Product Manager

      My extensive background in UX prepared me well for life as a Product Manager. I was always on the analytical side of UX so the transition from usability data and metrics to product data and metrics was easy.
      I love how modern Product Management is heavily focused on the user and promotes user/customer research more than ever. Of course, there are still commercial realities that mean you also need to consider the viability of the product for the business – feasible solution, accessible markets, etc.
      In my last few roles, I’ve also had the opportunity to mentor other Product Owners/Managers and UX Designers, which I’m finding very rewarding.

      Planning


      Project:

      Candid MVP

      Company:

      Candid

      Role:

      Head of Product

      Problem: With so much work to do, how do you decide what to tackle first?

      Planning has two levels. The first is planning sessions with stakeholders (including the team) to prioritise features and functions at a high level. You need to factor in external constraints, business objectives, complexity, build time and team resourcing just to name a few. The key to achieving a shared understanding across many people is communication. And don’t leave that room without a strict priority list! Something must be the top priority, not everything (even though stakeholders almost always ask for it!).
      The second aspect to planning is planning the work within the team. I’ve been the “Jira jockey” on most projects I’ve been a part of. I’m very familiar with sprint estimation, planning and tracking of work/stories. This includes creating Epics, backlog grooming, sprint reports, etc.
      In the below example, I had mapped out the key user scenarios for MVP. These scenarios allowed us to elaborate on what features and functions would be required to fulfil the MVP scenarios. We then put all the features and functions on a wall which allowed us to group and organise them into Epics. This also made it very easy for the team to challenge and discuss any priorities with some items being deprioritised or a leaner version taking its place for MVP.
      Epics were created from the groups on the wall and prioritised based on business priority, tech requirements, complexity, dependencies, etc. Stories inside the Epics where reevaluated and organised along similar criteria. This made it easier for the Dev team to estimate on items they were confident in and highlight any stories that needed tech spikes in order to investigate deeper.

      Key user journeys identified MVP features

      Key user journeys identified MVP features

      Group and prioritise features and stories

      Group and prioritise features and stories

      Create and prioritise Epics with user stories

      Create and prioritise Epics with user stories

      User Understanding


      Project:

      Various

      Company:

      PeakXD, 4impact

      Client:

      Various

      Role:

      Senior UX Consultant / Product Manager

      Problem: How do you build something users love?

      This is the area that obviously overlaps with UX the most. I am skilled in taking user research findings, metrics and design solution suggestions and matching or translating them into business objectives. While the business will no doubt have their own priorities and goals, understanding and factoring in the user's goals you will build something that users need. If done well, they'll love it too.
      Based on the business and user goals, a set of KPIs should be selected and monitored. These will vary from project to project and should be chosen after careful consideration as tracking and incentivising the wrong metrics can have disastrous effects.
      Information from users comes in 2 forms - direct and indirect. Direct information is gathered from user research activities where the user is directly involved. This is often qualitative in nature, such as interviews, workshops, usability tests, etc., but can also be quantitative for activities such as surveys and usability testing. Indirect information is usually data that has been gathered due to user activity and is almost always quantitative in nature. There are many sources of indirect information such as data logs and analytic tools that capture a wide variety of data (devices, browser versions, screen resolutions, session information, geo-location, entry and exit points,etc.).

      Factor in the business objects - Usability Testing for the MyTransLink app

      Factor in the business objects - Usability Testing for the MyTransLink app

      Task completion rates - Usability testing for the Australian Institute of Health & Wellbeing (AIHW)

      Task completion rates - Usability testing for the Australian Institute of Health & Wellbeing (AIHW)

      Device information - Virgin Australia

      Device information - Virgin Australia

      Strategy


      Project:

      Superannuation switchers

      Company:

      PeakXD

      Client:

      LGIAsuper

      Role:

      Senior UX Consultant

      Problem: How do you find undervalued or new market opportunities.

      Facilitating workshops is also something I’ve practiced through UX work, but for product management the tools change slightly as the primary focus is on the product and factors in user needs, rather than the other way around. I’ve run many workshops with stakeholders to identify their users, the problem space, their target goal or vision, risks and then finally how to map a path from the problem to the goal. These workshops utilise tools such as The Lean Canvas and Jobs to be Done boards.
      The example below explored what it would take for a user to switch Superannuation providers. We had already interviewed 9 users about their switching experience. The interview data was summarised and brought to a client workshop, where we worked through a Jobs to be Done methodology to discover insights into how LGIASuper could target new customers and encourage them to switch to their own funds.

      Jobs to be Done workshop inflight

      Jobs to be Done workshop inflight

      Grouped Push factors in a Jobs to be Done workshop

      Grouped Push factors in a Jobs to be Done workshop

      Grouped Pull factors in a Jobs to be Done workshop

      Grouped Pull factors in a Jobs to be Done workshop

      Want to get in touch?

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