Joining the SSENSE Product Team Remotely
Written at the end of my 6th week at SSENSE, entrenched enough to have routines, but too new to conduct interviews.
I always say I was lucky to start my Product career by accident when I joined a national telecommunications company nearly a decade ago upon graduating. On my first rotation on a Leadership Development Program, I reported into a team fully based in Toronto… while I was in Vancouver. My manager gave me the flexibility to pop into my local office if I ever wanted to. Succeeding in my role hinged on meeting deadlines and accommodating early starts to bridge the three-hour time zone gap with collaborators. Subsequently, once I became a permanent Product Manager on the digital team, I led my cross-country, cross-functional squad of developers, designers, and QA analysts with the same approach of ownership and empowerment. (As a new PM, I stumbled along the way, and still do… trying to put the “zen” in Kaizen.)
This foundation has been key to comfortably joining SSENSE from afar, during a pandemic, having sadly never stepped foot into our stunning headquarters nor flagship retail space located in Montréal! It also speaks volumes to the efforts made by SSENSE to provide a smooth remote working experience from the start. Let’s get into specifics.
Interviews
First and foremost, I was sourced on LinkedIn! I would have never applied for what I assumed was a Montréal-based role. Instead of just the usual 15 minute phone screen covering basics, my SSENSE recruiter Andrae was thorough. SSENSE genuinely wanted to understand the context behind my experiences, as well as manage my expectations, especially in light of COVID-19. Andrae explained how SSENSE had already announced that all teams which were able to, would remain remote through to mid-2021 to prioritize teams’ wellness. She then covered the product team’s flat and autonomous structure, as well as exciting upcoming initiatives. Andrae then dove into the details about the opportunity, while understanding how interviewing remotely can increase the feeling of information asymmetry by a candidate. A human approach to people management? Interest piqued!
To prepare for the first interview, I scoured the SSENSE-TECH blog. As a non-technical person, I was interested in the approaches taken in the build-measure-learn process. Going through the articles, I noticed that even developer details were (relatively) easy to understand — clearly, SSENSE engineers were willing to translate technical complexity for a broader audience. Similarly, product focused articles shared recent launches’ UX rationale, A/B testing methodologies, and even someone’s journey into becoming an APM. The blog was a window into what it’s like to lead an SSENSE team, getting to hear PMs’ voices before meeting them.
The subsequent video conference interviews included presenting a business case to a cross-functional panel with a broad spectrum of questions for my proposal. Everyone came across as friendly, professional, and incredibly capable. The more people I met, the more I wanted to work with them. Who can say that while progressing down an interview funnel?
Onboarding
At the height of summer’s heat, I received an offer! Then came a heatwave of concerns, mostly sparked by well-meaning friends wondering how someone who used to plan monthly team socials and weekly lunches would shift to a remote-by-design role. Thankfully, SSENSE had thought about ways big and small to ensure I’d have a strong start. To name a few, I had:
1. An introductory team call ahead of my “arrival”
2. A three-hour virtual onboarding session as part of a new hire cohort
3. A buddy I had met during my interviews
4. A detailed breakdown from my Director on how to approach my first few weeks, including links to an internal glossary of SSENSE lingo
A few days before my start date, I received my laptop, external monitor, keyboard, and mouse for an easy and ergonomic work from home setup. We are encouraged to have our cameras on for presenters not to speak into a void. No lack of face time from afar!
First month
Joining the SSENSE team five months into their shift towards the new reality of primarily remote work life meant I was reaping the rewards of the countless and swift efforts to transition processes, tools, and expectations. These continue to evolve, gleaning regular internal anonymous feedback and insights, managers’ proactively reaching out to check in, and a work from home committee dedicated to making the transition enjoyable for everyone, while finding initiatives to make the digital workplace as welcoming as possible. The committee shares strategies to help improve our remote practice, including tips for time and stress management, as well as ways to optimize digital tools’ settings.
We’re also trialing meeting-free Wednesdays, recognizing the importance of a team-wide agreement to optimize the work week around deep work. Keeping to core hours and being readily available on Slack, we’re aiming to strike a balance akin to being in an office together. Slack reactions and giphys help keep LOL moments going, and I’ve particularly loved participating in quizzes at the start of squads’ retrospectives, with one person crafting questions about themselves that are meant to stump us. I recently learnt one of our QA analysts has over thirty types of plants in his Montréal apartment. Impressive!
Now
While it would be amazing to fly across Canada monthly for face-to-face time with the team, that’s not in the cards for 2020. Ironically, by the end of the month, the three PMs I lead will have all moved out of their apartments to relocate closer to loved ones. Like me, they’ll have the luxury of fostering teamwork from afar, then spending their evenings with quirky quarantine hobbies. Let’s see those sourdough selfies!
Editorial reviews by Deanna Chow, Liela Touré, & Mikhail Levkovsky.
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