Tim Bishop
1413 Bonita Ave
Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 528-0784
Professional History
Project and Product Management for Start-ups, since 1989
Director of Program Management
GetActive Software
2004-current
Manage the development and release of new software functionality at GetActive Software, an ASP for non-profit and advocacy organizations. GetActive hosts the websites and/or advocacy, fundraising, and community web pages for 300 organizations ranging from Oxfam America and the Humane Society, to the Environmental Defense Fund. I am responsible for:
- Coordinating the product development work of the product management, engineering, and quality assurance teams.
- Creating and manage the software development schedule.
- Developing product introduction plans, and coordinating the business and technical teams for product launches.
- Initiating, creating and managing product development processes for this rapidly growing company.
Consultant, Internet marketing,
business, software development and project management
2003-2004
Did a wide variety of internet marking, business development, project management, software development and writing consulting projects, including:
- Researched and wrote a market and competitive intelligence report for a major textbook publisher, Wadsworth. Examined hundreds of college textbook web sites, and wrote a report qualitatively and quantitatively analysing competitive publishers' online offerings, and recommended a course of action to Wadsworth.
- Wrote documentation for the open source political organizing and GOTV software tool, AdvoKit.
- Wrote and donated to UC Berkeley a set of PHP scripts that generate RSS feeds for the University of California's News Center and Events Calendar.
- Joined the CivicActions team for the two months leading up to the 2004 election, and did project management, server and software setup and administration, documentation, and support for a series of websites (Rock the Vote, Vote All Your Values, Voter Call) and users of AdvoKit (the Baobabs Project) doing get out the vote activities leading up the 2004 election.
- Retained by The Omidyar Network to work with a startup they wanted to fund, and helped the principal generate a proposal and project plan.
Vice President of Product
Development
Onscreen Systems, Inc.
2000-2003
Led design and
development of Onscreen’s innovative product, TVtopia, a
downloadable Windows entertainment application with automatically
updated TV listings, directory of fan and official web sites,
user-to-user interactive games, chat, and instant messaging:
- Researched market, analyzed
competition, and wrote early feature definition, specifications, and
project plan for TVtopia.
- Hired and trained team of writers,
editors, game designers and community leaders who created compelling
content and a community of regular TVtopia users.
- Ran successful alpha and beta
programs, and incorporated user feedback into revised product
design.
Grew Onscreen from a
3-person software contracting company to a 20-person product
development company:
- Recruited, hired and managed a marketing team, a VP of Sales and Marketing from Amazon.com, and a VP of Content and Community.
- Obtained facilities, established information systems, created processes, and developed personnel infrastructure for company as it grew.
- Researched, qualified, selected, negotiated contracts, and managed outside vendors for graphic design, usability, content, legal, and software quality assurance, successfully developing TVtopia while minimizing head count.
Director Of Web Products
MyTurn.com
1999 – 2000
Created a companion web
portal, www.MyTurn.com, for the users of MyTurn's low-cost
computer, the Global PC:
- Specified, developed, tested and
deployed first version of portal in 6 months.
- Researched market, analyzed
competition, and wrote marketing requirements document (MRD),
specifications for feature set, and project plan.
- Evaluated and chose technology
platform (Linux, Apache, JSP and Oracle) based on shortest
time-to-market and maximum flexibility.
- Selected content vendors (CNN for
news, Inktomi for search) based on ease of integration and quality
of offerings.
- Selected and managed outside
software development company to create first version of portal.
- Successfully integrated content
and code from multiple vendors by establishing in advance very clear
definitions of deliverables and testing required before delivery.
Built web products development team for MyTurn:
- Hired and built 12-person team of
software engineers, quality assurance engineers, writers, editors,
community leaders, and usability and graphic designer to develop
successive versions of the portal.
Director, Operating Systems Business
Unit
Geoworks
1998-1999
After 3 years at
Geoworks, was promoted to run the newly created 35-person business
unit responsible for the development, marketing and sales of
Geoworks’ new flagship operating system, GEOS-SC:
- Built and managed an extremely
productive team of software developers, quality assurance engineers,
marketing staff and salespeople.
- Developed and released 2 upgrades
to GEOS-SC, adding features such as Java support, an
ITRON-compatible real-time microkernel, a port to the ARM family of
microprocessors, and a PIM application suite for mobile phones.
- Increased sales by $4 million in
the first year by finding new customers for GEOS-SC among Japanese
mobile phone manufacturers.
Program Manager and Product Manager,
Operating Systems
Geoworks
1995-1997
Managed Geoworks’
development of GEOS-SC, a brand-new portable graphical operating
system for mobile phones and embedded devices. Development took place
in 4 sites, included both Unix and Windows based C++ development
environments, and required debugging on 3 platforms.
- Completed 2 year software project
on time and on budget.
- Transformed R&D project into
successful product.
- Managed schedule, specification
changes, communication, issue discovery and resolution, and
development of project management processes.
- Effectively managed relationship
with Toshiba, funding partner and manufacturer of the first hardware
platform, and enabled them to ship 3 smart phone devices with
GEOS-SC.
Software Project Manager
EO,
Inc
1993-1994
Promoted to Project
Manager for EO’s next generation smart phone product,
responsible for coordinating work of 100+ developers:
- Managed hardware/software
integration, hardware allocation, and project phasing,
- Created and maintained master
software project schedule.
- Ran change control process.
- Communicated project status,
including weekly reports to executive team.
First led team that
localized EO’s PenPoint 3.0 operating system into Japanese and
wrote software to enable PenPoint to run on NEC’s hardware.
- Project managed cross-functional
team of hardware and software developers, and translators, and
coordinated work with sales and marketing team and NEC.
Documentation Localization Manager
GO
Corporation 1992-1993
Managed the writing,
translation, and production of over 2,000 pages of end-user and SDK
manuals and online help for the PenPoint operating system into
Japanese.
- Managed outside localization and
production vendors and partners, as well as an in-house team of
writers, translators and DTP specialists.
Documentation Project Manager
Zetatype
Desktop Publishers, Inc
1989-1991
Estimated, scheduled,
and organized projects for this small business specializing in
hi-tech product documentation.
- Designed and implemented
computerized system for managing and tracking document flow and
approvals between clients, writers, editors, graphic artists,
proofreaders, DTP specialists and printing presses.
Operations Manager
Neil &
Associates
1987-1989
Managed the production
of deposition and trial transcript summaries for this legal services
business.
- Negotiated deadlines, content
standards, and formats with clients.
- Hired, trained, assigned and
scheduled paralegals and copyeditors.
- Designed database to track
document and work flow, generate invoices, and track accounts
receivable.
Technical skills
Expert:
Windows, Microsoft
Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project, Homesite, Movable Type,
pMachine, HTML, and CSS.
Familiar:
Linux, Solaris, Apache,
PHP, MySQL, Perl, Wiki, Dreamweaver, TopStyle, Perforce, Powerpoint,
Lotus Notes, and Groove.
Education
Oberlin College,
History and Economics,
1983
Languages
Near-fluent French,
some Spanish, tourist Hausa.