Things I've learned in the first 6 months of a product role

September 15, 2016 Aly Merritt

"Oh, you know, just keeping a rainy-day reading library upright in my spare time." ~ WonderWoman Bookend Lady, who also works on her Product Management skills in her spare time. — **"Oh, you know,** just keeping a rainy-day reading library upright in my spare time." ~ WonderWoman Bookend Lady, who also works on her Product Management skills in her spare time.

It's been nearly six months since I moved from Client Success to the Product department at SalesLoft. I learned a lot in the first 30 days alone, but the next 150 days were a blur of discovering how different methodologies work, what user experience research should look like, and of course working crazy-hard to deliver new or improved features to our clients.

Because I'm a writer at heart, I thought I'd document this journey, all of the ups and downs and what-the-heck moments, and share it with the world. Maybe it'll help someone else. It'll certainly be good for a laugh later!

Things I've learned in the first 30 days of a Product role

May 18, 2016 Aly Merritt

What do you do when you start a new role? You read. A lot. Blog posts, Medium, books, you name it. Learn from others' mistakes and successes. — **What do you do when** you start a new role? You read. A lot. Blog posts, Medium, books, you name it. Learn from others' mistakes and successes.

Just over a month ago, I moved from a Client Success position to the Product department at SalesLoft. Even with a solid background in supporting our application, working directly with our customers, and decent writing and technical skills, it's still been a really steep learning curve (and I truly don't know how people successfully make this leap if it includes a whole new company and product). So, of course, I thought I'd document this journey, all of the ups and downs and what-the-heck moments, and share it with the world. Maybe it'll help someone else. It'll certainly be good for a laugh later, when I'm a grizzled veteran of The Product World.

EVENTful | Product Chiefs: How to Make It in Atlanta

May 12, 2016 Aly Merritt

"Product Chiefs" panel featuring Chidi Afulezi, co-founder of aKoma; Melissa Proctor, Atlanta Hawks CMO; and Junior Gaspard, SVP- Product, Sales & Marketing at Experience, with an introduction by Amelia Davis, Local Marketing Producer at Ge… — **"Product Chiefs" panel** featuring Chidi Afulezi, co-founder of aKoma; Melissa Proctor, Atlanta Hawks CMO; and Junior Gaspard, SVP- Product, Sales & Marketing at Experience, with an introduction by Amelia Davis, Local Marketing Producer at General Assembly. (And a window glare because I am clearly not a professional photographer. #knowyourstrengths)

We're halfway through Atlanta Startup Week, "a new type of conference that builds momentum and opportunity around entrepreneurship," and it's been a really interesting mix of events, locations and topics so far. One of my favorites was a Tuesday morning panel at General Assembly, titled "Product Chiefs: How to Make It in Atlanta."

If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed that I've recently changed roles atSalesLoft and moved from Client Success to Product. As a blog reader, you probably have noticed how I love networking, learning new things, research and startups (not necessarily in that order). So when an event checked every one of those boxes, you know I signed up immediately.