Anuj Nayar, Senior Director, Global Initiatives, PayPal

 

Less than two years ago, PayPal embarked on the largest agile technology transformation in the industry. With thousands of engineers, and a large portfolio of products and services for consumers, merchants and retailers in more than 200 countries, PayPal’s aggressive leap into Agile is 20-30 times larger than those tackled by typical enterprise companies.

 

This week, Computerworld applauded the success of PayPal’s agile transformation and selected CTO James Barrese as a Premier 100 IT Leader.

 

 

PayPal’s agile transformation ensures that rapid updates to products occur across the global PayPal network. A team of 110 volunteers helped more than 4,000 product, operations and engineering staff through the transformation. Thousands were relocated into open offices and cross-function team seating, and KPIs aligned across product, operations and engineering. A large data center conversion (conducted in just seven months), combined with agile development, made production cycles seven times faster.

 

In just six months, PayPal had reached a stunning 76 percent agile maturity level, but more importantly, these cross-wired teams were lightning focused on solving critical customer needs quickly.

 

According to Computerworld, the Premier 100 spotlights individuals who have had a positive impact on their on organizations through technology. These are individuals who manage internal IT organizations, mentor and motivate their IT teams and business colleagues, create a positive work environment, envision innovative solutions to business challenges and effectively manage and execute IT strategies.

 

That definitely describes James, and I’m guessing he is blushing a little as he reads this. I know he’ll be the first to point out that it’s not his award to receive; it belongs to an amazing team of leaders and thousands of talented, committed technologists working hard every day to deliver amazing customer solutions.

Original author: PayPal-Forward