Building structure for better collaboration
Designing systems that bring clarity and alignment to complex, cross-functional work.
At a small, remote-first SaaS startup, we built the product and many of the systems around it at the same time. Product work primarily lived in GitHub, which worked well for Engineering but made it difficult for the broader company to understand what we were building, why it mattered, and where things stood.
I saw an opportunity to create a more connected product process and took the lead on building it in Notion. I created a shared roadmap alongside spaces for research, discovery, customer feedback, and product documentation, linking work back to GitHub tickets where possible.
The roadmap was only part of the solution. I also initiated a weekly working session with Sales and Account Management to review priorities, share designs in progress, and bring what they were hearing from customers and prospects directly into the product process.
Their domain expertise often surfaced important details, particularly around complex insurance terminology and data. I paired that input with findings from my own user research to refine designs and bring evidence-backed recommendations and priority changes to the CTO.
Over time, the roadmap and feedback sessions became part of how the team worked, creating greater visibility across the company and bringing customer insight closer to product decisions.
02/ AWS STARTUPS
Creating a shared content library at scale
AWS · UX Program Management
An example at a much larger scale is an initiative I led at AWS: the Startup Content Library, originally launched in 2020. After validating the problem, I proposed a unified content library for our startup customers to leadership. Once approved, I worked cross-functionally with SMEs across service teams, along with third-party contractors, to bring it to life. You can view the current version here.
While working on another initiative at AWS Startups, conversations with team leads surfaced a recurring problem: valuable content was scattered across teams, tools, and even individual laptops. Teams struggled to know what existed or which version was current, leading to duplicated work, outdated resources, and an inconsistent experience for startup customers.
I saw an opportunity to create a shared source of truth and wrote a proposal and budget request for a centralized internal and external content library. After receiving leadership approval, I led the initiative from early validation through launch.
I audited and sourced existing content, recruited subject matter experts across AWS to serve as content “captains,” and created a governance model for keeping resources current. Content could be designated for internal or external use, while curated learning paths helped founders find relevant resources based on their stage, industry, topic, and needs.
I partnered with a third-party development team on the information architecture, pathways, and experience, and with Amazon’s brand team on the final site. The library has continued to evolve since I left AWS and remains live today.