(Disclaimer: This is the third piece in a three part series on Diversity and Inclusion. I’m lucky to work at a company like AppNexus that values D&I and provides training for employees – however not all companies are as forward
The Dubious Value of “Final” Drafts
It’s a fact of life in most corporate environments that lots of documents need to be created and lots of managers need to review them. The typical rhythm goes like this: An individual contributor creates a first draft of a
Overdesigned Products
Like any new homeowner, my weekends have been pretty much dominated by jobs around the house. Cleaning out the basement, getting a plumber to fix the sink, rebuilding the crawlspace door, etc. etc. It’s been a really busy couple of
House Hunting
Over the past couple months Miranda and I have been house hunting in Westchester. The process has been interesting to say the least. We’ve been out to look at homes four different times and have placed bids on a few
Simple Framework For Product Line Ownership
Outside of a company’s senior executives, the product line owner is probably the one person whose performance is most highly correlated with the overall success of a company. Distinct from the product development manager, who primarily works with engineers building
On Unconscious Bias
This week I’ve been reflecting a lot on unconscious bias – specifically what it’s like to be a woman working at a technology company. AppNexus has been very active speaking out against gender bias and helping create awareness internally and
The Bowling Alley
Yesterday I picked up Geoffrey Moore’s Inside the Tornado; a sequel to his best-selling book Crossing the Chasm. First off – wow. What an amazing book. Both Tornado and Chasm describe the challenges of marketing technology products through each stage
Governor’s Island and Delivering Incremental Value
I always love the view walking west on Atlantic Avenue from our apartment in Cobble Hill. The road dips down under the BQE and tumbles right into Brooklyn Bridge Park at Pier 6. As we were walking this route on
Product Planning in One Week
The job of the product manager is somewhat of an anomaly in the working world. Unlike the role of, say, an engineer, or a sales person, the role of the product manager can be completely different at one company vs.
Inefficiency Pays
When I worked in analytics at my ad agency, a good portion of my job was pulling reports, copying reporting data to excel, wrangling data together with vlookups, stuffing data into templates and making the same charts every month. As