Meet the Product Department!

• How many people currently work in the UK / Europe product team, and do you see this growing across Europe

Currently there are two working in the UK team, Kate as Product Manager and Will as our Documentation Specialist. They are both looking forward to getting to know and becoming part of a bigger team within Europe and the US.

• What are the main responsibilities in the product department?

The product department have a wide variety of responsibilities that are important to myday. Kate and Will go through the process of setting the vision for myday, communicating that vision, then executing the vision. These are the core responsibilities.

Looking deeper into the responsibilities, to help with setting the vision, Kate and Will will arrange customer interviews for insight and feedback, competitor analysis and researching data and personas. From what they discover at this stage, they need to clarify the amount of value this will add to the product.

As the project develops, this is where the product department support the development engineering team with any questions that may arise when a feature is in the development stage. They will also assist in what work needs to be prioritised, at this stage they will keep track of any feedback and lessons learned throughout the project.

Once these steps are complete, they will work on the release management and release notes of the new feature, to which Will has really stepped up in this role, providing customers and colleagues with excellent updates of myday and its features. At this stage Kate and Will make sure they are aligned with the marketing department to help drive that message of myday or the particular feature that has been updated.

• How do you ensure everyone works effectively within the team?

Kate and Will always ensure they keep communication channels open and are receptive to any feedback or ideas. Every week they will have regular catch ups together, to stay aligned, offer feedback and ensure that the momentum stays high.

• Biggest challenges the product department face?

With so many engaged customers the ideas come in thick and fast, making sure that these are heard, evaluated, and noted but remaining focused on the areas that will add the most value to the most stakeholders. And of course, communication. Communication is the cornerstone of any product team and Kate and Will are always looking to enhance this each time they execute.

• How will you collaborate with colleagues in different time zones?

Times are less of an issue for Kate and Will as they take this into consideration with the customers that currently use myday across the globe. Like the rest of the Collabco team, Kate and Will have adapted to working from home, with this in mind, they can communicate much easier with colleagues in Europe and the US. Systems such as Slack make it simple for any team member to collaborate and share messages instantly whatever the location may be.