Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise

As an enthusiast of product management, I'm interested in everything related to processes, methodologies and organisational topics. Within the company I naturally took the lead on projects normally managed by a Product Ops team, solidifying and improving what was already in place while implementing new ideas.

1. Online roadmap with Harvestr. In the ALE product team we discovered that the shared roadmap lacked crucial information and was not scalable in PowerPoint. Internal and external stakeholders could not follow the evolution of features in real time during the quarter's delivery phase, causing confusion, delaying decision-making and putting some deals at risk. We chose Harvestr: a clearer, more detailed roadmap accessible to all team members, with real-time feature progress tracking and data to guide us on feature and product attrition. The online roadmap was visited over 700 times in 8 months.

2. Roadmap delivery enhancement. Roadmap commitments and delivery targets were not being met. Every feature had constant, automatic delays, causing customer and partner dissatisfaction and hurting team motivation. I proposed a new process between the product and tech teams based on anticipation, communication and evaluation: every mid/end of quarter, all product managers and lead techs gather to review the topics committed to the roadmap and communicate achievable delivery dates, prioritising when multiple issues cannot be addressed simultaneously. The number of delayed features decreased drastically. The technical team understood topics better and prepared them with higher-quality work, including technical debt. The sales team is now more confident sharing the roadmap with prospects and customers.

3. Survey campaigns (qualitative & quantitative). ALE sells through a network of business partners who resell to end customers, so we could not interact directly with the employees who actually use our products. Following lean startup methodology, we set up a process, built with product managers and product marketing managers, allowing us to survey our different user personas once or twice a year, gathering data to help the product team make informed decisions about evolutions and innovations.

4. Data-oriented strategy implementation. We defined clear goals and KPIs aligned with business objectives, leveraged analytics and surveys to gather user feedback, and established a data-driven decision-making process, regularly analysing and interpreting collected data to prioritise efforts where we could make the biggest impact. To build a company-wide culture of data-driven decision-making it was essential to involve all stakeholders and communicate findings effectively. We implemented automation tools to streamline data analysis and reporting.

After joining the ALE product team I noticed a shortage of product design work: research, wireframing, UI. Discovery and delivery were heavily impacted. To compensate I designed all my own features myself, which hurt the quality of my deliverables since I had no time for user interviews or testing.

The absence of a product design team has further negative effects: products that don't meet real customer needs or aren't tailored to the market, leading to lower sales and loss of market share. It also signals underinvestment in product quality, damaging brand perception among customers and business partners.

I proposed the creation of a product design team to the Head of Product and CEO, with five priority pillars: definition of personas; creation of a design system; application of lean startup methodology with a focus on the learning phase, interviews and user testing; improved design consistency between platforms; and team growth through the recruitment of a new product designer.

Management trusted me and gave me responsibility for setting up and managing this team. Results were immediate.

As a manager leading a team of 3 people, I recognise the importance of strong leadership skills: effective communication, strategic thinking, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and the ability to motivate and inspire. By demonstrating these skills and leading by example, I established a positive and productive work environment. I believe investing in leadership development is critical for personal growth and career success, so I continually improve my own skills and support my team members in their development.

My team comprised two highly talented product designers and one product marketing manager. Two years ago I initiated the recruitment process to expand the product design team, with a clear objective of finding a candidate who would complement the existing team's skills. During interviews I introduced a pragmatic test to assess candidates' abilities, soft skills and motivation, paying close attention to team fit.

I define my management style as "healthy management": ethical leadership, transparent and honest communication, a robust corporate culture and an inclusive workplace. Providing clear direction and accountability while inspiring the team to reach their goals is fundamental to my approach. Constructive feedback is always welcome and I value my team's input. Conflict resolution is essential to a healthy work environment and I handle issues fairly and equitably. Recognition and appreciation for hard work, flexibility, and a culture of diversity and inclusion are vital. Maintaining close relationships with team members based on respect and openness is critical to fostering mutual support and trust.

What is digital accessibility? The ability of people with disabilities to access and use digital content, websites, applications, documents and other electronic resources. It means ensuring people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, interact with and contribute to digital content using assistive technologies such as screen readers, magnifiers and keyboard alternatives. It promotes inclusivity and equal access to information and resources, and is particularly important for people with disabilities who rely on digital content for communication, education and employment. It encompasses guidelines and standards such as WCAG and the RGAA in France; compliance is often a legal requirement, particularly for public sector organisations and businesses serving the public.

Why it became one of my priorities as a product manager: Inclusivity: ensuring all users, including those with disabilities, can access and use the product. Legal compliance: in many countries accessibility is a legal requirement, and failure to comply can result in legal action, fines and reputational damage. Market demand: increasingly important for consumers, particularly the government market and countries such as the United States and Germany; accessible products grow market demand and widen the audience. Innovation: accessibility drives creative solutions to design challenges; considered from the start of the development process, it produces products that are both accessible and innovative, and reduces technical debt, so it must be at the core of the product, like GDPR. Brand reputation: investing in accessibility demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity and social responsibility, improving brand reputation and customer loyalty.

For Rainbow, accessibility shifted from "nice-to-have" to "must-have".

How I convinced the organisation and guided cross-functional teams:

As a Product Manager I am also deeply involved in the marketing aspects of our products, including defining the marketing and communication strategy for launching and promoting the product, in close collaboration with the company's marketing teams. Below are some of my interventions for internal and external audiences during webinars, international strategic virtual events and LinkedIn posts.