BILAL
Collaboration
Stories
Situation
Approach
Outcome
Time-sensitive
Advocate
Re-prioritize
Pivot
Trade-Offs
Re-align
Disagree & Commit
Quick fixes
Earn trust
Outreach
Conflict
& Pushback
When I had to pushback on something.
1
How did I do it and what was the outcome?
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Challenge
Help students improve their test scores by 8%-10% with each mock test they take.
Launch performance reports for mock tests on both Desktop and Android
Ensure the feature is launched atleast 6 months ahead of the exam season
Situation
A week before code freeze for dogfooding....
WEEKLY STATUS REVIEW
SDM
PM
Guys, we won’t be ready to ship reports on mobile
hitting some bottlenecks with react-native
unless... we take what we built for desktop and render that as a pdf on mobile?
Me
hmm, lets try the PDF thing?
ugh, this won’t be good for our users
Temporary solutions to temporary problems create permanent problems...
Approach
Listen
Level
Lead
Listened intently without reacting or troubleshooting.
Captured the react-native bottlenecks in the meeting notes and documented them in a JIRA.
Reframe the aforementioned constraints in a few different ways.
Group said bottlenecks into categories.
Reorder in the decreasing order of cost-benefit ratio
Scheduled deep-dives with the SDEs
Sat next to the SDEs and reconstructed the page with pre-baked react-native components
Simpler layout that avoided the bottlenecks and yet met the users needs
“Developers cutting corners isn’t laziness.
It is efficiency under pressure. Help them find smarter corners, not just the shorter ones”
Outcome
vs.
Outcome
To avoid this going forward, I made a process-related changed:
I asked the SDMs to include a UX sign-off in code reviews, ensuring we catch red-trending line items early.
Don't pushback on ideas.
Pushback on assumptions
LEARNING
Successfully launched on Android along with Desktop
During the next 6 mock tests, students saw 24% peak and 11% average increase, beating expectations
When I had to pushback on something.
1
How did I do it and what was the outcome?
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Challenge
Help students improve their test scores by 8%-10% with each mock test they take.
Launch performance reports for mock tests on both Desktop and Android
Ensure the feature is launched atleast 6 months ahead of the exam season
Situation
A week before code freeze for dogfooding....
WEEKLY STATUS REVIEW
SDM
PM
Guys, we won’t be ready to ship reports on mobile
hitting some bottlenecks with react-native
unless... we take what we built for desktop and render that as a pdf on mobile?
Me
hmm, lets try the PDF thing?
ugh, this won’t be good for our users
Temporary solutions to temporary problems create permanent problems...
Approach
Listen
Level
Lead
Listened intently without reacting or troubleshooting.
Captured the react-native bottlenecks in the meeting notes and documented them in a JIRA.
Reframe the aforementioned constraints in a few different ways.
Group said bottlenecks into categories.
Reorder in the decreasing order of cost-benefit ratio
Scheduled deep-dives with the SDEs
Sat next to the SDEs and reconstructed the page with pre-baked react-native components
Simpler layout that avoided the bottlenecks and yet met the users needs
“Developers cutting corners isn’t laziness.
It is efficiency under pressure. Help them find smarter corners, not just the shorter ones”
Outcome
vs.
Outcome
To avoid this going forward, I made a process-related changed:
I asked the SDMs to include a UX sign-off in code reviews, ensuring we catch red-trending line items early.
Don't pushback on ideas.
Pushback on assumptions
LEARNING
Successfully launched on Android along with Desktop
During the next 6 mock tests, students saw 24% peak and 11% average increase, beating expectations
When I had to pushback on something.
1
How did I do it and what was the outcome?
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Challenge
Help students improve their test scores by 8%-10% with each mock test they take.
Launch performance reports for mock tests on both Desktop and Android
Ensure the feature is launched atleast 6 months ahead of the exam season
Situation
A week before code freeze for dogfooding....
WEEKLY STATUS REVIEW
SDM
PM
Guys, we won’t be ready to ship reports on mobile
hitting some bottlenecks with react-native
unless... we take what we built for desktop and render that as a pdf on mobile?
Me
hmm, lets try the PDF thing?
ugh, this won’t be good for our users
Temporary solutions to temporary problems create permanent problems...
Approach
Listen
Level
Lead
Listened intently without reacting or troubleshooting.
Captured the react-native bottlenecks in the meeting notes and documented them in a JIRA.
Reframe the aforementioned constraints in a few different ways.
Group said bottlenecks into categories.
Reorder in the decreasing order of cost-benefit ratio
Scheduled deep-dives with the SDEs
Sat next to the SDEs and reconstructed the page with pre-baked react-native components
Simpler layout that avoided the bottlenecks and yet met the users needs
“Developers cutting corners isn’t laziness.
It is efficiency under pressure. Help them find smarter corners, not just the shorter ones”
Outcome
vs.
Outcome
To avoid this going forward, I made a process-related changed:
I asked the SDMs to include a UX sign-off in code reviews, ensuring we catch red-trending line items early.
Don't pushback on ideas.
Pushback on assumptions
LEARNING
Successfully launched on Android along with Desktop
During the next 6 mock tests, students saw 24% peak and 11% average increase, beating expectations
When I had to pushback on something.
1
How did I do it and what was the outcome?
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Challenge
Help students improve their test scores by 8%-10% with each mock test they take.
Launch performance reports for mock tests on both Desktop and Android
Ensure the feature is launched atleast 6 months ahead of the exam season
Situation
A week before code freeze for dogfooding....
WEEKLY STATUS REVIEW
SDM
PM
Guys, we won’t be ready to ship reports on mobile
hitting some bottlenecks with react-native
unless... we take what we built for desktop and render that as a pdf on mobile?
Me
hmm, lets try the PDF thing?
ugh, this won’t be good for our users
Temporary solutions to temporary problems create permanent problems...
Approach
Listen
Level
Lead
Listened intently without reacting or troubleshooting.
Captured the react-native bottlenecks in the meeting notes and documented them in a JIRA.
Reframe the aforementioned constraints in a few different ways.
Group said bottlenecks into categories.
Reorder in the decreasing order of cost-benefit ratio
Scheduled deep-dives with the SDEs
Sat next to the SDEs and reconstructed the page with pre-baked react-native components
Simpler layout that avoided the bottlenecks and yet met the users needs
“Developers cutting corners isn’t laziness.
It is efficiency under pressure. Help them find smarter corners, not just the shorter ones”
Outcome
vs.
Outcome
To avoid this going forward, I made a process-related changed:
I asked the SDMs to include a UX sign-off in code reviews, ensuring we catch red-trending line items early.
Don't pushback on ideas.
Pushback on assumptions
LEARNING
Successfully launched on Android along with Desktop
During the next 6 mock tests, students saw 24% peak and 11% average increase, beating expectations
When I had a disagreement with a stakeholder, how I handled the conflict.
2
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Challenge
Reduce the time it takes our customers to decide what to watch by 25%
Increase the metric
Titles-per-session (TPS)
by 0.4
Design an “Up next” browse experience to help users find the right title to watch
PM already had a solution in mind which involved adding a personalization carousel akin to Amazon Shopping, Netflix and Prime Video
Situation
PM
Me
...how do we know that is what our users want?
...a carousel of titles?
isn’t reducing decision-fatigue one of our core-tenets?
Hey, can we have some mockups for the “Up next” screen?
akin to Amazon shopping,
let us add a carousel of personalized suggestions.
I’ve asked the Personalization service team to reach out to you for the mockups
ME
On a cloudy morning somewhere in Seattle...
Approach
Approach
Outcome
Before
After
Titles-per-session (TPS) increased 30%
from 1.1 titles to 1.43 titles
When I had a disagreement with a stakeholder, how I handled the conflict.
2
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Challenge
Reduce the time it takes our customers to decide what to watch by 25%
Increase the metric
Titles-per-session (TPS)
by 0.4
Design an “Up next” browse experience to help users find the right title to watch
PM already had a solution in mind which involved adding a personalization carousel akin to Amazon Shopping, Netflix and Prime Video
Situation
PM
Me
...how do we know that is what our users want?
...a carousel of titles?
isn’t reducing decision-fatigue one of our core-tenets?
Hey, can we have some mockups for the “Up next” screen?
akin to Amazon shopping,
let us add a carousel of personalized suggestions.
I’ve asked the Personalization service team to reach out to you for the mockups
ME
On a cloudy morning somewhere in Seattle...
Approach
Approach
Outcome
Before
After
Titles-per-session (TPS) increased 30%
from 1.1 titles to 1.43 titles
When I had a disagreement with a stakeholder, how I handled the conflict.
2
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Challenge
Reduce the time it takes our customers to decide what to watch by 25%
Increase the metric
Titles-per-session (TPS)
by 0.4
Design an “Up next” browse experience to help users find the right title to watch
PM already had a solution in mind which involved adding a personalization carousel akin to Amazon Shopping, Netflix and Prime Video
Situation
PM
Me
...how do we know that is what our users want?
...a carousel of titles?
isn’t reducing decision-fatigue one of our core-tenets?
Hey, can we have some mockups for the “Up next” screen?
akin to Amazon shopping,
let us add a carousel of personalized suggestions.
I’ve asked the Personalization service team to reach out to you for the mockups
ME
On a cloudy morning somewhere in Seattle...
Approach
Approach
Outcome
Before
After
Titles-per-session (TPS) increased 30%
from 1.1 titles to 1.43 titles
When I had a disagreement with a stakeholder, how I handled the conflict.
2
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Challenge
Reduce the time it takes our customers to decide what to watch by 25%
Increase the metric
Titles-per-session (TPS)
by 0.4
Design an “Up next” browse experience to help users find the right title to watch
PM already had a solution in mind which involved adding a personalization carousel akin to Amazon Shopping, Netflix and Prime Video
Situation
PM
Me
...how do we know that is what our users want?
...a carousel of titles?
isn’t reducing decision-fatigue one of our core-tenets?
Hey, can we have some mockups for the “Up next” screen?
akin to Amazon shopping,
let us add a carousel of personalized suggestions.
I’ve asked the Personalization service team to reach out to you for the mockups
ME
On a cloudy morning somewhere in Seattle...
Approach
Approach
Outcome
Before
After
Titles-per-session (TPS) increased 30%
from 1.1 titles to 1.43 titles
How I delivered something on a
tight deadline
How did I adapt when my designs got rejected?
3
OR
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Reduce the time it takes our customers to decide what to watch by 25%
Launch by Q1 2022, to get partnerships with major players like Samsung, LG etc.
Situation
Situation
WEEKLY CONTENT SYNC
If we won't have the UX locked in by next week, my team can't deliver by Q1
SDM
ME
SDE
Guys, our content library is not tagged properly
So we are unable to curate carousels based on themes or personalization
Also, we still have issues with rendering autoplay against assymetrical data
Bilal, do we really need autoplay?
I'll be right back guys, I have to cry
Content
Manager
Approach
Create a ring-fenced slack channel between content team and player team
Retain leanback = retain the simplicity of single-axis browsing
Proactively secure time on leadership's calendar to review the UX
Find another interaction design pattern to categorize titles without compromising autoplay
Socialize concepts well before they are ready to get a pulse-check
Over-index on communication
1
2
3
Protect Customer Needs
Organized Chaos
Approach
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Outcome
CUSTOMER
Successfully launched the experience on FireTV and Roku by Q1 2022.
The time-to-first-stream metric was 3:57, which is well under the benchmark 4:30.
BUSINESS
This release afforded content team more time to map the titles with appropriate tagging.
And, helped onboard new clients like Samsung, Playstation and Apple TV.
LEARNING
During tight deadlines, stay stubborn on the vision but flexible on the details.
How I delivered something on a
tight deadline
How did I adapt when my designs got rejected?
3
OR
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Reduce the time it takes our customers to decide what to watch by 25%
Launch by Q1 2022, to get partnerships with major players like Samsung, LG etc.
Situation
Situation
WEEKLY CONTENT SYNC
If we won't have the UX locked in by next week, my team can't deliver by Q1
SDM
ME
SDE
Guys, our content library is not tagged properly
So we are unable to curate carousels based on themes or personalization
Also, we still have issues with rendering autoplay against assymetrical data
Bilal, do we really need autoplay?
I'll be right back guys, I have to cry
Content
Manager
Approach
Create a ring-fenced slack channel between content team and player team
Retain leanback = retain the simplicity of single-axis browsing
Proactively secure time on leadership's calendar to review the UX
Find another interaction design pattern to categorize titles without compromising autoplay
Socialize concepts well before they are ready to get a pulse-check
Over-index on communication
1
2
3
Protect Customer Needs
Organized Chaos
Approach
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Outcome
CUSTOMER
Successfully launched the experience on FireTV and Roku by Q1 2022.
The time-to-first-stream metric was 3:57, which is well under the benchmark 4:30.
BUSINESS
This release afforded content team more time to map the titles with appropriate tagging.
And, helped onboard new clients like Samsung, Playstation and Apple TV.
LEARNING
During tight deadlines, stay stubborn on the vision but flexible on the details.
How I delivered something on a
tight deadline
How did I adapt when my designs got rejected?
3
OR
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Reduce the time it takes our customers to decide what to watch by 25%
Launch by Q1 2022, to get partnerships with major players like Samsung, LG etc.
Situation
Situation
WEEKLY CONTENT SYNC
If we won't have the UX locked in by next week, my team can't deliver by Q1
SDM
ME
SDE
Guys, our content library is not tagged properly
So we are unable to curate carousels based on themes or personalization
Also, we still have issues with rendering autoplay against assymetrical data
Bilal, do we really need autoplay?
I'll be right back guys, I have to cry
Content
Manager
Approach
Create a ring-fenced slack channel between content team and player team
Retain leanback = retain the simplicity of single-axis browsing
Proactively secure time on leadership's calendar to review the UX
Find another interaction design pattern to categorize titles without compromising autoplay
Socialize concepts well before they are ready to get a pulse-check
Over-index on communication
1
2
3
Protect Customer Needs
Organized Chaos
Approach
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Outcome
CUSTOMER
Successfully launched the experience on FireTV and Roku by Q1 2022.
The time-to-first-stream metric was 3:57, which is well under the benchmark 4:30.
BUSINESS
This release afforded content team more time to map the titles with appropriate tagging.
And, helped onboard new clients like Samsung, Playstation and Apple TV.
LEARNING
During tight deadlines, stay stubborn on the vision but flexible on the details.
How I delivered something on a
tight deadline
How did I adapt when my designs got rejected?
3
OR
Situation
Goal
Milestone
Reduce the time it takes our customers to decide what to watch by 25%
Launch by Q1 2022, to get partnerships with major players like Samsung, LG etc.
Situation
Situation
WEEKLY CONTENT SYNC
If we won't have the UX locked in by next week, my team can't deliver by Q1
SDM
ME
SDE
Guys, our content library is not tagged properly
So we are unable to curate carousels based on themes or personalization
Also, we still have issues with rendering autoplay against assymetrical data
Bilal, do we really need autoplay?
I'll be right back guys, I have to cry
Content
Manager
Approach
Create a ring-fenced slack channel between content team and player team
Retain leanback = retain the simplicity of single-axis browsing
Proactively secure time on leadership's calendar to review the UX
Find another interaction design pattern to categorize titles without compromising autoplay
Socialize concepts well before they are ready to get a pulse-check
Over-index on communication
1
2
3
Protect Customer Needs
Organized Chaos
Approach
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Outcome
CUSTOMER
Successfully launched the experience on FireTV and Roku by Q1 2022.
The time-to-first-stream metric was 3:57, which is well under the benchmark 4:30.
BUSINESS
This release afforded content team more time to map the titles with appropriate tagging.
And, helped onboard new clients like Samsung, Playstation and Apple TV.
LEARNING
During tight deadlines, stay stubborn on the vision but flexible on the details.
