From International Business to Software Development
I never expected that after studying in International Business, I would end up working in software development, just like my dad. When I first told him I was a ScrumMaster, he sighed — they were in the process of implementing agile where he was working.
Trying to sell stuff in LATAM
When I graduated from my BBA in International Marketing, I landed my dream job; I started working in a small firm specialized in business development in Latin America. I had spent my BBA learning Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese just to make sure I would get to represent Canadian firms in LATAM. You can imagine how ecstatic I was when GoExport Inc. asked me to work for them even though I was still studying for my Masters, or how lucky I felt when they agreed to send me to Rio de Janeiro for 3 months.
Little did I know, my dream job would start to unravel into one of my greatest frustrations: having no control over the product I was trying to sell. Imagine trying to convince a Brazilian retail company that your cellular-based fleet management solution is what they need, when local networks are so unreliable? And imagine my frustration when I would tell my clients in Montreal and hear their reply: “It’s part of our long term plan, but it’s not on the short-term roadmap”. This is when I knew I had to make a career change. I did not want to sell products and software in Latin America anymore — I wanted to help build those products! I wanted to influence a product roadmap based on what users really needed and wanted, wherever they were located.
One way ticket to Agile land
After I left GoExport, I was lucky enough to be referred to Engagement Labs. I started off as a ScrumMaster in June 2015, with absolutely no knowledge of software development, agile, or scrum whatsoever. The only thing I knew was how to live with uncertainty (which is, pretty useful in software development, right?). Let me tell you, it was a real rollercoaster! During the year and a half that I spent there, our company acquired the KellerFay Group, changed the product management team and made a great shift from social media analytics (eValue™ Analytics) to a new form of holistic measurement of both online & offline conversations: TotalSocial™. In December 2015, I was appointed to lead the user interface team as a Product Owner. I remember being told not to accept the job by a UX instructor because I didn’t have the experience and would ultimately fail. It was scary; after all, I had what seemed to be the impossible task of keeping everyone on track, as the company itself was trying to find its own way.
I accepted the job. It was hard. I made mistakes. I learned. I am still making mistakes and I am still learning. But our team is stronger than ever, and we did manage to release the user interface of TotalSocial™ last September. My inexperience led to greater collaboration company wide. What seemed impossible at first was achieved, because we kept thinking incrementally. We planned our release and each sprint.
We kept our mind open to change. We tested as much as possible with users as we built on new features. We collaborated and communicated with all the other teams involved in getting this product on the market: Research, Data, Client Services. Even today, our UI is nowhere near perfect, but we have something on the market, and I couldn’t be prouder of my team and my first release as a Product Owner.
PS: My dad was super proud of what he called my first “Go Live” :)
