National Childcare Provider
Making an unfinished modernization deliverable
The challenge
A program intended for a six-month delivery window had approximately eleven months of identified development remaining, before accounting for missing requirements. It also needed to migrate ten years of financial history from a legacy system and support parents managing payments and care schedules online.
My approach
I used backlog and delivery data to establish a shared view of the work. Paper prototypes uncovered missing scheduling flows, including buttons with no defined destination. I worked with the vendor, engineers, and business stakeholders to clarify scope, reprioritize, and organize product owners around features. Moving to Kanban helped the team keep work flowing. Wireframes and low-resolution mockups gave stakeholders a practical way to identify missing requirements before implementation.
Creating ownership beyond my own workload
I organized the other product owners around feature responsibilities so they could continue driving delivery while I focused on shaping the experience and resolving missing requirements with stakeholders. Paper prototypes made gaps concrete. Using scope and delivery data helped realign the vendor and business around the work rather than debate the schedule on confidence alone.
The outcome
Delivery velocity increased by more than 100% in the first 30 days, while rapid prototyping and clearer requirements reduced defects and missed scope by 50%. We delivered approximately 4x the original scope in twelve months, twice the original delivery window. A regional rollout preceded a national cutover across all centers. I helped the business validate financial transactions, and the launch went live without significant issues. The work reinforced the value of raising risks early with a practical mitigation plan.