My career to date has focused on a technology called Geographic Information Systems (GIS). I read about it in a Geography A Level text book and I thought I need to get me some of that. The case study in the text book revolved around mapping rates of contagion in LA so you could see the potential spread of disease. This grabbed me as I thought that by combining technology with geography almost any problem could be examined e.g. have I got enough fire stations based on drive times or where should I locate my new store based of socio-demographics? Reading that text book was the first step towards starting my career in GIS at Esri UK, a distributor for Esri, the global leader in GIS technology.
Whilst at Esri UK I completed the graduate scheme which gave me experience of several business functions alongside interactions with a variety of our customers across different industries. On completion of the graduate scheme I embarked on the role of Product Manager. This role could not be more perfect as it has allowed me to remain technologically focussed with the needs of customers at the forefront of everything I do.
In my role I work within a team which implements an agile methodology to deliver products which are innovative in achieving the needs of the customer. This requires me to employ what I believe are the two key tenants of product management; empathy and communication. Empathy for the customer but equally important empathy for the team developing the product. This goes hand in hand with communication, to ensure that the needs of the customer are understood by the team, and from the team the professionalism and confidence in the product is conveyed to the customer.
