WHY PRODUCT MANAGEMENT?

My desire to pursue a career in product management is rooted in my passion for improving people's lives and making the complex simple. I believe I have the necessary experiences and skill sets to be an effective Product Manager:

• My time at Pure Storage has given me a deeper understanding of how data collection, data quality, AI/deep learning/machine learning impacts infrastructure.
• My time at Yelp in Community & User Operations helped me qualify user intent and quantify the importance of moderation, which requires curiosity and an investigative mindset to ensure users are being their authentic selves.
• My time at Apple working directly with customers gave me first hand experience on product launch cycles and how products get adopted by end users.
• My education at UC Berkeley in Media Studies have given me a theoretical perspective on mass communications and the functions of communities throughout human history.

In addition, I bring to the product management role the following dimensions:

ux focused

I enjoy analyzing user experiences. My most recent analysis is in regards to how the 23andMe web experience can be improved through personalization.

Personalization is key to pushing relevant content and improving discoverability for visitors.  Here are the key recommendations that I made in my video:

• Have a personalized tile near the top of the home page to display uniquely personalized content based on viewing history.
• Personalized tile could take up half a section on the right side underneath the hero section.
• This section would display different content for first time visitors and repeat/recurring visitors.
• First time viewers could be presented with customer stories so they can learn more about existing customer use cases and testimonials.
• The next time the person with the same IP address revisits, they could be presented with a different tile based on their viewing history and referring link.

project/stakeholder management + prioritization

I manage multiple complex projects with competing deadlines and many cross-functional stakeholders on a daily basis. The 3 key things that allow me to consistently deliver by final launch dates is organization, regular communication, and good tools. 

I am naturally a very organized person, and my current role has empowered me to take these organizational skills to new heights with trackers, folders & other tools. I also tailor my communications (ie. cadence, level of detail) to each stakeholder & optimize based off feedback and outcomes. I maximize impact with several key tools: Calendar, Spreadsheets and Chat client.

Calendar: I use a calendar app such as Google Calendar to keep track of deadlines with relevant stakeholders, set milestone reminders and schedule follow ups as necessary to resolve bottlenecks.

Spreadsheets: I manage several trackers on a spreadsheet application like Google Sheets to maintain a birds eye view of all the moving parts across projects. For larger complex projects, I create a dedicated tracker and maintain a clear and concise notes section with key action items, owners & dates to ensure we are making progress. I am also constantly optimizing my trackers through color-coding and testing new formats.

Chat Client: I use Slack/gChat to supplement email follow-ups. Slack is a means for stakeholders to have immediate access to me and vice versa. It is also a great medium to share assets back and forth.