Ross Grady

IBM Extreme Blue

Lab Manager2010 - present

Lab Staff2007 - 2010

Extreme Blue is an IBM incubator for rapid prototyping of potential emerging-tech products, staffed with the top 3% of IBM's intern applicant pool. Projects run for 12 weeks; project teams consist of three technical students (a mix of CS / Data Science / UX folks) and one MBA who performs the role of Offering Manager for the product under development.

Over the past 12 years, I have recruited, interviewed, hired, mentored & managed 54 Extreme Blue teams: 162 developers, 54 Offering Managers, 54 new product offerings.

• Winnow ~6000 applicants down to an annual hiring pool of ~40 via high-touch mixed behavioral/technical interview process
• Maintain up-to-date technical interview question set, with a specific focus on improving
  the process to reduce bias and increase diversity in the finalist pool
• Mentor multiple simultaneous product development teams on Agile practices & design thinking: Scrum, user stories, empathy maps, short time-boxed iterations, self-directed teams, continuous stakeholder feedback, user research
• Directly manage an average of sixteen employees/session, including biweekly 1:1s, with
  an emphasis on team building and career development
• Work with project sponsors to identify projects with the right combination of cutting-edge technology and real business value
• Manage expectations of multiple sets of project mentors and sponsors, setting team goals that are challenging but realistic
• Manage $1 million annual lab budget

IBM Global Services

Network/Server/End-User Support1998 - 2007

• Became highly adept at working with non-technical users experiencing technical problems

trianglerock.com

• Since 1996, show listings for the Triangle area of NC

WXDU FM

• I've been a college-radio DJ since 1986; my current home (since 1995) is Duke University's WXDU