| | APRIL 20199CIOReviewBEING CUSTOMER CENTRIC IS KEY TO DRIVING YOUR APP'S SUCCESSproduct and app move from a two-dimensional experience to three-dimensional one. This is highly relevant for the weather because it is a three-dimensional event and we typically display it in a real two-dimensional mode. So I think for us, that's an area that we want to focus on. This year is how we take that three-dimensional aspect of the information we communicate and put that into a device that is typically a two-dimensional experience and AR gives us that opportunity to do so. And obviously it goes out saying 5G coming down the road is incredibly exciting as it puts a lot of opportunity on the table for us.What are the strategic points that you go by to steer the company forward?On the one hand, is prioritization is at a leadership level which I focus on every day because we're fortunate enough to have a surplus of ideas of features and data that we can present to our audience and our users. I think at a leadership level the focus on prioritization is second to none. That also goes into experimentation; figuring out not what you think the user wants while testing features and releasing against actual audiences. Also, figuring out what is the most appealing and relevant way to communicate sensitive information. Data integrity and privacy is at the forefront of our daily conversations to ensure that everything we do is under the maintenance of trust with the user and the integrity of our brand. And that's a critical area. I think all product and technology leaders need to be thinking about how to ensure that you're doing everything that you possibly can in the most integral way.And then I think the process to foster collaboration across broader groups of teams early on so that you can refine the feature set and beautifully define your roadmap. And then it goes back to the prioritization, experimentation, and then building a release cadence to get those new features out frequently so that your users are constantly coming back to a new and engaging product.Can you draw an analogy between your personality traits, hobbies and reflect on your leadership strategy?I feed off team and culture, collaboration, and a lot of ideas at the table. I think I've tried to bring in diverse backgrounds representing diverse experiences and different ways of consuming data. We happen to produce weather data but also different use cases of varying lifestyle attributes. I bring in a lot of thought to the table so that we can be representative of our global audience but also then rigorously prioritize and think about features that impact our audience in the most meaningful way. I like to have discussions and brainstorming sessions particularly with Agile development that gives you the ability to be flexible; we can pivot, test, and learn. Process prioritization and thinking about new ideas feeds off my characteristics of having a lot of people at the table to bring the best ideas forward that represent the most diverse set of thinkers to be representative of the audience that is using your products daily.What would be a piece of advice that you could impart to a CIO who looks to embark on a similar venture along the lines of your service and solutions?Curiosity always wins; if you've got a curious digitally native tech-savvy approach to understand, I think that you'll be highly successful in any product world, particularly in the mobile space. Curiosity leads you down a path of unlimited discovery of new ways of not only building, but ways of designing, what consumers want, and how your product is performing. If you're always curious about the data and to learn, then you'll build a better product out of that. I think at a leadership level the focus on prioritization is second to none
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