Case Studies
Examples of my work across multiple industries. I work diligently with clients and internal teams to identify opportunities, execute on the highest impact initiatives, and measure success.
Improving Customer Acquisition
Problem
A major scientific publishing platform began offering a streamlined publishing process to serve authors, but it was not being used much.
Outcome
Exceeding annual submission goals by double digits.
Process
I began by talking to colleagues who worked directly with customers who used the service and reviewing data they had collected. Customer satisfaction for those who used the service was high, and repeat customers were frequent. This prompted my to investigate the full user journey, from initial interest in the service to submitting a manuscript for review. I discovered that customers were not engaging with “top of the funnel” product pages, and when they were, often did not convert to a final submission. As a result, I decided to prioritize streamlining the funnel experience.
I created an in-product survey to assess overall usability of the primary user interface at the top of the funnel, and gathered data on how the service’s value proposition resonated with users. This allowed me to implement “quick wins” that improved conversion with minimal engineering effort. At the same time, I worked with a UX designer to completely re-imagine the page design, layout, and navigation to provide a better user experience and optimize the conversion journey. I conducted multiple A/B tests on design and content choices along the way to validate our hypotheses and change course as needed.
Our efforts resulted in a significant lift in top-of-funnel conversions, and by combining conversion data with end-of-funnel submission data, we confirmed that final manuscript submissions increased substantially.
In addition, I experimented with and implemented multiple new user journeys that brought users into our funnel, creating touchpoints at other places in the product where authors would be most interested in the new service, which contributed to an even larger lift in submissions.
Developing Product Operations
Problem
A high-performing product team had one primary bottleneck: the lack of a robust operational and project management framework.
Outcome
The new framework transformed a collection of individual workflows into a shared product operating system. Teams had clearer priorities, better ownership, more predictable delivery, and a common process for planning both strategic initiatives and day-to-day operational work.
Process
As a people manager, I was tasked with improving the way our team — composed of developers, designers, and analysts — worked day to day and on larger projects. To keep the team nimble, organized, and user-centric, I planned to introduce an agile framework that would account for all types of initiatives across different functional areas.
I gathered input from the team and extensively began researching and planning which framework would work for us. While scrum was appealing for its predictable structure and efficiency, the introduction of such a strict framework would be too much, too soon in our context, and it did not adequately account for all of the workflows we needed to incorporate.
Ultimately, I landed on a flexible Kanban model. We used the concept of an “Epic” to capture larger initiatives, implemented different swimlanes for different workflows (e.g. design, development, QA), and created a prioritized backlog that we reviewed weekly. We incorporated stand-ups, began communicating within tickets themselves, and continued to refine our workflow over time.
Let’s Talk
Whether you’re defining a roadmap, improving an existing product, or looking for an outside perspective, I’d love to hear about your goals.