This is the third in a five-part series introducing the categories for the Products That Count 2022 Product Awards. These episodes feature the five members making up the product-forward powerhouse team that is the 2022 Awards Advisory Board.
Last time, we heard from Transfix Product Marketing Lead, Patrick Blute, on Delightful User Journey. In this talk, Indeed.com Senior International Product Lead Iryna Krutenko introduces the Level Up Scale & Complexity category for the 2022 Product Awards.
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On the importance of collaboration for this Product Awards category
There is a famous saying: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Leveling up and scaling a company are all about going far, and developing a company for the long run. This category at the 2022 Product Awards is designed to recognize products and services that help other companies grow and scale in meaningful ways. Considering the challenges of the past year, collaboration has been key.
“Leveling up scale and complexity represents continuous growth and innovation. Through this category, I want to highlight and celebrate the products and services which not only showed a lot of resilience in the past year, but continue to grow and succeed further. By now, many products and companies have learned how to function in this ‘new normal’ era, with the pandemic and remote work.
“But also with the world being increasingly more remote, I think it blurs the borders of business, in terms of both customers and talent. And also because of this, globalization is taking on another meaning and another level. Through scaling and building out complexity, it also drives for further collaboration and sophisticated technical solutions. And that’s what the four superpowers represent to me.”
On Level Up Scale & Complexity superpowers
If you’re going to level up, you’re going to need some superpowers to get there. Specifically, for the category of Level Up Scale & Complexity in the 2022 Product Awards, the winning products will demonstrate the following superpowers: enable platformization, partner for success, A11Y and comply, and expand international growth.
“Enable platformization, to me, means that the superpower is about building innovative technical solutions that are also meant to simplify cross-platform integrations, scalability, and, in turn, allow products to continue evolving into yet other new and exciting product offerings or services. And a good example of this superpower would be platforms that offer collaboration, services, and products to other companies that power continuous growth.
“Partnering for success is key to ensuring continuous growth of businesses through partnerships. I think about this superpower, as think globally, act locally, through strategic partners and outsourcing. I believe that, as products continue to scale, the key to their success, beyond the founding city or country, is finding these reliable partners who can help take your business to another level by helping with specific aspects of the business or organization, which allows these products to keep focusing on what they do best, and on strategic growth opportunities.
“A11Y and Comply stands for accessibility and compliance. And I’m thrilled that this superpower is becoming front and center in the modern world or web, where we strive to serve all of our users and provide them equal access to products we develop. There’s actually a lot of different platforms that are offering legal compliance services, or accessibility testing platforms. And I think that this is actually extremely important in today’s world, to help us eliminate the accessibility digital divide.
“Expanding international growth is close to my heart, given my interest and experience in internationalizing and scaling products. Ensuring proper website copy localization, and your product offering internationalization is essential in securing market position and attracting customers in other locations. Again, I’ve seen so many interesting players in this domain. Some examples include enabling global data centers, that is key to driving international growth, as well as helping companies localize their copy and product offerings.”
On what makes a great product and PM
Clearly this Product Awards category has an emphasis on communicating and collaborating well with others, whether they are team members, users, or partners. The winning products in this category will be the ones that do those things well, and that do them intuitively.
“A great product is all about intuitive design. It is something that doesn’t make me think, but gets the job done every time. And a great product manager, in my mind, is both a strong communicator and a creative problem solver. A great product manager is someone who cares deeply about their users, and also has a high standard for quality. It is someone who always keeps learning, encourages and celebrates creativity, and is open and empathetic to teams and users.”
About the speaker
About the host
I am the Director of Brand & Sustainability for Transfix, a leading transportation solutions provider, combining tech and a best-in-class carrier network to reshape the future of freight. I am also a host for Product Talk helping bring product leaders together to answer the question: "What makes a great product?"