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        <title><![CDATA[Stories by Michelle Yee on Medium]]></title>
        <description><![CDATA[Stories by Michelle Yee on Medium]]></description>
        <link>https://medium.com/@mickyee?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
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            <title>Stories by Michelle Yee on Medium</title>
            <link>https://medium.com/@mickyee?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
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        <generator>Medium</generator>
        <lastBuildDate>Sun, 15 Nov 2026 02:06:49 GMT</lastBuildDate>
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        <webMaster><![CDATA[yourfriends@medium.com]]></webMaster>
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        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Cities, and their message to you]]></title>
            <link>https://mickyee.medium.com/cities-and-their-message-to-you-cfa7ba531e03?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/cfa7ba531e03</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[expat-life]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[culture]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[expat]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[growth-mindset]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[globalization]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Yee]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2021 02:39:52 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2021-04-19T02:39:52.781Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*U8r5TOL1PcDbVohKPeCxSQ.png" /><figcaption>Sunrise over Manhattan, NYC</figcaption></figure><p><em>Great cities attract ambitious people. You can sense it when you walk around one. In a hundred subtle ways, the city sends you a message: you could do more; you should try harder. </em>(Paul Graham’s <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/cities.html">Cities and Ambition</a>)</p><p>Yesterday, we spent the day in New York City and I was reminded why you can visit it countless times — or even live there for years — and still feel awe like you are experiencing it for the first time. As we drove out of the city, I reflected on Graham’s article that I read years ago and how fortunate I’ve been to live and work in some truly incredible cities so far. Each one is special and sends me its own message.</p><h3>Toronto = <em>multiculturalism</em></h3><p>This city sends you a message to <em>embrace differences.</em></p><p>47% of Toronto’s population are immigrants. This inherently weaves a fabric of multiculturalism that enables you to see the world from different perspectives. I was born in Toronto but grew up with Chinese immigrant parents. I think my appreciation for different cultures was further nurtured when I was enrolled in the French Immersion program, starting in kindergarten. Learning a new language opened a whole new world to me and developed my appreciation for their arts, philosophy, and culture.</p><h3><strong>Beijing = history</strong></h3><p>This city makes you <em>feel </em>the weight of history.</p><p>I spent a summer interning in Beijing and it was my first taste of working internationally. In my off hours, I’d explore the different neighborhoods and see snapshots of time — the Imperial Palace, Tiananmen Square, hutongs, and the blocks of futuristic skyscrapers</p><h3><strong>Singapore = international</strong></h3><p>This city state encourages an openness to <em>explore new cultures.</em></p><p>I’ve made lifelong friends from spending time in Singapore. It has a welcoming and thriving expat community, unlike any other. Everyone that finds themselves there has a taste for adventure and you share a common passion to explore and travel.</p><p>A moment that defines Singapore is leaving work Friday evening, taking a taxi straight to Changi, and boarding a plane 30 minutes later to go to Ho Chi Mihn [or any one of the surrounding cities/countries] for the weekend. You spend the weekend wandering through the city streets, discovering local cuisines, and learning local culture before flying back Sunday evening or Monday morning and going straight to work.</p><h3>New York City = drive</h3><p>My current city tells me to think <em>why not you?</em></p><p>This is the city that doesn’t sleep. At all hours of the day, its 8.5M inhabitants are hustling to bring their professional aspirations to life.</p><p>I’ve had many NYC moments, but one I can think of is working late into the night with our PR agency to get the start up I was working for covered in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and CNN for the latest partnership announcement. There’s a thrill in pushing yourself and making your dreams a reality.</p><p>My lasting thought here is give yourself the opportunity to live in different parts of the world. You won’t regret it. Choose cities that speak to you and attract the people you want to surround yourself with.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=cfa7ba531e03" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Reflecting on a year of COVID, WFH, and the distributed workforce.]]></title>
            <link>https://mickyee.medium.com/reflecting-on-a-year-of-covid-wfh-and-the-distributed-workforce-2273aa08c4dc?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/2273aa08c4dc</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[team-collaboration]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[management]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[covid19]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[team-building]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[wfh]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Yee]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 05 Apr 2021 00:20:23 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2021-04-05T00:20:23.055Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When I was deciding to join Square a year ago, I was the first hire in my +200 person organization to be based outside of San Francisco. Despite Jack’s prior announcement to work from Africa, and the fact I was going to be working out of Square’s second largest office (NYC), this was a BIG deal.</p><p>I can remember the number of warnings I received from friends and HR that this would be tough. <em>Not many people do this successfully. </em>Fortunately, my manager and I were on the same page. This was the future of work and we were both excited to test and lead this transition. <em>In retrospect, I don’t think I would have boldly made this leap if it weren’t for my manager’s commitment and reassurance.</em></p><p>She and I devised a plan which would have me regularly traveling to SF to build relationships and meet people. I read up on everything I could find about remote work. Then COVID happened.</p><p>After working from home for now a year, I think there are three key points managers should remember and lean into in order to successfully lead a distributed team:</p><ul><li><strong><em>Build an environment of trust and candor right from the beginning. </em></strong>Do this through maintaining transparency with your team and articulating positive intent in your communication.</li><li><strong><em>Increase access to information through documentation.</em></strong> One of the reasons we need to be in the office is to often bridge information asymmetry, which is quickly rectified by dropping by someone’s desk.When your team works remotely, it’s harder for them to catch someone’s attention via email/Slack or to pick up information in side conversations. Having all information (goals, plan, discussion, feedback) documented offers all team members equal context.</li><li><strong><em>Your team is still human.</em></strong> Oftentimes when we don’t see others in person, relationships become transactional and shallow. Foster team camaraderie through different but consistent communication channels. It’s ok to let loose and have casual conversations</li></ul><p>Our teams at Square have adapted well to remote work, but I still miss catching up with co-workers and friends over coffee and lunchtime walks. Those moments fostered camaraderie, increased the depth and dimension of relationships, and encouraged creative discussion. While I do believe distributed workforces are here to stay and can work, it’ll be interesting to see how organizations find the right balance in order to create workplace serendipity and shared energy.</p><p>For those interested, I’d also recommend the Sam Harris podcast episode on <a href="https://samharris.org/podcasts/194-new-future-work/">The Future of Work</a>. Harris interviews Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic. This company is the parent company of Wordpress, Tumblr, and WooCommerce, and is 100% distributed. While I’m skeptical of Matt’s WFH nirvana state, the conversation has helped me reframe how to embrace the distributed work model.</p><p>Let me know if there’s something that has worked for your team or how you think about successfully building and leading a distributed team.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=2273aa08c4dc" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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        <item>
            <title><![CDATA[Four Seasons has convinced me it’s worth a premium — and how this can be applied to the businesses…]]></title>
            <link>https://mickyee.medium.com/four-seasons-has-convinced-me-its-worth-a-premium-and-how-this-can-be-applied-to-the-businesses-e28be1ab301e?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/e28be1ab301e</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[hawaii]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[customer-service]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[experience-design]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[customer-experience]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[startup]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Yee]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 22 Mar 2021 02:59:45 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2021-03-22T02:59:45.872Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3><strong>Four Seasons has convinced me it’s worth a premium — and how this can be applied to the businesses we build.</strong></h3><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*SypWd6dpiHAlgMVgUcIM2w.jpeg" /><figcaption>Four Seasons Resorts Maui at Wailea</figcaption></figure><p>I hesitated to write a post about Four Seasons because I don’t often associate myself with luxury brands that can be interpreted as excess. However, my most recent time spent at the Four Seasons Resort Maui is deserving of recognition and also a business example to learn from. Whether you’re looking for your next R&amp;R vacation or curious about best in class customer experiences, I’d gladly share my experience with you.</p><p>Companies all too often mimic that tactics of a competitor or admired company. Instead the benefits are unlocked when we dive deeply into understanding the process and culture that has been built to foster these consistent “gold-standard” experiences we hear and talk about. My most recent time spent at Four Seasons led me to note their subtle differences, their management culture, and their founder’s philosophy.</p><p>What is interesting is that Isadore Sharp, the founder, clearly understood he was in a people’s business and determined <em>luxury</em> was the way guests <em>felt </em>during their stay. From the hard assets (building, amenities) to the soft assets (people), they’ve been carefully designed to deliver on that feeling.</p><blockquote><strong>We’ve always attempted not to create a style that would depict a point in time, or be reflective of copying something. But everything is done based upon a customer’s perspective. We look at whether they would see it as useful to them and appealing to them. (</strong><a href="https://www.elitetraveler.com/leaders-in-luxury/isadore-sharp"><strong>Isadore Sharp, elitetraveler</strong></a><strong>)</strong></blockquote><p>When you first walk into Four Seasons, it’s comfortable and welcoming but you’ll be disappointed if you’re looking for a jaw-dropping instagram shot. Instead you have a space that has been thoughtfully designed.</p><p>We were in Maui where there is a wet season. Our Four Seasons resort had been designed to bring in nature but also to ensure guests could comfortably move around and entertain themselves during downpours. Every part of the resort was to maximize guest interaction with the stunning ocean. Gym was in the open air, facing the ocean, and enticed you to workout.</p><p>We had stayed at a competing chain where the location had recently invested in a $100M renovation. Most of it was spent in a stunning lobby that had little practical use. In rainstorms it flooded and guests would expose themselves to the downpour to get to the gym or restaurants. At night it felt hollow.</p><p>Thinking back to how this applies to my experience in tech, especially start ups, we often built for the PR lift. <em>What was trendy? What could capture the attention of the press?</em> We thought too much of short-term coverage. What we missed was the sustained virality that could be achieved by building to delight our customer.</p><blockquote><strong>The outcome in our industry normally depends on the front-line employees — doormen, bellmen, waiters, maids, the lowest-paid people — and often, in too many companies, the least motivated. These front-line staff represent our product to our customers. In the most realistic sense, they are the product.</strong></blockquote><blockquote><strong>…</strong></blockquote><blockquote><strong>If we could create an environment that would give employees a sense of purpose and meaning to their job. So the job would not just represent their daily bread. (</strong><a href="https://www.elitetraveler.com/leaders-in-luxury/isadore-sharp"><strong>Isadore Sharp, elitetraveler</strong></a><strong>)</strong></blockquote><p>While there were a few hiccups with the front desk at the Four Seasons, the staff was largely a delight to interact with. From housekeeping to the gym staff, everyone addressed you by name and proactively went above and beyond with a smile. No detail was too small. Here are a few examples that came to mind:</p><ul><li>Gym staff — saw that I was sweating after my Peloton ride and offered a clean mask without me asking.</li><li>Valet — saw that we were heading out with a beach bag and offered water bottles and fresh towels to take with us — unprompted.</li><li>Housekeeping — each and every time we came back to our room, it was spotless — even our clothes were folded in a pile and toiletries were neatly reordered!</li><li>Beach/Poolside team — quickly set up your beach area and had free sunscreen readily available — SPF 30 and 50</li></ul><p>Whether you’re in hospitality, a tech company, or a start up, people are arguably your most important resource. It’s about respecting your team and giving them reasons to believe the greater impact they have [on the world] with their roles. At my current company (Square), our teams are driven because we believe we’re fostering economic empowerment through the products we build.</p><p>Four Seasons is arguably one of the most successful brands in hospitality because Isadore Sharp was able to scale his vision through his team and company principles.</p><blockquote><strong>You demonstrate principles more forcefully through bad times, and it shows that you are willing to stand on values. (</strong><a href="https://www.elitetraveler.com/leaders-in-luxury/isadore-sharp"><strong>Isadore Sharp, elitetraveler</strong></a><strong>)</strong></blockquote><p>We’ve been to a few Four Seasons across the US. and the warm welcome and staff attentiveness is the same. In this you can see that leadership and process are consistent to ensure culture has evolved similarly. We can all choose words that we think represent us as individuals, leaders, or companies. The difference between window dressing and real values is if we and/or leadership continues to act in accordance to those principles even in the most challenging of times.</p><p>This is an unpaid post by Four Seasons. If you’re in the business of building loyal customers or customer experience, a first-hand experience is a must.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=e28be1ab301e" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Creative Selection: Inside Apple’s design process and commitment to creating products for humans.]]></title>
            <link>https://mickyee.medium.com/creative-selection-inside-apples-design-process-and-commitment-to-creating-products-for-humans-e2a1c2cd84ec?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/e2a1c2cd84ec</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[apple]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[design]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[human-design]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[design-process]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Yee]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2021 00:03:17 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2021-02-22T00:03:17.377Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/796/1*qKm_l7xtgttmivYrLZC4Dw.jpeg" /><figcaption>Steve Jobs presenting the first iPhone June 29th 2007</figcaption></figure><p>Today you can’t work in tech or frankly any consumer-facing company without mentions of Apple. If you have spent some time at a startup, you will undoubtedly have encountered a founder (or two) mimicking Steve Jobs’s traits in hopes of achieving the same success (Read: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Blood-Secrets-Silicon-Startup/dp/152473165X">Bad Blood</a>). This book is different. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Selection-Inside-Apples-Process/dp/1250194466"><em>Creative Selection: Insider Apple’s Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs</em></a><em> </em>goes beyond the story of Steve Jobs and the tales of his genius and polarizing personality. Instead it’s a refreshing viewpoint of the organizational dynamics that Jobs (or his executive group) established to enable the creation of game-changing and much loved products.</p><p>Ken Kocienda, the author of <em>Creative Selection</em>, was a former principal engineer of iPhone software at Apple. If you’ve ever typed on an iPad or iPhone, you’ve experienced his work firsthand. <em>Creative Selection</em> centres around the creation of the first iPhone (the Purple project) and Ken takes you on his journey creating the iPhone’s first keyboard. While touchscreen typing is something we all take for granted, at the time it was a seemingly bad idea. <em>People prefer physical keys and the tactile response. Physical keys provide better control. Typing on a small screen is too slow. How can people see what they’re typing and not lose train of thought?</em></p><p>This book conveys the product development culture at Apple through memorable stories of the Purple team and the challenges they faced on their path to design a thoughtful and human touchscreen.</p><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*swXvc435JbSuI8EB" /><figcaption>Ken Kocienda’s first iPhone keyboard prototype (Creative Selection)</figcaption></figure><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/0*_Qr_53b44923oYER" /><figcaption>Evolution of Ken Kocienda’s iPhone keyboard thinking (Creative Selection)</figcaption></figure><p>People love Apple because their products “just work”. The products have been designed from the lens of what makes the most intuitive sense for humans rather than what would be cool to build. What stands out is Apple’s ability to hone in on the power of empathy — to see the world from other people’s perspectives and develop products that address their needs and fit into their lives.</p><p>One of my favourite parts in the book that demonstrates this thinking is one of Ken’s interactions with Iman Chaudhri, who headed Human Interface (i.e. the Software Design Group) at the time.</p><p><em>“It should work like this”</em></p><p><em>Imran used this piece of paper gliding around under his finger to show how iPhone direction manipulation should feel, and for him the feeling of it was essential. He believed the pixels on the iPhone screen needed to remain pinned under your finger as if they were real objects. He wanted people to be convinced that the movement of the digital bits on the screen was the results of physical forces- just like his index finger and the paper.</em></p><p><em>…</em></p><p><em>He believed that if the imagery on the screen never slipped out from under your touch, you would forget about the technology and focus on the experiences the devices opened up to you.</em></p><p>There is an unwavering focus and understanding of the people they’re building for.</p><p>Apple is by far the shining example of a company that balances algorithm (technical) and heuristics (liberal arts). The latter is subjective and the secret behind Apple’s success. I think what Ken does a good job of with his book is dispelling the notion that the right heuristics are identified through a single individual’s flash of brilliance. Instead, he reinforces good heuristics only come after patient searches; and a final decision is made with judgement and time. There are no shortcuts and the process starts from the good judgement of the small group tasked with the problem, followed by demos of the initial concepts to a larger group, and finally lived (i.e. test, gather data, iterate, and polish) by the whole team over time.</p><p>For someone that has historically preferred the method of testing and over-indexing on “algorithms”, I do see the merit of bringing in the softer aspects of design and creation. In the case of Apple, it was a value embodied from the top. After reading this book, I’m still mulling over a few unanswered questions: How does one develop taste? And how did Steve Jobs or how do others defend this heuristic approach in a world largely consumed by the perceived safety of data?</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=e2a1c2cd84ec" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[JTBD: The Framework for Innovation]]></title>
            <link>https://mickyee.medium.com/jtbd-the-framework-for-innovation-77163ecfb8c?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/77163ecfb8c</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[creativity]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[product-development]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[innovation]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[product-management]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Yee]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 08 Feb 2021 02:10:11 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2021-02-08T02:10:11.847Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>UI, UX, A/B, NPS, MVP, CX, USP, ICB…JTBD. Throughout my experiences in product development, I’ve learned many acronyms and the meanings behind them. The last acronym in particular represents a concept that I rely on often and is fundamental to any good product development. If you don’t know about it already, keep reading.</p><p>JTBD stands for “Jobs-to-be-Done”. This framework and mindset was first articulated by Clayton Christensen, the late author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244"><em>The Innovator’s Dilemma</em></a><em>. </em>The idea is that to build better products and a strong business, you need to understand what motivates people to act. In order to underwhat what motivates them to act, you must first understand the underlying needs they’re trying to get done — hence, jobs-to-be-done (JTBD). I first encountered this concept back in 2014 when my friend working at Innosight introduced it to me. Even then I thought it was brilliant as I was working in product development and innovation for one of Canada’s leading telecommunication companies. Recently I was reintroduced to this concept at Square, where JTBD permeates the entire organization.</p><p>In order to create JTBD, there are two key inputs: identifying the customer and the type of job.</p><ol><li><strong>Identify your customer.</strong></li></ol><p>Before you can define the customer’s needs, you need to identify who they are. In most B2C cases it’s straight-forward because the consumer plays all roles — buyer and user. In certain scenarios the buyer is different from the user (e.g. toddler toy) but generally speaking it’s a pretty simple exercise. Comparatively, B2B is more complex whereby you have many decision-makers and users. This is meaningful to note because each stakeholder has a different set of customer needs. The most basic breakdown is to look at it from three customer perspectives:</p><ul><li><strong>The buyer —</strong> person making the financial purchase decision (e.g. Procurement Team)</li><li><strong>The support team —</strong> people servicing the product in the case it needs to be repaired, upgraded, etc (e.g. IT/Ops Team)</li><li><strong>The job executor —</strong> person using the product to get the core functional job done</li></ul><p><strong>2. Types of jobs they are getting done.</strong></p><p>The customer is trying to get three distinct types of jobs done.</p><ul><li><strong>Functional — </strong>this is the customer’s practical and objective requirement</li><li><strong>Emotional — </strong>this describes the way your customer wants to feel when using the solution</li><li><strong>Social —</strong> this is how the customer wants to be perceived by others when using the solution</li></ul><p>Let’s look at an example and apply this framework to designing a phone. An important functional JTBD is to be able <em>to easily make phone calls and browse the internet</em>. A related emotional JTBD could be <em>to make calls and browse the internet in a way that feels like you have control</em>. A social JTBD might be <em>others think you look tech-savvy and a trendsetter.</em> You can imagine in the case of B2B products or integrated software and hardware products, the number of jobs is significantly more complex to identify and categorize.</p><p>The Jobs-to-be-Done framework is a structured guide for any product team to navigate through all the customer data and “cool ideas”. It helps product teams get to the core of what customers are looking for, unmet needs, and what they should be building. JTBD can be applied to product development, UX design, and marketing to achieve creativity and true innovation because you’re not bound by preconceived notions or constraints.</p><p>If you’re interested in learning more, I’d highly recommend this <a href="https://uxdesign.cc/8-things-to-use-in-jobs-to-be-done-framework-for-product-development-4ae7c6f3c30b">blog post</a> from the UX Collective and the <a href="https://hbr.org/podcast/2016/12/the-jobs-to-be-done-theory-of-innovation">HBR Podcast </a>with Clayton Christensen himself. There’s also a transcript in case you prefer reading the interview.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=77163ecfb8c" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[What do you do? What is product marketing?]]></title>
            <link>https://mickyee.medium.com/what-do-you-do-what-is-product-marketing-acc44a5c3458?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/acc44a5c3458</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[product-management]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[careers]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[technology]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[product-marketing]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Yee]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 25 Jan 2021 02:22:14 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2021-01-25T02:22:14.874Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Most people think I go to work and make fabulous TV commercials. While on occasion that is part of my scope, it is far from what I do on a regular basis. This post is for my husband, friends, and co-workers, who have asked me what I do in hopes of understanding how I spend my days or have been interested in exploring new career paths.</p><p>In a nutshell, the main role of product marketing is to act as the voice of the seller and apply those insights throughout the product journey: from product discovery to go-to-market. You’re responsible for helping build great products, translating products into compelling customer benefits, and actively acquiring and retaining customers. As you can see, product marketers are responsible for a breath of objectives and they achieve this by working at the centre of Product, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Service.</p><p>To make it more concrete, I’ve broken down the breath of responsibilities into four main categories.</p><ol><li><strong>Product Strategy &amp; Roadmap</strong></li></ol><ul><li>Partner closely with the product manager, product designer, and researcher to draft PRDs (Product Requirements Document) by identifying user pain points, needs, and potential solutions</li><li>Support the product manager in analyzing the product competition, sizing the market, and prioritizing the product roadmap.</li></ul><p><em>Day-to-day examples:</em></p><ul><li>Brainstorm customer pain points and develop hypothesis-driven use cases based on previous research</li><li>Get on video calls and test product mock-ups with existing and prospective customers</li><li>Combine market and sales data, assumption, and variables to create a basic financial model and evaluate the impact of a feature</li></ul><p><strong>2. Positioning &amp; Messaging</strong></p><ul><li>Understand customer pain points</li><li>Translate technical features of the product into benefits that resonate with potential customers</li><li>Own product communication across channels</li></ul><p><em>Day-to-day examples:</em></p><ul><li>Create a deep understanding of the customer, including demographics, motivations (emotional, social, and functional needs), day-to-day routine, consumption of information, influences</li><li>Visit customers where they use the product and shadow them throughout the day</li><li>Develop questionnaire to interview and shadow prospective and existing customers</li></ul><p><strong>3. Product go-to-market and customer acquisition</strong></p><ul><li>Convert prospective customers into buyers; optimize bottom-of-the funnel conversion</li><li>Align the impact and goals of a product launch and create the go-to-market plan</li></ul><p><em>Day-to-day examples:</em></p><ul><li>Brief cross-functional go-to-market teams on the product vision and KPIs; lead teams to develop a multi-channel communication and acquisition plan</li><li>Review creative assets and provide constructive feedback to the creative team, including copywriters, visual designers, and creative strategists</li><li>Analyze marketing funnel data which can include but is not limited to CPA of paid performance, CTR of app or email messaging, activation from web pages, MQLS to SQLs; develop hypotheses and experiments to increase conversion</li></ul><p><strong>4. Ongoing product engagement</strong></p><ul><li>Reduce churn by addressing customer issues and loss of engagement</li></ul><p><em>Day-to-day examples:</em></p><ul><li>Review customer support tickets and issues that have logged the most complains; translate issues into jobs-to-be-done and present findings to product management</li><li>Analyze product data and identify patterns of drop off</li><li>Identify the customer lifecycle with a product and opportunities to engage through communication, rewards, or improved product hooks</li></ul><p>Something I often try to convey is that product marketing is still a developing discipline. Based on the company your roles and responsibilities will vary. The factors that I see influencing the difference is whether the company is B2B or B2C, if the product is hardware or software, and the background of the executive team.</p><ul><li><strong>B2B vs B2C: </strong>B2B marketers will often work more closely with the Sales team and focus on sales enablement (i.e. equipping Sales with the content and assets to successfully close deals). B2C marketers will likely aim to acquire through paid marketing and optimize self-serve customer onboarding.</li><li><strong>Hardware vs software: </strong>Given the nature of hardware, there’s a tendency for product to develop via waterfall approach with longer timelines. Product marketers are planning for a single big launch every year — sometimes it can be 2–3 years! Software tends to have faster iteration cycles and require more agile launches. While complex software can equally take a long time to develop, product marketers in software will likely be managing many small rollouts. The challenge here is to tier launches and ensure external messaging is cohesive.</li><li><strong>Leadership influence</strong>: The company’s origins and the executive team’s background will cause an organization to lean a certain way. For example, if the company is led by a product-centric executive, a product marketer’s time will be spent more supporting the product team with customer discovery and product launches. If the executive team is more sales-oriented, a product marketer may spend more time developing sales battle cards and sales assets.</li></ul><p>If you’re looking for more information, the Product Marketing Alliance wrote <a href="https://productmarketingalliance.com/what-is-product-marketing/">an article</a> that does a good job summarizing the essence of the role, and some quotes from leaders in the industry.</p><p>To my fellow product marketers, please share if you agree with the above or what you would add!</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=acc44a5c3458" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Happy New Year! Emotional regulation in 2021.]]></title>
            <link>https://mickyee.medium.com/happy-new-year-emotional-regulation-in-2021-e9a457754729?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/e9a457754729</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[happiness]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[gratitude]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[personal-development]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[meditation]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[emotions]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Yee]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 11 Jan 2021 01:10:19 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2021-01-11T01:19:54.937Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/800/1*qXEQtYT_xEiYQgXYHKx4vQ.jpeg" /><figcaption>An expansive night sky filled with stars is my awe.</figcaption></figure><p>It was a quiet winter holiday. There were no parties, no big family gatherings, or holiday shopping trips to the mall. While that isn’t what we’re normally used, I found the holidays peaceful, restful, and intimate. And I hear I’m not the only one that felt that way! This break I reconnected with one of my old friends who is now a yoga instructor and thai massage therapist (<a href="https://www.katarinayoga.com/about">check her out here!</a>). Over an hour long walk outside, we caught up on the past 5 years and she shared some learnings from her practice today: this year her clients experienced a meaningful improvement in their immune system. The reduced social, commute, and travel calendar has allowed many bodies to slow down.</p><p>Going into 2021, I reflected on how I can bring more serenity into my life. It goes back to focusing on what truly matters and how you can be content. Mine are investing in my health (body, mental) and my relationships, and practising meditation to train my mind to be present. Oftentimes unease or unhappiness is from an endless chatter inside our minds. In 2020 it was like we added rocket fuel to these thoughts with the chaos from a world-stopping virus (LITERALLY) and media outlets that are seemingly full of sad, hateful, or angry news. It’s easy to get swallowed up in all that heightened energy, but we must remain hopeful. We must be optimistic. We must strive to see the positive. On that note, I’d recommend reading <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-stop-the-negative-chatter-in-your-head-11609876801">WSJ’s interview with Ethan Kross</a>, an experimental psychologist and neuroscientist who specializes in emotion regulation. I particularly liked his commentary on “awe” and how it can help us control our negative thoughts.</p><p><em>We experience awe when we are in the presence of something vast that we have trouble explaining. Some people get it from religious experiences. Others from looking at the sky or an incredible piece of art or by attending an amazing concert. When we experience chatter we are narrowly focused on our problems. Experiencing awe shows us how much broader the universe is. And that puts things into perspective pretty significantly.</em></p><p>On that note, I’m going to end with gratitude. I have a job at a company with an inspiring mission (economic empowerment), work with a fantastic team, and have been able to spend more time with my family than I normally would. Looking outside my window and seeing the snow fall on the sleepy suburban homes around mine, I’m feeling pretty content.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=e9a457754729" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[Evicted: An intimate look into American poverty and the faces behind them]]></title>
            <link>https://mickyee.medium.com/evicted-an-intimate-look-into-american-poverty-and-the-faces-behind-them-9568ca187ac3?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/9568ca187ac3</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[self-improvement]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[poverty]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[nonfiction]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[book-review]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Yee]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Sun, 27 Dec 2020 20:32:13 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2020-12-27T20:32:13.868Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*TxxQ6i-9GPPzuCxtdcrrVw.jpeg" /><figcaption>Milwaukee resident and her belonging that have been moved out of her apartment as a result of being evicted. Image from the “Evicted” exhibit (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)</figcaption></figure><p>Evicted is a riveting portrait of America’s lower class. Matthew Desmond is a sociologist that follows eight families in Milwaukee as they face eviction and struggle to find themselves stable shelter. While this story is full of statistics, what it is able to do is bring to life the stories of those behind the data.</p><p>I initially picked up this book because I was also looking for reading material that would both be educational and engaging. I care deeply about economic empowerment and now living and working in NYC, I’m often faced with some of the greatest wealth disparities in the world. It was a topic I was keen to learn more about. I discovered Evicted when I saw it reviewed by <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/books/evicted">Bill Gates</a> on his reading list and that it had also won a Pulitzer Prize. No spoilers — but I’m glad I decided to pick up my own copy.</p><p>There are many learnings to Evicted. Areas that stood out to me were the damaging cycles of eviction, an eviction’s impact beyond the individual, and this issue attributed to the lack of affordable housing.</p><p><strong>The cycle of eviction</strong></p><p>The stability of the home (including the physical shelter) is the foundation for families to build a life of success. Success as defined by excelling in school, maintaining a job, addressing all basic needs, and saving for the future. A single eviction wreaks havoc on a family’s life and impacts can be felt two years on. The cost of eviction entails financial and emotional hardship: missing work to find a new home and/or fight the eviction in court, worrying about providing shelter in the meantime for the family, added costs to store or reclaim possessions from an eviction, eviction records, and credit loss.</p><p><strong>Evictions deeply impact neighborhoods</strong></p><p><em>“The public peace — the sidewalk and street peace — of cities is not kept primarily by the police, necessary as police are. It is kept primarily by an intricate, almost unconscious, network of voluntary controls and standards among the people themselves, and enforced by the people themselves.” — Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities</em></p><p>The poor don’t see their living arrangements as permanent. High churn affects the entire city block and in turn the neighborhood, resulting in a “perpetual slum” where there isn’t a steadying force of residents invested in developing and keeping the street safer.</p><p><strong>There is a lack of affordable housing</strong></p><p>What was most shocking to me is that the majority of Americans who live in poverty rely on the private rental market. That being said, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Milwaukee’s highest-poverty areas was only $50 less than the citywide median! Why is there so little difference in the rental cost between middle and lower class neighborhoods? Making things more challenging, conventional personal finances say we should be spending closer to 30% of our income. The lower class spend 70–80% of their income on rent. This leaves little room for unforeseen expenses and once they’re behind on rent, it’s nearly impossible to make it up.</p><p>Evictions are clearly a complex problem. I don’t pretend to now have insight on how to solve the issue nor do I think Evicted provides clear next steps. What this book has done successfully has shined a light on the gravity of evictions and how they can undermine the lower class’s ability to move up and out of poverty. Personally, I’m interested in taking steps to better support children that are likely impacted by these living environments. Whether it’s through donating time or money, I will see how I can help provide greater stability to children in my community during their formative years. Additionally, I would like to learn more about why these problems disproportionately affect African-Americans and will add <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32191706-the-color-of-law">The Color Law</a> to my 2021 reading list.</p><p>For those looking for a thought-provoking read that is highly pertinent to today’s American discourse, I’d strongly recommend checking out Evicted.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=9568ca187ac3" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[I need to hire my first product marketer. Who should they report into?]]></title>
            <link>https://mickyee.medium.com/i-need-to-hire-my-first-product-marketer-who-should-they-report-into-69c24630083d?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/69c24630083d</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[product-marketing]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[startup]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[hiring]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[startup-lessons]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Yee]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Mon, 14 Dec 2020 00:03:37 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2020-12-14T00:03:37.597Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I’ve had friends ask me “we’re thinking about hiring a product marketer for our start up, but where should they sit?” Oftentimes the product marketing hire is a long awaited role after a Product and separately a Marketing team have formed.</p><p>My question back is why are you deciding to make this hire and what are you looking for them to do? The role of product marketing is broad and depending on the company, responsibilities can range from optimizing SEO traffic, to creating product web pages, to helping Sales teams close deals. As a product marketer (PMM), your responsibility is that of a business product owner. The role is to usually be an all-around athlete that will 1) grow the usage of that particular product and 2) be the voice of the customer and champion their needs inside the company.</p><p>When bringing in this new hire for an extremely cross-functional role, you’ll often be choosing between placing them under Product or Marketing. Here’s how I think about the pros and cons of each one.</p><p><strong>Product:</strong></p><p>Pros:</p><ul><li>Deeply embedded with the product team</li><li>Influence the product roadmap with customer insights so you’re building something people will want to use and buy</li><li>The transition between product development to go-to-market is smoother vs a “throwing it over the fence” situation</li><li>Increased support for PMs who don’t have time to do buyer research</li></ul><p>Cons:</p><ul><li>Incentive structures that don’t align</li><li>Example 1: In some cases Product Managers (PMs) have a specific feature or vision they want to build but data contradicts them. If the PMM’s role is to bring in buyer research and insights, it is more challenging to stay objective if they fall under a PM.</li><li>Example 2: PMs rightfully have a launch and test mentality. Sometimes based on their performance metrics, they’ll just want to “ship it” to the mass market. In the world of marketing, you understand there is a fine line between launching too early and losing the customer’s trust and waiting for perfection. A PM and a PMM’s priorities for go-to-market are different.</li></ul><p><strong>Marketing:</strong></p><p>Pros:</p><ul><li>Better access and control to marketing resources (e.g. creative, communication channels) because metrics of success are aligned as a Marketing team.</li><li>Common understanding that products and features need to be articulated in the form of values and benefits and not a feature list.</li></ul><p>Cons:</p><ul><li>Little involvement with the product development process. Sometimes a product has been built and only upon go-to-market do you realize there is not a clear reason as to why a certain product or feature was built (i.e. is there market demand).</li><li>Challenges to feeding seller insights directly into the product development</li><li>Marketing teams tend to care about ToF while many Product Marketers care about BoF and ongoing product usage. A product marketer that sits in Marketing may think more about product awareness and not focus enough on BoF, product activation, and onboarding. Product activation and onboarding is better influenced directly with the Product and Design teams.</li></ul><p>If you’re hiring a product marketer for the first time, I’d recommend placing them under the Marketing team. The main reason behind this is because I think as a team you want to achieve the best product experience for your end-user. A good PMM will build strong relationships with the Product team and ultimately, by having your PMM under Product I strongly believe there is a conflict of interest. Over time, you will aim to split the product marketing as a separate division, independent of Product and Marketing.</p><p>Let me if you agree or disagree!</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=69c24630083d" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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            <title><![CDATA[The COVID challenge]]></title>
            <link>https://mickyee.medium.com/the-covid-challenge-d09edbec875?source=rss-fc7428355dad------2</link>
            <guid isPermaLink="false">https://medium.com/p/d09edbec875</guid>
            <category><![CDATA[covid-diaries]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[productivity]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[habits]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[growth-mindset]]></category>
            <category><![CDATA[personal-development]]></category>
            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Yee]]></dc:creator>
            <pubDate>Sun, 13 Dec 2020 16:51:06 GMT</pubDate>
            <atom:updated>2020-12-13T16:51:06.217Z</atom:updated>
            <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It is now December, 2020 — the end of a long year. While it looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel, social and professional in-person activities are unlikely to resume until Summer of 2021. That is SIX months from now.</p><p>While I, like many others, have spent the past year of on/off quarantine baking bread and watching endless amounts of Netflix, I’ve decided to give myself a challenge: The COVID challenge.</p><p>From now, till the freedom of summer and a widely distributed COVID vaccine, I will blog once every two weeks. The idea is simple. I’d like to grow in the way I communicate and also share my learnings and experiences with others. Every two weeks (for the next 6 months), I will post an article with a minimum of 300 words. This is about taking action, starting small, and building a habit through volume and consistency.</p><p>Wish me luck! And feel free to comment. I’ll be sourcing ideas.</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&referrerSource=full_rss&postId=d09edbec875" width="1" height="1" alt="">]]></content:encoded>
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