How to Lead Large Scale Projects with Wendy Shepperd GVP Engineering @ New Relic #31
51:13 Share

Wendy Shepperd), GVP Engineering @ New Relic covers how she leads massive-scale strategic programs with precision execution. You’ll hear how to lead great project kickoffs, successfully execute across multi-year time horizons, navigate complex dependencies, launch, & of course celebrate success with your team.

"One of the things I tell my teams all the time, especially when things get hard... is I say " Hey, y'all we are making memories! One day we're going to look back on this time and talk about what we learned and laugh about it and share stories about it."

ABOUT WENDY SHEPPERD

Wendy Shepperd, GVP Engineering, leads product development for the New Relic Telemetry Data Platform, the leading SaaS multi-tenant observability platform used by tens of thousands of engineers to build and operate more perfect software for their customers. She also oversees global infrastructure, architecture, managed services, and engineering operations for New Relic.

Having worked with a variety of organizations from start-ups to billion-dollar companies, Wendy brings a unique perspective on what works well for different types of situations and at different stages of growth. She loves growing leaders and building winning teams that execute with precision. Currently leading her fourth multi-million dollar cloud migration, Wendy has developed deep expertise and a fair amount of scar tissue around the many aspects of complex platform migrations in large-scale environments. 

SHOWNOTES

• Wendy's lessons learned after leading 4 multi-million dollar cloud migrations (2:29)
• How to decide when to fix-forward or roll-back your complex strategic project (6:36)
• What great project execution looks like in a complex cloud migration (9:37)
• Wendy’s keys to a smooth cloud migration & the major steps of strategic planning (13:57)
• How to lead a successful planning phase for your project (16:28)
• How to resolve conflict when your teams and projects have different priorities (18:46)
• How to move your project forward despite unknown dependencies (22:22)
• How to hold a great project kickoff and what to avoid (26:59)
• How to sustain momentum and successfully execute large, complex projects with precision (31:33)
• Wendy’s team, leadership, and communication cadence during Project Cumulus (37:19)
• How to handle real-time coordination and execution during pre and post-project launch phases (39:27)
• Wendy’s favorite project milestone celebration (42:33)
• How Wendy’s past work as a technical writer impacts her leadership now (44:54)
• Wendy’s less obvious, but essential advice to lead large, complex projects (46:43)
• Takeaways (48:56)

Looking for other ways to get involved with ELC? Check out all of our upcoming events, peer groups, and other programs at sfelc.com)!