It all begins with a problem that needs solving . Whether improving the daily lives of customers or helping organizations grow seamlessly, Melanie knows how to make that vision a reality. How to turn that problem into a viable market-ready solution. And how to harness the incredible power of talent to achieve goals.
Experience.
Problem Solving sits at the foundation of it all - because our software intends to introduce solutions that makes user’s lives better, and building that software requires answering a number of questions. How does the software solve the problem? Who will use the software? Who will build the software? What technology will we use? What will we build first? How will we ensure our teams are set up for success? How do we validate the effectiveness of our product? Where does the product go from here? And outside of these tactical questions exists an even more esoteric layer of problems. How do we maintain steady growth? How do we enter new markets? What happens when disaster strikes? How do we hire properly? How do we increase productivity? How do we master asynchronous collaboration? What questions do we ask to properly assess complex problems?
Melanie is an expert problem solver with over ten years experience in product and project management. In her most recent role at Koala - a b2b2b SaaS Startup - she asked and answered all of the questions above and then some. As the first product hire, she matured the company’s software from proof-of-concept through acquisition and oversaw the introduction of multiple new product lines. She ran workshops at the team- and executive level to encourage collaboration and create cohesion and clarity around company vision. She pivoted business and product strategy during the pandemic, and again after acquisition. She hired talent, using company Values to guide decision making, inevitably leading to an incredible culture of respect and ambition. She advocated (read: fought tirelessly) to transition the organization out of a sales-driven mindset to be product-led, focusing on vision, goals and KPIs to inform growth.
She is someone who is not afraid to step up and take responsibility and accountability for herself and her teams. Whether working at the team level building great products, cross-functionally to ensure knowledge sharing, or at the organizational level leading towards the future, Melanie believes that the best work happens when we show empathy towards our colleagues and flexibility towards the paths that await.
Key Skills
Leadership
Management & Coaching
Iterative process design
Cross-functional collaboration
Stakeholder Management
Team building workshops
SWOT analyses and business strategy
Enterprise customer management
Partner relations
Culture & people operations
Product Management
0-1 product development
Product-market fit
Roadmapping and prioritization
Growth mindset, using KPIs to increase revenue
Go-To-Market strategy & execution
Customer advocacy
Data & Analytics/UX research
Agile & Scrum methodologies, application in delivery processes
Project Governance
Values
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When strong talent has autonomy, they become intrinsically motivated to succeed. When you have a strong vision, properly distilled into goals and metrics, you create freedom for teams to innovate within those guidelines and principles. When people feel in charge of their work, they are empowered because the success is theirs. A leader’s role is never to prescribe, but to set the guardrails in which teams and individuals can innovate at their will. This results in autonomous, high functioning teams that are able to produce great, innovative ideas.
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As cliché as it sounds, we are stronger than the sum of our parts. While each individual role has its own responsibilities and areas of expertise, creative solutions can come from all corners of an organization. There is a fine line between group think and collaboration, but harnessing the collective powers of a team has a variety of benefits. It keeps individuals engaged and inspired, fueling productivity. It increases the knowledge available for problem solving, and the effectiveness of solutions. It encourages learning, and discourages working in a vacuum. Good collaboration requires the right processes and protocols - but when done properly enhances the quality of solutions and the speed of delivery.
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Iteration is at the core of good prioritization. It is pulling out the “must haves” from a solution and starting small. It is making progressive adjustments to process that solve friction points as they arise. It is simplifying change management by taking individual steps into the future, and validating success before the next change occurs. Iteration makes complexity manageable, and before you know it, you’ve climbed the mountain (or have built a really great, market viable product).
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Individuals should feel excited at work, safe within a team environment, and encouraged to bring their unique talents to what they do. Scare tactics and “big brothering” lead to burnout and turnover. Teams deserve to be able to share opinions and ideas or surface concerns without fear of negative repercussions. They deserve vulnerability from leaders, and kindness from co workers. They deserve to treated like humans. And when individuals are treated like humans, they are unafraid of sharing big ideas - ideas that can reshape the future.
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At the heart of it all sits communication in its many forms - verbal, written, interpersonal, listening, visual. Without strong communication, the whole system collapses. Folks don’t have the information they need. Ideas and intention are misconstrued. Documentation is unreliable. Direction is unclear. But when the right structures are in place and communication flourishes, organizations run seamlessly. Teams understand what they’re doing and why. Individuals are speaking to each other clearly and with respect, and in turn practicing active listening. Asynchronous collaboration is possible because there is navigable documentation and protocols to support. Data is accessible. Information is shared openly and freely, encouraging knowledge sharing. Strong communication is the foundation on which all the other values exist.