Hello, my name is… Clara (Product Owner)
“Hello, my name is…” is a series of stories introducing you to some of our shopper technology team at The LEGO® Group in London, offering an insight in to our engineers and product owners, what they do and what a typical day looks like for them.
This story is about Clara who is a Product Owner at the LEGO Group.
So what does a Product Owner do?
As a Product Owner, I am responsible for the development of my specific product areas on LEGO.com.
I identify new features that bring value to both the end user and the business, prioritise the development and testing and then finally create the release plan.
I am responsible for…
I’m working on two main product areas at the moment - cart and checkout on LEGO.com and the in-store app for our LEGO Brand Retail stores, which just launched as a pilot.
As I mentioned, my role is really to engage with stakeholders to identify new features, enhancements or bug fixes to my product, and keep them updated on development plans and releases.
An example of a typical feature and the challenges they bring is the release of the “check store stock” feature on a product page, which I worked on while being Product Owner for the ‘Explore’ section of LEGO.com.
The final feature included a full integration with Google Maps and the ability to use a user’s location from their browser. We created a release plan to separate those as future iterations, which allowed us to go-live with a simpler version that still offered the service to the shopper to check if the item was available at their closest store.
The map was added in a second iteration and then eventually location services got de-prioritised — confirming the value of a release plan that can always be re-adjusted according to new needs.
Other day to day activities include backlog refinement with the team, where we clarify acceptance criteria and ensure we have test data available, re-adjust the backlog if something new comes up, supporting the engineers with questions about ticket and reviewing tickets and features where needed.
My commute to work…
I live just 30 minutes away from the office. I take the tube, carefully avoiding the worst rush hour so that I have enough space in the carriage to take out my book and read.
I got this job…
I was already in the LEGO Group, working in marketing for our shopper loyalty program — LEGO VIP. I was responsible for the loyalty platform so I worked closely with the technology team as a stakeholder, to add new functionalities (brief and test) and make sure everything was working as expected. I moved to the Direct Shopper Technology team a couple of years ago initially as a business analyst to support the re-platforming of the site and this grew in to my current role.
My most memorable moment at the LEGO Group so far…
I could say it’s when I got this job, having wanted to work in technology for a long time — but you might think I’m saying it on purpose, so I’ll pick something else.
A week before Christmas 2019, the team was working on getting our new iPad app ready for production. Being the first app we had developed as a team that was already exciting, but to make things better we were also using a new payment provider with physical payment devices (the credit card machine you use in a shop). So all in all it was unexplored territory with a fair level of complexity.
It was late in the afternoon and we were ready to try a transaction for the first time in production. The full team working on the app gathered around the device, put something in cart and reached the summary screen. Click on “pay”, nothing happens. We ran through the process again behind the scenes and realised we forgot to update one of several elements in the chain in the production environment. We got this addressed quickly (it was just a configuration) and tried again. And the order went through, all the way to our backend system! We all cheered, high-fived in the office - and quickly left for a pint.
And because working at the LEGO Group is not all about work, I’m going to squeeze in another memorable moment too. A couple of years ago, we ran a program called Build the Change with the Local Community Engagement team. We went into primary schools and asked the children to come up with a project that would help make their school better.
We had six sessions in the schools, to explain how they could make small changes to improve things in their life and eventually in their school. My group eventually settled for building a small farm with few animals. At the end of the project, they came to the office to present their ideas, together with a LEGO model of it.
It was very rewarding to engage with kids and their enthusiasm and see how easily they think we could solve even bigger problems like helping poorer countries.
The best part of my job…
The best part about my job is bringing new things to life. I love to see something going from the idea stage to a full implementation, when we can look back and see we made things better for our shoppers, our stakeholders and our business.
The other great part of my job here at the LEGO Group is my team. People are great, passionate about what they do and even if we are under pressure, people always find time to make jokes.
When I’m not at work…
When I’m not at work I’m busy living a thousand lives, as George RR Martin would say . In less poetic terms I read a lot — mostly fiction — unless the reading group at my library picks a non-fiction book to discuss.
I travel balancing going back home to visit my family with visiting the world. When I’m not travelling I’m planning when and where to go next whilst sipping tea. Loads of tea.
As product owner of my household, I support the primary user need of drinking tea with an outstanding mug collection. New features are constantly added, which means the storage needs for anything else stays firmly at the bottom of the backlog.
The technology I’m most excited about right now is…
All of it! I don’t have a background in technology so I learn something new every day just by talking to my team.
Before I started I wasn’t very familiar with serverless technology but now I know what it is and I could even explain it to others who are new to it. I’m excited about any new ticket as most likely it will teach me something new. We are just starting working on a new payment gateway so maybe I’ll also be able to explain how that works in few months!
On a side note, I’m poking my nose into the fundamentals of JavaScript, out of curiosity.
What makes a good Product Owner and do you have any advice to new people?
A good product owner knows their product inside out and always thinks with their “user” hat on.
They should always base the development of their product on user needs — and always backed by data and insights. They value discovery, development of a proof of concept or prototypes to ensure the right features are built for the user and the business.
Being flexible is key as the environment can change (industry, stakeholder priorities, funding, technology available) so priorities need to be re-arranged, together with the backlog, the tickets and your plan for the week.
As we work with stakeholders, engineers, consumer service and numerous different people with different skill sets, it’s also fundamental to be able to communicate efficiently to everyone (it’s like speaking different languages sometimes) and maintain good working relationships based on transparency.
Lastly, I would mention patience, because sometimes things turn out to be more complicated than expected or don’t go according to plan… but this is also what we like - the unexpected - because we can handle it.
Find out more about the Shopper Technology team at the LEGO Group in the “Hello, my name is…” series here.
