We recently sat down with Miro Head of Self Serve Business & Growth, Yuliya Malysh, to discuss adapting to a virtual workspace. During our talk, we also delved into having an open line of communication with product users and how the COVID-19 pandemic altered the role in an online environment.
Miro offers remote teams a collaborative venue to meet, communicate, and distribute information. The whiteboard platform provides a versatile virtual workspace that stretches to all time zones and utilizes a bevy of tools that help reduce the constraints often faced in physical work environments.
Miro’s Head of Self Serve Business & Growth, Yuliya Malysh, and Product Talk host, Thomas Daly, discussed post-COVID tools, turning the workspace into a virtual one, and the changes that come with it. You can listen to the full episode of Product Talk above. A few highlights from the episode can be found below.
Just what is the Product Growth Team?
Yuliya plays a vital role as the Head of Self Serve Business & Product Growth at Miro, but what does her position really entail? What, exactly, does the Product Growth Team consist of?
“So, I’m responsible for driving self serve business growth at Miro and also within a product growth team which consists of six teams that are working from acquisition to activation, monetization and engagement.”
On how economics blends with Self Serve Business and Product Growth
With a background in economics, Yuliya talks about how her education helps her prepare for the day-to-day at Miro.
“It’s not all about ‘Hey, let’s help everyone in the world.’ We also are very inspired by our mission. But this is always remembering that we need to make a business because if not, we won’t help the millions of users do their work. Yeah, I think that’s always going to remind me what questions we need to ask or how things are working and going. There are some mental models and an overall law for numbers.”
On listening to customers in a virtual workspace
The COVID-19 pandemic not only altered the workplace, it required product managers and leaders to find all-new ways of receiving customer and user feedback.
“We had customer insight programs and we have our monthly meetings where all people that are customer facing and also the customer success Community Manager, they prepare the insights that they get from our customers and clients. But we also have a lot of open channels and resources where everyone can talk to our users. So, the product manager constantly talks to you users about problems and specific features that they are working on.”
On the facilitator’s role in a virtual workspace?
When a company goes from on-site to virtual, roles will inevitably change. What exactly does that mean for the facilitator, though? Yuliya has some thoughts on the matter:
“I think the preparation side could be even easier in online work because you can shorten the time that you have to prepare, so you don’t have to know how to draw and then to print and then buy markers and things like that.
“So, the preparation phase could be quicker and this is the value we want to provide for our customers. And after the event is also easier because everything is already digitized. So, you don’t have to write all your speakers from the whiteboard to some structured way. Everything is already there. And you need to do less manual work to synthesize the results.”
On approaching a product as the Head of Growth
In her role as Miro’s Head of Product Growth, Yuliya has learned quite a bit about best practices. Here, she gives a little advice to those starting out in the same position.
“The main advice that I have is: don’t copy what other people do and what other companies do without understanding why they’re doing it.”
About the speaker
Yuliya Malysh is the Head of Self Serve Business & Growth at Miro where she works with product growth teams through the acquisition, activation, engagement, and monetization processes. Yuliya joined Miro in 2013, first serving as a Product Analyst and working on analytics and growth teams. She has a history in marketing, a background in economics, and has been a driving force behind Miro’s product-led growth. Yuliya propels product and business growth by combining science and art as a means of optimizing the user experience and creating a culture of experimentation.
About the host
Thomas Daly is Principal Product Manager at Samsung NEXT leading zero to one initiatives. Prior to that, he served as the Chief Product Officer for Spacious.com, which was later acquired by The We Company (WeWork). Before that, Daly was at Samsung Electronics by way of an acquisition of BOXEE, a TV-connected streaming device. He has worked in various product roles for nearly 15 years.