My First Two Weeks at Adproval
Week One
After a delightful dinner Monday night that included pineapple pizza, door prizes, (insert: motivational posters, chainz, silly string), some very interesting stories (naked sheep throwing…), and lots of laughter, I was really excited to start my first day interning at Adproval.
POMs -not the delicious juice-
The first thing we learned about was the Pomodoro Technique. Essentially it is a really neat way to make sure your staying on task while also giving your brain a break to keep it from being overworked. At the office we set a timer for 25 minutes and get to work and take a 5 minute break when the timers done. We have a Pom Sheet where we keep track of the number of Poms completed each day and what we accomplished during each Pom. It’s cool to see at the end of the week all of the work you’ve accomplished!
Trello, ello, ello
Matthew also set everyone up with Trello, an awesome project managing website. We can create lists of what we need to accomplish and organize it according to specific times when we are working on it. It’s probably the coolest thing I’ve discovered so far. Well, besides the bombin’ tacos from Food Truck Friday. ☺
Role Play
After we learned how to organize our time efficiently, it was time for some role play. We took turns being Influencers and Advertisers and used Adproval for the first time. It was a neat way to see exactly what the website does and how users interact with it. It was also a good project for team building skills and problem solving. If someone had a question or a comment about our experience, us interns joined together and figured it out!
Our first day ended with a cool discussion about what we thought Adproval was. It was neat to share all of our ideas as a team along with the guidance of Matthew. This is where I took away my biggest lessons for the week: Expectations and Benefits vs Features.
Expectations and Benefits vs Features
When discussing what we thought the company was and what it should do, Matthew mentioned the idea of expectations. He said it is important for users to know what is expected of them and what is expected from us, as a team, to provide them with a service. He said expectations are important in all areas of our lives. We should know what we want others to expect from us and what expectations we have for ourselves and others. We also discussed the difference between benefits and features. A feature is a specification or detail about a product or service while a benefit is a way it can positively affect or cause a change to the user. Both of these will be crucial as we begin to work with customers.
Week 1: Main Takeaways
Overall, I would say my main takeaways for the first week have been: time management, team communication, knowing expectations, and understanding the difference between a feature and a benefit. Now if only there was a way to learn to avoid the temptation of the delicious coffee next door. ☺
Week Two
CRMs, CSVs, and Copters
Week two is where things started to get more hands on with users. I was taught how to use Streak, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) application. From here, I was able create CSV spreadsheets to organize my contacts with current and potential influencers. I have started getting used to communicating with users via email and Intercom and have learned that receiving feedback is crucial at this stage of user development. I also am responsible for updating the Rafflecopter widget on Adproval’s blog that picks 3 users for immediate access to the service.
Photoshoot!
Week 2 included a photoshoot! Will took everyone’s headshot and a group photo to be featured on the About page that Hayden is creating. Futureman, Matthew’s adorable pup even got his own photo taken!
Week 2: Main Takeaway — CSquaredTA
My biggest takeaway from week 2 is CSquaredTA, aka CCTA, aka Clear Call To Action. A CCTA is important because in order to receive any feedback from users we need to ask direct and specific questions. This approach will greatly help me in communicating with users and any other projects I may be working on.
I’m excited to see what next week holds!
