Brendan’s life @GBG
Tell us about you and your team?
I lead a truly amazing team of business analysts and quality assurance engineers. We work across five international locations: Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and Hanoi.
I see my role as ensuring that everyone has what they need to do their jobs while at the same time helping to bridge the distance and make us feel truly connected to each other. We have a wonderful, open and positive team culture and a continuous improvement mindset. Together, we deliver high-quality products that meet our customers’ needs.
“I have had amazing opportunities to develop – the business saw potential in me that I wasn’t even paying attention to!”
What‘s the best thing you’ve worked on recently?
Over the past six months, my team have been reaping the rewards of a new automated testing framework that we built for our fraud prevention products. Complex software is time-consuming and repetitive to test manually and doesn’t deliver at the speed we expect for our customers.
Our team built the framework and a baseline of tests, and since then we’ve been consistently adding tests and increasing our coverage. So far, we’ve reduced the time taken to test our fraud solutions by 40% – with even more savings to come. And as an added bonus, the team are loving their new skillsets!
Brendan with team members from across Asia-Pacific and at the GBG Australia Kickoff 2022.
How has GBG helped you grow your career?
I have had amazing opportunities to develop – the business saw potential in me that I wasn’t even paying attention to! My role began as user experience lead for one of our identity products. My managers were looking for someone to lead on quality assurance in our product delivery and tapped me on the shoulder for the new role.
Since then, my role has expanded across the Asia-Pacific region to do the same thing for several products in our identity and fraud portfolio. This cross-product focus enables my team and me to look for ways to standardise and share knowledge across the region and around the company as a whole, ensuring we’re doing things in the best and fastest way we can.
“I am able to work from my home or from a really lovely office location whenever I like – it’s my choice based on what works best for me and my family.”
What’s been your standout moment of 2022?
My standout moment for 2022 has been our annual GBG Kickoff. Every year, we come together as a company to share the priorities and challenges for the coming financial year, helping every team member to understand how we can directly contribute.
In these times of working remotely with people located in different cities, it’s a truly wonderful experience to spend time connecting in the flesh with people whom I’d previously only seen online. There were so many useful incidental conversations that have helped to build relationships and get to know each other better. The fact that the company invests in us and these opportunities speaks volumes to its commitment to our people and their understanding of what’s needed to succeed in these post-Covid times.
What do you love about life at GBG?
I love the flexibility that GBG offers me. I am able to work from my home or from a really lovely office location whenever I like – it’s my choice based on what works best for me and my family commitments on any given day.
I feel totally supported to ensure my family life is taken care of as number one, and that I have the flexibility to work at times when I can give 100%. A couple of years ago, I was dropping off the kids at school, going to assemblies and picking them up, so I never missed those precious moments. As my kids have grown older, my days have become more routine, but whenever I need flexibility it’s always there.
