About

Archana Anand is a Senior Engineering Program Manager with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. She has a proven track record of leading complex engineering programs, including new product introductions, hardware and software programs, and software-only programs with Agile/Waterfall/Hybrid methodology. Currently working at Cisco, Archana is responsible for leading NCS1000 and NCS1004 Optical portfolio of programs/projects and Next Gen platforms with an amazing Engg Teams. She is driving and managing cross-functional teams to deliver Next-Gen high scale NCS1000 platform on IOX-XR SW based Chassis and Line Cards from Concept commit to General Availability. She is also working on project plans, prototype availability from vendors, manufacturing, and supply chain. Archana engages, collaborates, and escalates with project team members, stakeholders, and exec sponsors to ensure obstacles are cleared, risks are mitigated, projects commitments are fulfilled, and various project milestones from concept commit to FCS are successfully met. Before joining Cisco, Archana worked at Dell as a Senior Technical Program Manager, where she managed Enterprise Content Management product managing cross Geo teams based out of China, UK, USA, and Russia. She was accountable for Agile Release Management of the product from initiation of the release to global delivery. Archana collaborated with top head executives and product managers to coordinate business with the program. She managed the Phase Exit reviews with the execs, defect tracking, and risk management. Archana has also worked at NetApp as an Engineering Program Manager - Manageability. She was a technology group-wide Technical Program Manager and closely engaged with Product Management on respective product alignment with ONTAP and manageability products. Archana represented manageability product strategy, execution status, communicating risks, issues to executive leadership. She has experience with managing expectations and interfacing with Executive Leadership and core stakeholders on project statistics, metrics, and release dashboards. Archana holds a PMP, CSM, and CSPO certification. She completed her education from Divine Providence Convent. Archana's specialties include Engineering Program Management, Product Strategy, Leading software engineering teams, Release management, and Customer Programs. Her tech stack includes product manager, Web, QA, Senior Software Engineer, and test.