🔥 AND we're back to our regularly scheduled programming

issue #1 | date: 04/30/2025

Editors Note

Hello and Welcome!

I’m Phedra Arthur, an executive leader, mom of 2, wife, and therapist to all friends. I’m re-introducing my flagship newsletter & community. I originally started this project as Human Centered Project Management. It mostly focused on frameworks, musings, tips and tricks and essentially how to do “the job”. Get stuff done.

However, through a variety of 1:1s with employees, mentor sessions with many, and listening to the community, I realized what people wanted was something a little more bespoke. Let’s be honest, there’s a bunch of content talking about agile, leadership, frameworks…all the things.

There isn’t a ton out there providing a career roadmap from let’s say Technical Program Manager to Chief Operating Officer, or curation services for those ready to test the market with their current skills, and definitely nothing available opening up direct lines to recruiters and hiring managers.

Enter The Business of Delivery!

I want to help. Everyone who knows me, knows this is how I roll.

So in this inaugural issue, you’ll find:

• Curated opportunities for those aiming for delivery leadership roles

• Current delivery related job openings

• An Intro to Dr. Mik Kersten, CTO at Planview

• Weekly Recommendations from the community

• Learning the art of saying less

• And lots of ways to join us, support us, and give feedback

Love y’all,

Phedra Arthur Iruke

Editor in Chief

Featured Job Listings

🏆 Top 3 Picks of the Week (Hand-Picked, High-Impact Roles)

Role: VP Product Delivery

Company: Zelis | Leadership | More on modernizing healthcare financials

Location: Remote (Boston)
Why it’s great: Zelis is a leader in healthcare payments, and this role is pivotal in shaping product delivery and strategy across their platforms.
Apply here: [Direct Job Link]
Recruiter Contact: Cory Connolly, https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-connolly-3b627887/

Role: Director of Technical Program Delivery

Company: Experian | Leadership 

Location: Remote (Texas)
Why it’s great: Experian is a global data and analytics powerhouse, and this role focuses on leading technical program delivery for partner solutions.
Apply here: [Direct Job Link]
Recruiter Contact: Jessica Hould, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-hould-31301a69/

Role: Lead Director, Service Operations

Company: CVS Health | Leadership

Location: Hybrid (10 locations available in job posting)

Why it’s Great: Connecting people to the care they need, they put medicine and wellness within reach maintain affordability and convenience.

Apply Here: [Direct Job Link]

Recruiter Contact: Quenton Foster, https://www.linkedin.com/in/quenton-foster-107bb715a/

📌 More Hiring Now

Visionary Voices 

📝 Weekly Spotlight: Dr. Mik Kersten, CTO Planview

Dr. Mik Kersten is the chief technology officer at Planview, joining the company in 2022 through the acquisition of Tasktop, where he was Founder and CEO. Mik is the best-selling author of “Project To Product: How to Survive and Thrive in the Age of Digital Disruption with the Flow Framework®“.

His Flow Framework offers insights into optimizing software delivery and aligning IT with business objectives.

Flow Framework Best Practices

1. Measure Flow Using Value Stream Metrics
   Track flow distribution, flow velocity, flow time, flow load, and flow efficiency to understand how value moves through your delivery pipeline. These metrics highlight bottlenecks and help teams optimize for business outcomes.

2. Define Clear Value Streams
   Align teams and tooling around end-to-end value streams instead of siloed departments. Each value stream should deliver value directly to the customer and be measurable in terms of flow and outcomes.

3. Balance Flow Distribution Across Work Types
   Optimize the ratio of features, defects, risks, and debt being worked on. Too much focus on one area (e.g., only features) at the expense of tech debt or risk work can reduce long-term throughput and system health.

4. Correlate Flow Metrics to Business Outcomes
   Use flow metrics to understand how software delivery is impacting customer satisfaction, revenue, or time-to-market—not just agile team outputs.

5. Eliminate Systemic Bottlenecks
   Use flow diagnostics to identify where work is stuck—whether due to dependencies, approval gates, or technical limitations—and fix the system instead of blaming teams.

6. Create Executive Visibility Without Micromanaging Teams
   Dashboards and flow metrics can give leaders high-level visibility into performance without disrupting team autonomy or culture, bridging the gap between business and IT.

Learn More by subscribing to his podcast MIK+ONE!

📚 How to Say Less with More Impact

I've found that nothing trumps genuine listening when you're leading delivery teams. It's not just hearing words—it's about being fully there when someone's speaking to you. When people feel truly heard, their trust in you grows exponentially. From my experience, these approaches make all the difference: When someone's talking to you, put the phone down. Close your laptop (unless it’s a video call). Look them in the eye. Nothing kills trust faster than checking emails while someone's pouring their heart out about project challenges. After they finish, try saying, "So what I'm hearing is..." Then summarize what they said. You'd be shocked how often we miss the point entirely—and how grateful people are when you take the time to confirm. Instead of yes/no questions, try "What do you think about..." or "How would you approach..."

The gold is always in these deeper conversations. When it's your turn to speak: Know what you want to say before opening your mouth. I used to ramble until a mentor asked me, "What's the headline here?" Changed my communication forever. Skip the buzzwords. Nobody actually knows what "leverage synergistic opportunities" means. Just say what you mean in plain English. Get to the point. People appreciate brevity more than brilliance. I've sat through too many meetings where someone took 20 minutes to say what could've been said in 2.

Tips

• Be Present: Eliminate distractions and focus entirely on the speaker.

• Reflect and Clarify: Paraphrase what you've heard to confirm understanding.

• Ask Open-Ended Questions: Encourage deeper discussion and insight.

• Plan Your Message: Know the key points you need to convey.

• Use Clear Language: Avoid jargon and be direct.

• Be Mindful of Time: Respect others' time by being brief yet comprehensive.

🤝 Support the Community

• Community: Submit a recommendation by replying to this email!

• Leaders: Apply to be featured by replying to this email.

• Recruiters/Hiring Managers: Get your job in front our community. You got it - just hit reply.

If you’re reading this on the web, feel free to send an email to [email protected]