What have I done?!

​My Product Management experience revolved around multiple categorical product lines--Device Charging Carts, Charging Stations, and AV Carts. These responsibilities included training new hires on my product lines, competitive research, sales data analysis and forecasting, life-cycle management (EoL), coordinating engineering changes, improving existing products by adding features, identifying collaborative partnerships (i.e. Synnex, Lenovo, Ruckus, Microsoft Minecraft), and Sales support.

My Product Development experience offered the opportunity to create brand new products--from the ground up--adding to the categorical product lines I managed. This included introducing charging stations, top-loading carts, and VR carts to my product offerings; each which adapted the present needs prospective customers, into user-friendly products, driven by stage-gate and agile methodology.

In order to complete the task at hand, creating new products that offered value to both new and old customers, I had to interact with multiple stakeholders and departments. This included: developing the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and pitching the concept to the owners and C-level (supported by market demand and cost justification), creation of thorough Product Requirements Documents (PRDs) for engineering, creation of Product Marketing Briefs (PMBs) for marketing, working through iterative prototypes with manufacturing, procuring and sourcing parts via purchasing, forecasting sales to the finance department based on market research, and, once the product was finalized and tested for safety (UL), training sales on the value proposition and narrative to sell it to the masses, and finally training customer service how to troubleshoot and support resulting customers. It surely required "plate spinning" abilities, balancing each department's duties and maintaining operational efficiency, while sticking to a timeline--especially when I found myself working on multiple products at the same time. In order to keep everything moving, and people accountable, I arranged weekly cross-functional meetings (stand ups) with representatives of each department present.

Beyond new product creation, it was also my job to create the user guides as well as installation instructions from scratch. This is where I showcased my writing skills by translating the specifications and purpose of each product into easily digestible and coherent content for the end user to use, and ultimately resulting in a positive experience with the purchase.

In addition to cooperatively developing digital content (ads, product videos, etc.), whitepapers, and case studies with the marketing team, I attended both regional and national trade shows to interact with various customer bases to showcase the products and drum up leads, through thoughtful conversation and solution selling techniques.

Below you will find a rundown of the products I worked on and personally developed during my career, as a Product Manager/Developer: 

---

CUBE Micro Charging Station
(new product)

The CUBE Micro Station stemmed from the identification of a gap in the product line, through comprehensive trend analysis as well as synthesis of what I was hearing from consumers. The product line I managed was only comprised of high-capacity charging carts for tablet and laptop charging, so it led me to dream up the concept of the CUBE "Micro" to offer a non-cart charging offering for a smaller quantity of devices, and adding to the pre-existing CUBE family, comprised of the CUBE cart and CUBE Mini cart. What I came up with resulted in a cost effective, yet attractive, charging cabinet for 10 devices. It features removable device trays, wall-mountability, hidden power adapter storage, and lockable security. 

CUBE Toploader Family
(new product)

The CUBE Toploader Charging Cart Family was a continuation of the successful CUBE Cart line, with a more compact footprint and convenient top-loading design. and . The Toploader lineup included a 40-unit cart as well as three "Mini" variants that were based on the same chassis, holding 20, 24, or 26 units. This product appealed to customers who wanted a space-saving charging cart and with easier access to devices and charging cables, as it was designed to be used without crouching (once initially wired).

​

Synnex CORE30VR
(VR Classroom Expeditions Cart with WiFi router)

The introduction of VR technology provides a lot of opportunity in the world that was previously limited by where a person lived or by logistical or budget constraints. I saw the opportunity to make it easier for both students and teachers alike to facilitate VR technology in the education space, which led to the development of the product you see above. This cart provides a vehicle for a full set of VR viewers and accompanying devices (including a teacher tablet and wireless router) to be rolled into a classroom and deployed out to students in an organized fashion. While the devices are stored and charged neatly in the top mounted drawer, I designed custom plastic tubs to store the headsets, allowing the teacher to pull them out of the cart and avoid students having to huddle around the cart to get their equipment. This allows the teacher to place the headset bins nearby and, once the student retrieved their device, could continue along an organized line to grab their headset and return to their desk to commence their "expedition". This design utilized an existing cart chassis, but with reimagined "guts" to facilitate ease of use with this new purpose.

Microsoft Minecraft Collaboration
(vinyl-wrapping a cart for a bundle)

CUBE Micro Charging Tray
(new product)

The CUBE Micro Charging Tray was born out of the newly created CUBE Micro Station, where security was not a priority but neatly charging devices was. It has all of the bones of the Station, but gave up the surrounding metal enclosure, for a cheaper price and easier access.

CUBE Cart
(enhancements to an existing product)

The 32-unit CUBE Cart and 20-unit CUBE Cart Mini existed as a products before I became the PM for the cart line. What it lacked was effective cable management and sensible variants. By working in a cross-functional team environment (comprised of Manufacturing, Engineering and myself), I implemented cable management channels to the existing product via an Engineering Change Order, and increased the customer experience tremendously. In regard to a new variants, and upon competitive and consumer research findings, I introduced the 36-unit CUBE and 26-unit CUBE Mini Carts, achieved by simply modifying the arrangement of the dividers within the same cart chassis.

Additionally. I also spearheaded the initiative to offer "pre-wired" USB-C variants of this cart that provided more value and less hassle for customers looking for a ready-to-use-out-of-the-box experience.
​
Whilst at Trade Shows, I had the opportunity to hear overwhelmingly positive feedback of the changes and new variants directly from customers and that is the real pay-off for quality and feature improvement as a Product Manager.

This product also benefited from multiple LEAN initiatives that resulted in stronger construction, that used less raw material, which provided a better product for the consumer and less cost for us, the manufacturer. 
​

Lenovo LVR3X/LVR2X
(Headset-Specific VR Charging Cart with Ruckus WiFi router)

In an effort to establish the VR cart line I had started to build out, I was approached by Lenovo to create a customized VR charging cart for their own VR headset they had created and introduced to the market. This was a real test, as the VR headset had an integrated head band, creating a unique shape to accommodate in the cart, as well as a remote control that also required a charging source.

Utilizing another pre-existing cart chassis, and through multiple prototypes, cross-functional meetings, and theoretical games of Tetris in my head of how everything would best fit into a drawer within a finite space (the cart), the above product was achieved and introduced to the market to be sold as a bundle, along with their headsets, teacher device, and Ruckus router, to bring their VR solution to the masses, in an easy to deploy solution.

The above pictured CUBE cart was a collaboration with Microsoft that I was lucky to be a part of, in support of their game Minecraft. It presented the opportunity to cross-brand our best-selling cart with a custom vinyl wrap to be included in a device package bundle, and sold at Microsoft flagship stores nationwide. This project involved many parties, including the OEMs, as well as Sales teams and third-parties who helped bring the solution all together.