Laz Allen has over 15 years of experience in project management, business operations, and requirements gathering. He co-founded TPLD Ltd in 2002 where he has held various roles and managed major development projects and operations. These include implementing Agile methodologies to deliver projects on time and on budget. He also grew the business through securing funding and implementing new systems.

1. Laz Allen CV

2. Career Synopsis Project Management – Responsible for running projects, keeping track of progress and issues, ensuring deadlines were met and that risks were identified and mitigated where possible and preparing contingency plans Business Operations – Responsible for the systems, processes and overall operation of the company ensuring that all essential procedures and management overheads functioned to the highest standard Requirements Gathering – Through customer engagements and market research gathering requirements for products and project to ensure that the outcome delivers the highest value to the customer/end user Sales/Business Support – Ensuring that the CEO had all the support necessary to present and demonstrate the company’s capability in order to close business Personal Task Management – given the wide variety of roles and responsibilities on a day to day basis I keep track of all new tasks and prioritise these with the existing set, conducting weekly reviews to ensure that I remain as productive as possible

3. Professional Experience November 2006 Private Consultancy to Present Responsible for providing consultancy and support to the Financial Directors office of an Oil and Gas Group based in Aberdeen with particular focus on financial projections and acquisitioning modelling. Main tasks included modelling of multiple acquisitions into a group of international companies to assist in the completion of a multi-million pound acquisition. September 2002 TPLD Ltd to Present After co-founding TPLD in 2002 I have held a wide variety of positions including business operations, project management and customer relations - this continuous change has allowed me to develop and apply new skills in an environment of constant change.

4. TPLD: Managing Major Development Cycles Managed two major development programs from inception to closure by implementing the standard Agile/Scrum process. This supported the company’s main business goals of delivering products/projects to external and internal stakeholders on schedule, on budget and to high quality. The main projects are highlighted next:

5. TPLD: Managing Major Development Cycles Infiniteams – Responsible for continuous product development, laterally acting as the Product Owner / Scrum Master ensuring that the product was built to business and technical requirements. This included setting up effective product backlog, sprint planning and testing processes for internal, partner and customer review. Original game responsibility included developing requirements for the system and the design of 4 of 7 short mini games that still form part of the latest release of the product.

6. TPLD: Managing Major Development Cycles The Winning Game – Responsible for project management; acting as the Scrum Master ensuring that this fixed priced project was built to business and technical requirements. This was an extremely challenging fixed priced project that required liaising with multiple external parties. As above the main role included setting up effective product backlog, sprint planning and testing processes but required very close management with the multiple external resources. This project was delivered to schedule, on budget and exceeded the customer’s expectations – this is due for release in March 2009.

7. TPLD: Managing Major Development Cycles Core Platform – Responsible for liaising with internal team to ensure product and project requirements are linked into the platform development – this includes taking a holistic approach to understanding how best to communicate requirements; for example the platform features various networking topographies to allow play through corporate networks, and various engines/libraries to support development of different game types. Other Projects – Responsible for overseeing 25 smaller software projects over the past six years; these ranged from product concept demo’s to bespoke applications demanding various roles ranging from client liaison to project manager or scrum master.

8. Business Management and Operations Business Operations – Responsible for TPLD’s business administration – this included developing TPLD’s financial exhibits, initially with the support of business advisors and then subsequently solicitors, equity investors, public sector funding bodies and corporate banking to secure a number of successful funding rounds. Major tasks included setting up the early business management tools and process. Partner Management and Support – Responsible for working with a key US partner to support their roll-out of one of our products, providing both sales and technical assistance, including product support at a major US conference.

9. Business Management and Operations Implementation of Web 2.0 business management system – Responsible for migrating early management systems to a complete online, remotely accessible system. This included leveraging tools such as Google Apps Suite, Mindmeister, wiki’s, bugzilla and other resources to move the entire management system (sales & action tracking, backlogs, meeting agenda and minutes, bugs, software and product info) to persistent, always on, version tracked environment. This technology and process was also used to manage a rapid collaborative activity to update the company website, with 5 people working on the same documents at once to write, review and approve copy within 2 days.

10. September 2002 TPLD Ltd Dare To Be Digital – Responsible for design and project manager for the competitions team. The project was the catalyst to create TPLD’s first prototype ahead of incorporating TPLD Ltd. This time was also used to develop the code and the original business plan and develop business networks. www.daretobedigital.com

11. AWARDS Scottish Institute for Enterprise Business Plan Competition – Entering for TPLD in both 2002 and 2003 we were awarded ‘runner up’ in 2003, both years we received coaching and seminars from numerous industry leaders and assigned mentors. In 2006/7/8 I have been asked to judge the competition, a great honour and something I’ve really enjoyed; this has given me a good sense for what a great plan and team looks like. www.sie.ac.uk

12. Details of Academic Qualifications University of Abertay Dundee : Post Graduate Diploma: Entrepreneurship 2002-2003 Joining directly from the third year of my bachelors course as part of the Embreonix Business Incubator (course now called Enterprise Creation). Studies included: idea generation and development, finance and accounting, commerce law business planning, sales and negotiation skills and personal development. University of Abertay Dundee : BSc Computer Games Technology, 1999-2002 Ordinary with distinction (due to completing 3/4 years) Studies included: programming, game production (process, methodology, design), marketing, applied mathematics, industry structure. St Mary’s High School, Hendon, London 1992-1999 GCSEs - 10 A Levels – 3 (Economics, Design and Technology and Physics)