alpha
Theta (History) honorary societies.
M.S., Meteorology & Oceanography, The Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA.
M.L.A., Landscape Architecture, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
Served nine and one-half years in the US Navy. Selected for Lt. Commander.
PUBLICATIONS
Heck, P.W., B.J. Byars, et.al, A Climatology of Satellite-Derived Cloud Properties Over Marine
Stratocumulus Regions,” American Meteorological Society Seventh Conference on Atmospheric
Radiation, San Francisco, California, July 1990.
Variation of the Drag Coefficient with Wind and Wave State, M.S. Thesis, The Naval Postgraduate School,
Monterey, California, September 1985.
Geernaert, G., B.J. Byars, et.al. Meteorology Results from the Tower Ocean Wave and Radar Dependence
Experiment, Naval Postgraduate School Report, NPS-63-87-001, Monterey, California, March 1987.