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How we use Upwork at Glasswall

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Luke Robbertse

Glasswall uses freelancers from Upwork to help accelerate project delivery. Some benefits of using Upwork include being able to quickly scale engineering capabilities up or down as needed, enhancing their capabilities by delegating work, and keeping costs low with minimal onboarding needs. Glasswall aims to measure the value gained from using Upwork to ensure it exceeds the costs, and defines processes for requesting, approving, and managing projects and resources from Upwork.

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Glasswall Engineering Using Upwork for Projects
Upwork - Why Glasswall have integrated the use of Freelancers from the platform Upwork. We have set a monthly budget to make use of to help us accelerate on delivering project work. Some benefits and reasons for making use of this platform: On Demand Engineering - Elastic • We pay Upwork Freelancers by the hour. As such, when we need a burst of engineering capabilities, we can spin this up on demand and then wind it back down when work is completed. Enhance ourselves • As an FTEs, there is a never ending to do list of work. In order for each of us to achieve more, we can scale ourselves by defining good briefs of work and delegating them. • By-product : Opportunity for everyone learn about managing projects and people. Cost Effective • Very low on-boarding cost. • No domain knowledge upskilling / induction needed. • Low risk - if the person does not deliver in the first few days, end the contract Scale Glasswall • There is a limit to how much work we can achieve without complimenting ourselves with additional resources. We increase the amount of project delivery Glasswall can achieve through good utilization of Upwork
Upwork - Considerations Like all investments, we need to make sure there is a good ROI. The value gained needs to exceed the cost spent. Cost is not just the money we pay to Upwork, but also the time our FTE’s spend in scoping and managing the work. We need to practise getting good and efficient at defining work well. Work should not need strategic thinking or internal domain knowledge by the worker to deliver once delegated to them. Should save us time and money, not the opposite We need to measure the work being delivered and access output quality (Context specific!) It is up to the Business Owner to scope the project, get it approved and scheduled. Work with the Upwork PMs to resource the project appropriately and track it on Jira. Measure the work being delivered. Feedback and drive the project direction. Be accountable for the project delivery and the associated cost. ‘It doesn’t exist if you don’t measure it’ - Person from Upwork
Upwork - How 1. Create a Project and some Feature on Jira here: https://glasswall.atlassian.net/browse/PROGRAM-27 a. The Project needs a good Summary and Description b. The Features’each need a good Summary • By reading the Project and Features,one should have a grasp of the project scope and what is trying to be achieved c. The Project needs the following links: • Has business owner - This will link to you • Has technical owner - if applicable • Has customer - This will link to an internal or external customer • Has focus - This is either: Tech Debt, Support Customers or Commercial Opportunity 2. Include in the Project description the following: a. Estimated resource count b. Estimated resource skill level/cost c. Estimated project length • 1 sprint = 2 weeks • 2 sprint = 1 month • 1-3 months • Up to 1 year
Upwork - How 3. Present the Project Brief at the Technology Forum meeting. a. This will allow for discussion, feedback, refinement, validation etc 4. At the Tech Forum we can update the Project status to either: a. Needs more details - To be refined by the Business Owner b. Needs approval - To be approved by TLT and Exec 5. At the Tech Leadership Meeting we will review and submit a list of projects to be approved by the Exec team for the following months execution.
6. When reviewed, the project status will change to: a. Scheduled, if it is to begin in the next round of projects b. Not scheduled - to be scheduled at a later date c. Not approved - Project not approved 7. When a project is approved and scheduled the business owner can work with an Upwork Project Manager / Luke to kick off the project: a. Resource the project - Preferably from our talent bench b. Slack channel c. Ensure appropriate program schema and mapping Upwork - How 8. It is then up to the Business Owner to utilize the Upwork PM to ensure all work is captured, tracked and updated on Jira 9. The business owner is encouraged to present progress at the Tech Forum and delivery/completion at our All Hands meeting
Upwork - Additional Services Project Management We currently have three project managers from upwork. They help facilitate project kick off, progress and delivery. They schedule meetings, get updates from Upwork resources, and manage the Features / Stories and tasks on Jira, ensuring all work is captured in our Schema. • Alona has now joined Abbas’s team and is focusing on IT Support and Infosec. • She is also available to help with some administration tasks like onboarding / offboarding, company surveys and general upwork staff management. Alona • Is currently managing a number of operational, strategic and engineering projects. She also manages the admin for other Upwork staff members, upwork staff management. Tatevik • We have recently hired a Technical Project Manager who has a background in engineering and will help manage more Technical Projects. The first set of projects will be for ICAP. • On success, we can expand this to help manage more projects in the Cloud and Core departments. Doviana
Upwork - Additional Services Design To make use of the upwork design services, request a task in the slack channel #upwork-services-design It will be up to our Upwork Designers to create and track these tasks in Jira: https://glasswall.atlassian.net/browse/PROJECT-148 - Upwork Services Design Examples of use: Infographics ; Icons ; Marketing material
Upwork - Additional Services Jira-Administration ✓ Jira maintenance can be time consuming and tricky! ✓ We now have 2 dedicated Jira Admins, Dario and Mariel are have been trained in Jira Editing and can help us customize our Jira schemas and workflows. ✓ These resources are not to be used for adding Projects / Features / Stories etc or keeping Jira up to date. They are used to: Add new Projects and Issue types to Jira Editing workflows Customising fields and screens available within issue types Creating filters etc To use them, head to the Jira Admin channel on slack and make a request. They will create and track their work on jira here: https://glasswall.atlassian.net/browse/PROJECT-128 Jira Evolution and Maintenance
Upwork - Additional Services By now you have all seen the power of Jupyter Notebooks for running Playbooks, Manipulating Data for consumption, reporting, measuring and visualisation of graphs We have a Program of projects on Jira dedicated to this https://glasswall.atlassian.net/browse/PROGRAM-32 - Data Science and Reporting - Measuring People, Product, Projects If you would like some Notebook work done, feel free to add a Story under the appropriate Project / Feature. If an appropriate Feature does not exist, you can add that too :) This squad meets every Tuesday and Thursday to review progress, feedback and prioritize the next set of tasks to work on. Anyone can ping Luke to request to join this meeting and discuss their notebook requirements Types of work include: Reports per Person, Project, Product, Team, Squad. Playbook engineering. Reports are currently generated from any data which we have in Jira. *Coming soon - Tasks on request in Jira Channel* Notebooks and Reporting
Upwork - Talent Bench / Finding New Talent ✓ We have spent time and effort building up a bench of Talent on Upwork who we know and trust. ✓ When new projects are requested, we would ideally select resources for our existing talent bench: *WIP* - Request feedback from Business Owners on project completion, review and rate rources delivery and enrich the skill set of each. Share with Business Owners and Hiring Managers: Our bench of talent Their associated skill set and ratings Current utilization and availability We do sometimes need to find new talent and skill sets, when this is the case, we have a dedicated resource from Upwork who can assist with this. They help refine the Job Post and add suitable candidates to the shortlist of proposals for the job. Your Project Manager (or Luke) can assist with these requests.

More Related Content

How we use Upwork at Glasswall

  • 2. Upwork - Why Glasswall have integrated the use of Freelancers from the platform Upwork. We have set a monthly budget to make use of to help us accelerate on delivering project work. Some benefits and reasons for making use of this platform: On Demand Engineering - Elastic • We pay Upwork Freelancers by the hour. As such, when we need a burst of engineering capabilities, we can spin this up on demand and then wind it back down when work is completed. Enhance ourselves • As an FTEs, there is a never ending to do list of work. In order for each of us to achieve more, we can scale ourselves by defining good briefs of work and delegating them. • By-product : Opportunity for everyone learn about managing projects and people. Cost Effective • Very low on-boarding cost. • No domain knowledge upskilling / induction needed. • Low risk - if the person does not deliver in the first few days, end the contract Scale Glasswall • There is a limit to how much work we can achieve without complimenting ourselves with additional resources. We increase the amount of project delivery Glasswall can achieve through good utilization of Upwork
  • 3. Upwork - Considerations Like all investments, we need to make sure there is a good ROI. The value gained needs to exceed the cost spent. Cost is not just the money we pay to Upwork, but also the time our FTE’s spend in scoping and managing the work. We need to practise getting good and efficient at defining work well. Work should not need strategic thinking or internal domain knowledge by the worker to deliver once delegated to them. Should save us time and money, not the opposite We need to measure the work being delivered and access output quality (Context specific!) It is up to the Business Owner to scope the project, get it approved and scheduled. Work with the Upwork PMs to resource the project appropriately and track it on Jira. Measure the work being delivered. Feedback and drive the project direction. Be accountable for the project delivery and the associated cost. ‘It doesn’t exist if you don’t measure it’ - Person from Upwork
  • 4. Upwork - How 1. Create a Project and some Feature on Jira here: https://glasswall.atlassian.net/browse/PROGRAM-27 a. The Project needs a good Summary and Description b. The Features’each need a good Summary • By reading the Project and Features,one should have a grasp of the project scope and what is trying to be achieved c. The Project needs the following links: • Has business owner - This will link to you • Has technical owner - if applicable • Has customer - This will link to an internal or external customer • Has focus - This is either: Tech Debt, Support Customers or Commercial Opportunity 2. Include in the Project description the following: a. Estimated resource count b. Estimated resource skill level/cost c. Estimated project length • 1 sprint = 2 weeks • 2 sprint = 1 month • 1-3 months • Up to 1 year
  • 5. Upwork - How 3. Present the Project Brief at the Technology Forum meeting. a. This will allow for discussion, feedback, refinement, validation etc 4. At the Tech Forum we can update the Project status to either: a. Needs more details - To be refined by the Business Owner b. Needs approval - To be approved by TLT and Exec 5. At the Tech Leadership Meeting we will review and submit a list of projects to be approved by the Exec team for the following months execution.
  • 6. 6. When reviewed, the project status will change to: a. Scheduled, if it is to begin in the next round of projects b. Not scheduled - to be scheduled at a later date c. Not approved - Project not approved 7. When a project is approved and scheduled the business owner can work with an Upwork Project Manager / Luke to kick off the project: a. Resource the project - Preferably from our talent bench b. Slack channel c. Ensure appropriate program schema and mapping Upwork - How 8. It is then up to the Business Owner to utilize the Upwork PM to ensure all work is captured, tracked and updated on Jira 9. The business owner is encouraged to present progress at the Tech Forum and delivery/completion at our All Hands meeting
  • 7. Upwork - Additional Services Project Management We currently have three project managers from upwork. They help facilitate project kick off, progress and delivery. They schedule meetings, get updates from Upwork resources, and manage the Features / Stories and tasks on Jira, ensuring all work is captured in our Schema. • Alona has now joined Abbas’s team and is focusing on IT Support and Infosec. • She is also available to help with some administration tasks like onboarding / offboarding, company surveys and general upwork staff management. Alona • Is currently managing a number of operational, strategic and engineering projects. She also manages the admin for other Upwork staff members, upwork staff management. Tatevik • We have recently hired a Technical Project Manager who has a background in engineering and will help manage more Technical Projects. The first set of projects will be for ICAP. • On success, we can expand this to help manage more projects in the Cloud and Core departments. Doviana
  • 8. Upwork - Additional Services Design To make use of the upwork design services, request a task in the slack channel #upwork-services-design It will be up to our Upwork Designers to create and track these tasks in Jira: https://glasswall.atlassian.net/browse/PROJECT-148 - Upwork Services Design Examples of use: Infographics ; Icons ; Marketing material
  • 9. Upwork - Additional Services Jira-Administration ✓ Jira maintenance can be time consuming and tricky! ✓ We now have 2 dedicated Jira Admins, Dario and Mariel are have been trained in Jira Editing and can help us customize our Jira schemas and workflows. ✓ These resources are not to be used for adding Projects / Features / Stories etc or keeping Jira up to date. They are used to: Add new Projects and Issue types to Jira Editing workflows Customising fields and screens available within issue types Creating filters etc To use them, head to the Jira Admin channel on slack and make a request. They will create and track their work on jira here: https://glasswall.atlassian.net/browse/PROJECT-128 Jira Evolution and Maintenance
  • 10. Upwork - Additional Services By now you have all seen the power of Jupyter Notebooks for running Playbooks, Manipulating Data for consumption, reporting, measuring and visualisation of graphs We have a Program of projects on Jira dedicated to this https://glasswall.atlassian.net/browse/PROGRAM-32 - Data Science and Reporting - Measuring People, Product, Projects If you would like some Notebook work done, feel free to add a Story under the appropriate Project / Feature. If an appropriate Feature does not exist, you can add that too :) This squad meets every Tuesday and Thursday to review progress, feedback and prioritize the next set of tasks to work on. Anyone can ping Luke to request to join this meeting and discuss their notebook requirements Types of work include: Reports per Person, Project, Product, Team, Squad. Playbook engineering. Reports are currently generated from any data which we have in Jira. *Coming soon - Tasks on request in Jira Channel* Notebooks and Reporting
  • 11. Upwork - Talent Bench / Finding New Talent ✓ We have spent time and effort building up a bench of Talent on Upwork who we know and trust. ✓ When new projects are requested, we would ideally select resources for our existing talent bench: *WIP* - Request feedback from Business Owners on project completion, review and rate rources delivery and enrich the skill set of each. Share with Business Owners and Hiring Managers: Our bench of talent Their associated skill set and ratings Current utilization and availability We do sometimes need to find new talent and skill sets, when this is the case, we have a dedicated resource from Upwork who can assist with this. They help refine the Job Post and add suitable candidates to the shortlist of proposals for the job. Your Project Manager (or Luke) can assist with these requests.