WHAT DOES A DELIVERY MANAGER DO?
Published: Oct 15, 2024 - The Delivery Manager oversees the coordination of technical and test team activities, serving as the escalation point for project-specific development issues. Daily collaboration with product managers and project teams ensures the delivery of high-quality products within defined scope and timeframes. Expertise in setup analysis, technical support, and implementation of digital applications drives the successful execution of key milestones and product outcomes.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Delivery Manager
1. Delivery Manager Duties
- Continuous Improvement: Responsible for continuous improvement and larger enhancements to one or more live services, working with existing client product teams.
- Delivery Management: Managing the delivery of enhancements to the services to improve reliability, effectiveness, and to raise user satisfaction.
- Support Management: Manage the provision of 3rd line support for the services in care.
- Stakeholder Management: Provide proactive stakeholder management.
- Communication: Assist with internal and external communication, improving transparency and radiating information.
- Collaboration: Closely work together with accepted persons for implementing projects/tasks from other departments.
- Third-Party Coordination: Organize communication with third parties participating in the project.
- Testing and Implementation: Participate in testing and implementation of project results in a manner that is in accordance with procedures.
- Documentation: Prepare the documentation of products, procedures, and programs.
2. Delivery Manager Details
- Recruitment Management: Support the process of recruiting, training, and managing freelance Assessors and Senior Assessors, including monitoring contracts, availability schedules, payments, and performance.
- Quality Assurance: Ensure that all OTE Test Centre applications meet technical and physical requirements and that application inspections have been conducted in accordance with business needs.
- Operational Support: Liaise with OUP Reps and Customer Support teams to provide operational support to Test Centres worldwide.
- System Management: Ensure that systems and databases are tested, maintained, and improved to enable the smooth production, delivery, and processing of test content, responses, and results for the effective running of operational activities.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Establish and maintain a professional working relationship with internal and external stakeholders worldwide, including OUP Reps, test centres, pretesting partners, and assessors, to support operational activities.
- Content Preparation: Prepare print and digital content for transformation into the appropriate output format, including as required: detailed checks of styling and checking the loading of digital assets.
- Functionality Testing: Check content and product functionality at defined stages prior to final publication.
- Project Delivery: Execute activities to ensure timely delivery of products within the agreed scope and cost.
- Team Oversight: Oversee the work of Delivery Coordinators and ensure projects are adequately resourced.
- Mentorship: Support the management team with mentoring and training new members of the Assessment Delivery team.
- Continuous Improvement: Identify continuous improvement opportunities and work with colleagues to ensure that new processes, workflows, systems, and lessons learned are implemented effectively.
3. Delivery Manager Responsibilities
- Programme Oversight: Oversee the Castle Programme Plan, ensuring workstream plans flow up to deliver the programme.
- Workstream Management: Ensure the workstreams are structured to support the delivery of the programme of work.
- Communication Management: Ensure the development of, agreement to, the publishing, and communication of the programme and supporting plans.
- Objective Setting: Set clear objectives for the programme team members in accordance with the needs of the programme.
- Role Definition: Define team member roles and expectations and ensure these are communicated effectively.
- Training Management: Ensure that project resources receive any necessary training and are used effectively.
- Estimation Review: Develop and/or review estimates and estimating assumptions for the project's schedule, effort, and cost using established estimating models where available, best practices, and experience.
- Progress Monitoring: Measure and monitor progress at clearly defined points in the process to ensure that the project is delivered on time, within budget, and that it meets or exceeds expectations.
- Reporting: Provide regular Castle Programme Delivery reports to the Head of Custody & Settlement Systems, COO, and Programme/Project Sponsors.
- Stakeholder Communication: Clearly communicate the dedicated programme/change portfolio to stakeholders throughout the firm.
- Supplier Management: Manage relationships with all suppliers and subcontractors.
- Risk Management: Proactively identify and manage risks and ensure this is replicated throughout the programme structure.
- Change Control: Apply strict change control over the programme's scope, costs, and timescales.
- Project Governance: Use appropriate recognized project and change management disciplines to govern the dedicated programme or portfolio of projects.
4. Delivery Manager Functions
- Customer Engagement: Engage with top customers to understand their business requirements and utilization of their configuration of ExtendAg.
- Product Strategy: Work with R&D to develop the product strategy and roadmap within investment and return guidelines for the top customer.
- Project Coordination: Create and coordinate timelines, scope, resources, risks, and communication plans as they relate to multiple delivery efforts for the top customer.
- Resource Management: Identify resources, coordinate responsibilities and tasks, and address resource constraints that will impact delivery timelines.
- Backlog Management: Work with development to maintain the backlog of features and corresponding business justification for the top customer.
- Sales Collaboration: Work with Sales to maintain customer engagement and planning.
- Agile Practices: Maintain knowledge of industry-standard Agile and project management practices.
- Implementation Management: Manage the implementation and configuration of various systems and solutions.
- Client Strategy Discussions: Engage with the client in discussions of the business situation and strategy.
- Scope Definition: Work with the business users to define the project scope and timelines.
- Project Execution: Formulate and execute project plans, and manage cross-functional project teams across multiple geographies, solution practices, and business domains.
- Single Point of Contact (SPoC): Manage customer interactions, serving as the SPoC.
5. Delivery Manager Tasks
- Coordination: Coordinate through the technical and test team delivery activities and act as the escalation point for development issues specific to projects.
- Collaboration: Work daily with the product managers and project teams in the delivery of high-quality products within committed scope and timeframes.
- Setup Analysis: Carry out setup analysis, especially related to digital applications.
- Training and Support: Provide training and technical support related to digital products, especially structural applications.
- Technical Support: Work with the product line manager to provide technical support on product enhancements.
- Implementation Support: Work with implementation engineers to implement the digital applications.
- Policy Evaluation: Evaluate technology policy and framework decisions.
- Technical Expertise: Provide expert technical advice.
- Cost Estimation: Provide cost estimates, analysis, process guidelines, process mapping, technical architecture, solution designs, test specifications, and implementation support.
- Milestone Support: Support the delivery of all key milestones and product outcomes within scope, on time, on budget, and to expected standards.