What does an average day look like for a Product Owner?

It varies day-by-day, but a “typical” day might include email, reviewing work with development, design sessions, meeting with a customer or implementer, more email, and sharing product knowledge.

What is the one thing you are most passionate about when it comes to end user experience?

Providing implementers a means to improve their end users’ experiences. So much depends on the implementation and especially content model, or the relationship between structure, pages, content, and design.

What are you working on right now?

We wrapped up the Rich text format area Kano Model survey which had some interesting findings that I will be sharing soon.

What is your Product Team focused on for the next 3-6 months?

Expect to hear more on integrations in the next few months.

Tell us about your interaction with customers and end users? How does this impact what you build?

My interactions have been positive, some challenging but always hugely insightful.   When getting started in Professional Services, I learnt early on that a specific feature or function can be important to one user but low on the agenda for another.  The perceived value of our technology is dependent on the user’s needs, objectives, and priorities.

End users and developers have a job to do.  I like the flexibility our technology delivers.  However, would also like to emphasize power and speed our software enables.  More Chuck Norris and a little less Van Damme. 

To stay in sync with what our customers want and need I have been active in the SDL Community.  I rebooted SDL Tridion Ideas into SDL Web Ideas and try to review feedback weekly during a “Frideas” session. So if you have any thoughts, please do share these with with us.

Although not to the same extent as when in professional services I am thankful for my time with customers and users of our technology on research trips, user groups, and at events like the Tridion Developer Summit.  If you see me at any of these event please come and say hi!

How can customers reach out and share their feedback around the product?

You can contact me at pm.web@sdl.com 

Alternatively, SDL Web Ideas; Ideas are great, but we want to understand problems, what are you trying to solve? What’s the business context?

Having engaged with customers a lot, where do you see customers having the most challenges when using Translation Manager or Experience Optimization? Why do you think this is?

The basics for translation are incredibly simple. Select items. Translate. That’s it. The challenge is in the details and nuances in terms of which items are sent and controlling the process as the translation jobs work through the selected translation management system.

Experience Optimization is sophisticated in that it challenges how we think about content. It is easy to get caught up in the idea of set or groupings of content.  However, thinking in terms of promoting one to several pieces of content in selection spots (regions) on pages, can accomplish so much more with less effort. Also, helps to really dig for your requirements.

If you had a magic wand what one thing would you add as an enhancement to the product suite?

Software that connects SDL Web to anything, automatically based on business needs.  But that’s magic.

How do you decide what to build?

We line up development team work to strategic product objectives which are based on input from several sources, prioritized by impact and customer needs. Of course we adjust this "wishlist" to realistic and achievable work, build-able within an allotted time frame.

If you were about crash onto a desert island with plenty of water, food and shelter what 3 things would you save and take with you?

In the modern age: maybe a camera, GPS, and a phone or something I could blog with.

Or as the question was probably originally designed: something to draw with, a watch, and duct tape.

Can you share 1 quick tip you have learned that makes your use of web integrations so much easier?

There is always a user. Keep it in mind in your designs and integration.

What 1 question do you always like to ask Customers when speaking with them?

How a customer would rate the technology.

How do you see technology in this area progressing in the next 5 years?

• Deeper connections and integrations.
• Evolving participants in the market.
• Notifications.
• Designs that appeal to the digital natives or the “2020” generation.

I believe we will see companies sharing more control, transparency and awareness with end users.

What do you think have been the milestones in the development of this product over the last 5-10 years?

• External Content Libraries – it was created for Media Manager integration, however is now recognized as a supported platform in its own right
• Translation Review and Preview bring Web to translators and translation to Web editors
• Experience Optimization's UI—it has some sophisticated yet subtle capabilities people might not be aware about