Knut Nickol - Test expert, Product Owner/Business Analyst & Scrum Master

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Dieburg, Germany

Experience

Jan 2024 - Aug 2024

8 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Tester and Quality Coordinator

DB Fernverkehr

Sales system (booking system) in an agile SAFe environment.

Creation and execution of test cases, including documentation
Coordinating QA throughout the entire development process
Requirements analysis, creation, execution, and reporting of test cases
Central contact for QA questions
Participation in design workshops and identification of risks from a QA perspective
Conducting DoR checks
Verifying deadline compliance
Supporting teams from QA perspective through to acceptance
Methods: SAFe, Kanban, Agile
Results: test case catalog, test reports, acceptance declaration, service agreements/SLAs with third-party providers, QA-secured development: DB Navigator, bahn.de, employee frontend VSPro
Technologies/Tools: Android Studio, XRAY, JIRA, Confluence, Office 365, Git, CI/CD

Apr 2022 - Oct 2024

2 years 7 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Tester and Hands-on Test Manager

DB Netz / DB Systel

Information system for onboard staff in an agile environment.

Creation and execution of test cases, including documentation
Coordinating QA throughout the entire development process
Requirements analysis and creation and execution of test cases for mobile apps
Coordination of the test team (4-5 people)
Creating test reports, test plan, test concept, and release declaration
Preparation and presentation of test results
Manual test execution
Setting up test automation
Participation in agile meetings
Client contact on QA topics
QA consulting
Supporting Product Owners, Business Engineers (BE), and Business Analysts (BA)
Supporting developers with unit tests
Reviewing user stories
Methods: Scrum, Kanban, Agile
Results: test reports, test plan, test concept, release declaration, epics, user stories, working test automation, successful go-live
Technologies/Tools: Android, JIRA, XRAY, HP ALM, XENON, Confluence, MS Office, Office 365

Feb 2021 - Jun 2022

1 year 5 months

Mainz, Germany

Requirements Engineer, BA, BE

Aareon AG

Requirements analysis of a B2C and B2B real estate portal in an agile environment.

Ensuring requirements
Point of contact for Product Owner and development
Requirements analysis and creation of epics and user stories
Acting as Scrum Master at times
Communication between team and Product Owner
Methods: Kanban, Agile
Results: agile deliverables (epics, user stories), smooth development of the web portal
Technologies/Tools: JIRA, Confluence, Invision, MS Office

Nov 2020 - Mar 2021

5 months

Berlin, Germany

Test Manager, Release Manager

Init AG (on behalf of the federal government)

Federal government websites in an agile environment.

Hands-on test manager
Release manager - supporting project managers
Coordinating development with the release plan
Supporting rollouts
Testing
Methods: Kanban, Agile
Results: successful go-lives and rollouts
Technologies/Tools: JIRA, Core Media, MS Office

Apr 2016 - Dec 2016

9 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Test Manager, Tester, Product Owner

Deutsche Börse

QA/testing of the Deutsche Börse website.

Single point of contact for the service provider in the web environment
Test management, execution of user acceptance tests, end-to-end tests, test case creation, reporting
Communication with service provider
Coordinating development with the release plan
Supporting rollouts
Testing
Methods: Kanban, Agile
Results: successful go-lives and rollouts
Technologies/Tools: JIRA, Confluence, iOS, Android

Mar 2010 - Mar 2016

6 years 1 month

Langen, Germany

Test Manager and Tester for ATCAS air traffic control software

Deutsche Flugsicherung

Project: QA/testing of the ATCAS air traffic control software.

Test management, test execution, results reporting, creation of test cases and test data
Creating functional tests in SQS-Test, test automation
Manual test execution
Coordination of the external test team (12 people)
Processing and presentation of results
Method: Waterfall
Results: successful go-lives and rollouts
Technologies/Tools: Redmine, Subversion SVN, Mantis, SQS Test Center

Jul 2007 - Dec 2010

3 years 6 months

Darmstadt, Germany

Deputy Sub-project Manager, Test Planning

ActiveBilling GmbH & Co. KG (Deutsche Telekom)

Project: QA/testing of Deutsche Telekom billing software.

Deputy sub-project manager, test planning, creation and execution of test data, and planning of migration tests
Project planning / milestone planning
Data modeling
Coordination of test activities and test data creation
Review of technical specifications
Creating test concepts, test plans & status reports
Planning & documentation of test cases
Validating test results
Organizing and leading meetings
Tools: BMC / ARS Remedy, MS Project, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, Sybase PowerDesigner, Mercury Quality Center, SoapUI, HP/Mercury Quality Center (user level, reports)

Mar 2007 - Jul 2007

5 months

Darmstadt, Germany

Deputy Head of Overall Testing

T-Systems

Project: NEWTON, QA for T-Com billing software.

Coordinating test activities
Communication between business units
Creating test plans & status reports
Reporting to client
Organizing and running meetings
Tools: ARS Remedy, MS Project, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint

Oct 2006 - Jan 2007

4 months

Darmstadt, Germany

Head of QA

T-Online

Time-critical project - Head of QA: redesign of the T-Online customer center.

Leading QA for an offshore development
Ensuring test measures and test activities
Coordinating test activities
Communication between business department and developers
Creating and reviewing test scenarios & test cases
Creating test data
Performing system tests & system integration tests
Configuring the test environment
Tools: ClearCase, WinRunner, TOAD, PuTTY, UltraEdit, BEA WebLogic, Unix

Jan 2006 - Oct 2006

10 months

Darmstadt, Germany

Tester / QA

T-Online

Project: T-Online customer centers, BOT-OMS, COSMA, OMS.

Creating test scenarios & test cases
Performing system & system integration tests
Manual UI tests
Creating automated tests / test automation
Configuring the test environment
Testing processes and workflows
Documenting test cases and test results
Tools: ClearCase, WinRunner, TOra, TOAD, UltraEdit, Action Request System (ARS), BEA WebLogic, Unix

Nov 2005 - Dec 2005

2 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Project Management and New Media Support, QA / Testing

Neckermann

Project management / support
Requirements management / controlling
Communication between departments
Consulting on web usability
UI testing and functionality analysis
Aligning a style guide for web interfaces
Performing & documenting functional tests

Jun 2004 - Aug 2005

1 year 3 months

Wiesbaden, Germany

Project Lead for Test Automation, Sub-project Lead for UI Design

HZD Hessian Data Center

Project: online shop for geo-data, QA testing and UI design.

Leading test automation project
Sub-project lead for UI design
Sub-project lead for order processing in the shop system
Consulting on web interfaces/usability, web design
Consulting on Enfinity Intershop and online shop systems
Creating and executing tests/acceptance
Creating automated tests with Mercury WinRunner
Creating a web style guide according to Hessen CI
Creating templates to adapt to the Hessen portal (CI)
Creating user manuals
Training and supporting departments
Creating a prototype for availability tests
Communication between client and general contractor
Tools: Enfinity Intershop, test tools (WinRunner, Badboy), PHP, HTML/DHTML, PhotoShop, ARS Remedy, BSCW

Dec 2003 - Mar 2004

4 months

Soest, Germany

Consulting on Usability, Style Guide, CI, CD

Actebis Holding GmbH

Project: web interfaces / HTML frameworks.

Consulting on usability, style guide, CI, CD
Creating HTML templates
Creating search forms and result lists
Creating CSS
Writing a brief style guide
Technologies: HTML, CSS, PhotoShop, Dreamweaver, Homesite, UltraEdit

Oct 2003 - Nov 2003

2 months

Rotenburg, Germany

Consultant

Juwel Aquarium

Project: web portal relaunch.

Consulting & workshop on B2B and B2C portals
Gathering the functionalities of the future portal
Creating the functional specification
Creating a requirements specification
Technologies: HTML, MySQL, DB modeling

Jan 2003 - Jun 2003

6 months

Mannheim, Germany

Web Programming, Content Creation, Graphic Design

Roche Diagnostics GmbH

Project: intranet/internet.

Consulting, planning, development, and maintenance of various intranet sites
Communication between departments
Creating parts of the internet presence according to internal guidelines
Creating several online forums: sales: market forum (incl. competitor comparison, products, target groups, etc.), HR: FAQ forum
Requirement gathering (BA) and creating requirements specifications
Consulting on usability/software ergonomics (GUI/style guide/guideline/corporate design/branding)
Search engine (Verity/ht.DIG), installation, administration, search forms
Creating 'smart' forms using JavaScript
Customizing form mailers
Creating online help and documentation
Programming various Perl and PHP scripts, MySQL and JavaScript
Content preparation and creation
Editorial tasks
Graphic and web design
Technologies: HTML/DHTML, CSS, JavaScript, Perl/CGI, PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, MySQL-Front, Reddot web content management system, Homesite, UltraEdit, Photoshop 6.0, MS Office

Mar 2000 - Jun 2002

2 years 4 months

Frankfurt, Germany

Intranet Projects

Dresdner Bank

3 projects in Web IT, corporate banking & CC IT credit & risk systems, and Global Transaction.

Creating and testing intranet projects (Enfinity Intershop, CMS)

Jan 1999 - Present

26 years 7 months

Web Developer and Consultant

Self-employed

Summary of web projects / new media:

Over 100 websites and online shop systems delivered
Systems: Magento, Joomla!, Contao, TYPO3, modifiedShop, WordPress, Kunena forum, phpBB forum, phpList newsletter system, and many more.
Skills: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, MySQL, responsive design, Linux, Apache

Jul 1996 - Dec 1998

2 years 6 months

Seligenstadt, Germany

Software Development (Permanent Position)

ATAS GmbH

Process visualization for mail centers for Deutsche Post AG, mail centers XL, XXL / on behalf of Mannesmann Dematic, Offenbach (PLC, Pic++, Linux/Windows 95/NT)
Process visualization and control of baggage handling, Cologne-Bonn airport on behalf of Mannesmann Dematic (C, PLC, Linux/Windows 95/NT, ESSI, Turbo Pascal, Windows 95/NT, DOS)

Summary

Knut Nickol, born in 1966, is a self-employed senior IT consultant focused on quality assurance, web topics, and business analysis.

He has expert knowledge in quality assurance and has been involved in both traditional and agile software projects for over 25 years. His preference for web development and user-friendly interfaces quickly led him to specialize in testing and requirements management.

In agile software projects, he has successfully filled various roles such as Scrum Master, Product Owner, Business Analyst / Requirement Engineer, and Tester / Test Manager.

In addition to his experience as a tester (ISTQB Certified Tester), he also has solid experience in test management (ISTQB Test Manager) and software quality management. This includes all QA activities from testing to planning/control and monitoring of the software testing process, including documentation in defect management systems and their analysis/presentation. His open and positive approach makes him a valued team player. His quick grasp of new and complex topics leads to short onboarding times.

Languages

German

Native

English

Advanced

French

Elementary

Education

Aug 1993 - Mar 1994