Darren Godden
Wellington, New Zealand
p: 0212466520
e: darrenjgodden@gmail.com
Also view my LinkedIn profile.

Senior Project & Programme Manager - An accomplished and strategy-driven professional with 20+ years of experience

I now have 20+ years of experience in designing and delivering projects and programmes with an emphasis on service delivery and customer-facing initiatives. Extensive experience leading customer-facing project and product development priorities across various industries including public sector, finance, education, medical, and human resources in both Australia and New Zealand. Proven record of success in effectively initiating and translating complex business problems into compelling problem definitions, crafting meaningful cases for change, and developing and leading the project and programme delivery accordingly.

Recognised by top management for providing sound advice, influencing decision making, and maintaining a strong focus on outcomes in terms of productivity and quality. Commended for taking a structured and highly transparent and practical approach to project and programme definition, initiation, and delivery from small business unit projects to significant departmental transformation programmes. Considerable experience with frameworks including Managing Successful Programmes; Prince2; Scrum and Scaled Agile Framework.

As a Chartered IT Professional (CITPNZ), I am recognised as having demonstrated the necessary capabilities to effectively lead business and technology-enabled work programmes.

Core Competencies:

  • Programme and Project Life Cycle Management
  • Business Case, Reporting and Documentation
  • Strategic Planning, Implementation, and Analysis
  • MSP, Prince2, Program Level SAFe and Scrum methods
  • Programme Scope Delivery and Stakeholder Engagement
  • Sound judgement and effective decision maker
  • Team Leadership and Coaching
  • Vendor/Supplier Management
  • Programme Change Management
  • High Technical literacy

    • Professional Experience:

    Head of Programme Delivery, Volpara Health, 10/2020 - 06/2022

    Accountable for scheduling, governance, and delivery of the Volpara Health delivery programme in Wellington and Seattle, Washington. (Approx 90 fte).

    Key Achievements:

  • Established integrated programme delivery plans and dashboard reporting.
  • Embedded new programme delivery practices at delivery and governance levels
  • Successfully oversaw delivery of quarterly roadmap projects in Wellington & Seattle
  • Contributed to ensuring the company maintained ISO27001 certification through two successful reviews of the Product and Project Development & Delivery framework, practices and evidence based results

    • Programme Consultant - NZ Scholarships Programme, 05/2019 - 06/2020

    Authored strategic assessment of the NZ Scholarship Programme and co-authored the blueprint to 2025 for the NZ Scholarship Programme, to ensure it will continue to meet the Ministry strategic objectives and priorities. Applied business architecture and service design techniques to improve quality and interaction with customers.

    Key Achievements:

  • Enabled the establishment of a strategic case for change assessment and achievement of broader organisational support by conducting analysis and presenting insights to executive to reset programme workstreams underway.
  • Supported the unit manager to maximise productivity and achieve programme objectives by providing expert advice in terms of programme design and operational management.
  • Facilitated sessions to co-design artefacts, including canvases and maps:
      • ~ Canvases: operating and business model and challenge questions, 5-bold step vision, and design criteria canvas.
      ~ Maps: Business capabilities, value stream, empathy, ecosystem, intervention logic, value proposition designs, and culture.

    Programme Manager - Te Ara Manaaki, Department of Internal Affairs, 11/2015 - 05/2019

    Led programme management from design, delivery approach, workstream deliverables to governance structures. Directed a team to obtain Cabinet approvals for transformation programme and single-stage business cases through active stakeholder engagement. Planned and led engagement across public sector agencies and within the ELT of Department of Internal Affairs with the focus on meeting programme design requirements. Ensured seamless programme delivery through initial team management of 5 FTE, which grew to 180 FTE, with eight direct reports.

    Key Achievements:

  • Held accountability to the SRO for the programme; completed Gateway 0/2 and 0/3 reviews in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
  • Recognised by central agencies who considered the programme as an exemplar in NZ Government for customer-centric and service-design, leading methods, and processes within a transformation programme.
  • Led the programme encompassing a customer-centric led reimagining and redesign of all the capabilities and capacity used by Service Delivery and Operations Branch of the Department to deliver products and services, including all births, deaths, marriages, identity, passports, travel documents, and citizenship products and services.
  • Completed organisational restructure and three extensive open requests for proposals to select technology platforms and partners, and 6 x 12-weekly delivery increments using the scaled agile framework.

    • Senior Project Manager, 04/2014 - 10/2015

    Completed the business requirements analysis for end-to-end capture and processing of public submissions for nationally significant proposals. Created a User Story Map from business requirements and delivery to the market for prospective suppliers to assess as a more customer-centred approach to understand business needs and desired outcomes.

    Achievement:

  • Completed RFP and led commercial negotiations to agree terms with successful CRM and workflow supplier.

    • Senior Project Manager, Accident Compensation Corporation, 08/2012 - 07/2013

    Held responsibility to design, set-up and deliver leadership direction to the employer portal programme, moreover, devised and submitted the implementation business case.

    Key Achievement:

  • Collaborated with two external vendor teams along with establishing three agile teams using the Scrum Framework for technology foundation and employer portal functional delivery.

    • Project Manager - Education Payroll (Novopay), 05/2009 - 08/2012

    Assigned to the Novopay programme 12-months after inception through to completion under strict time and budget constraints.

    Key Achievement:

  • Worked with Talent2, the Ministry of Education and selected partners in the design and delivery of business processes for the Ministry of Education payroll programme.
  • The outcomes of this programme are well publicised.
  • Being a part of a difficult work environment in terms of deadlines, workload, morale, and relationships with all parties.
  • Able to use positive and negative experiences and lessons learned from the assignment in subsequent roles.

    • Additional Experience:

  • Programme Advisor: Earthquake Commission, Wellington, NZ
  • Senior Project Manager: NZ Post, Wellington, NZ
  • Senior Project Manager: Ministry for Primary Industries, Wellington, NZ
  • Senior Product Manager: Harvest Road, Perth, Western Australia
  • Senior Project Manager: Egton Medical Information Systems, Perth, Western Australia
  • Senior Business Analyst: Water Corporation, Perth, Western Australia
  • Project & Product Manager: Bank of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia
  • Various roles: National Bank of NZ; Countrywide Bank NZ; Bank of Western Australia

    • Education and Credentials:

  • Post Graduate Diploma in e-business (Distinction): Curtin University, 1/2002 - 09/2005
  • Certified SAFe Agilist 4: Scaled Agile Framework - 2018 - 2020
  • Chartered IT Professional NZ: IT Professionals NZ - 2019 - 2022
  • Certified Cloud Practitioner: 2020 - Present
  • Azure Fundamentals AZ-900 - 2020 - Present
  • Professional Scrum Master: Scrum.Org - 08/2015 - Present
  • Prince2 Practitioner: Axelos - 2009 - Present

    • CliftonStrengths for Managers - My Top 10 Themes:

  • Maximizer - Strive for excellence and encourage others to do the same.
  • Learner - Use your passion for learning to add value to your own and other' lives.
  • Analytical - Use your logical, objective approach to make important decisions
  • Arranger - Improve effectiveness and efficiency by reorganizing resources
  • Responsibility - Take ownership for the things that matter most to you.
  • Consistency - Create fair systems to establish and build trust
  • Intellection - Think deeply. Think often.
  • Harmony - Help others find common ground through practical solutions
  • Input - Keep exploring; always be curious.
  • Deliberative - Stop, listen and assess before taking action.

    • Click to view the Top 10 Themes report