The Challenge

A university innovation team was two years into developing a cutting-edge digital identity wallet for verifiable credentials. Despite having 15 top-tier engineers (including blockchain experts, DevOps, backend, and frontend specialists) and a monthly burn rate of $1.5 million, the team had yet to deliver a working MVP.

The situation was critical:

• Grant deadlines were being missed repeatedly

• A kanban board with hundreds of tickets and dozens stuck "In Progress"

• A technical product manager stretched thin trying to manage JIRA instead of product strategy

• A project manager who wasn't actually managing

• Executive stakeholders and grant funders growing increasingly frustrated

• Visionary leadership and talented developers, but no strategic operational management connecting the two

The Results

4 months after engagement: Functional pilot applications released and deployed

Cost optimization: Monthly burn rate reduced from $1.5M to $150K through focused team restructuring and efficiency gains

Team transformation: Engineers could finally focus on building instead of navigating JIRA jungle

Stakeholder confidence restored: Grant funders saw tangible progress and renewed their commitment to the project

The Approach

As Product Manager, I implemented a focused, hands-on operational and strategic management approach:

Established Clear Priorities

• Cut through the hundreds of tickets using grant deliverables and early user feedback data to identify true MVP scope

• Created a realistic roadmap with firm milestones tied to grant deadlines

• Negotiated technical scope with engineering, reducing it to fit the allowable time and satisfy pilot usage scenarios

Implemented Disciplined Execution

• Restructured the kanban board with WIP limits and clear definitions of done

• Introduced daily standups with accountability for blockers

• Set up weekly stakeholder syncs and, critically, extracted what success actually looked like for leadership—turns out they wanted far less than what engineering was trying to deliver

• Created a communication cadence that kept leadership informed without micromanaging the team

Bridged Strategy and Execution

• Translated executive vision into actionable release plans and engineering tasks

• Protected the engineering team from scope creep and competing priorities

• Made hard trade-off decisions to keep the team focused on the pilot goal

Key Takeaway

Even the most talented teams need someone to bridge the gap between executive vision and engineering execution. The breakthrough came from asking leadership what success actually looked like—and discovering they wanted far less than what engineering was trying to build. With clear priorities, operational discipline, and strategic focus, we transformed two years of spinning wheels into four months of meaningful delivery.