* Swiss Army Knife = EDC (Every Day Carry), an item for use in everyday tasks from the mundane to the unexpected.
An Every Day Carry (EDC) item is something you take with you when you leave the house every day. Usually it’s something small, but essential – items like your mobile phone, keys, wallet, notebook, or pen. For some, this list would include a knife, flashlight, or bottle opener. Put them all together and you have a survival kit.
When preparing your kit, take a moment to think about what you need and what’s useful to have with you. An every day carry item helps you deal with the issues that life throws your way.
Think about work, the people on your team, and things that would make your life just a little bit easier.
Then pick me up, pop me in your pocket, and let’s roll.
Consultant – Business Analysis, Product Management and Systems Integration Project Management
MenuPages.com is a restaurant menu directory website, featuring over 30,000 restaurants in eight major U.S. cities. New York Magazine acquired MenuPages.com in August 2008. I was hired to manage the integration of MenuPages into the New York Magazine technology infrastructure and to work with the founder to develop a comprehensive 2009 product roadmap. Over a period of eleven months, I worked with senior executives, in-house and off-shore developers, designers, market researchers, and project managers to accomplish the following:
Re-Factor, Re-Design, & Re-Launch MenuPages.com
The original website was developed in Classic ASP/SQL and ran on the Windows platform. The site was re-developed using open-source technologies (Python, MySQL) and re-branded with a cleaner and more advertiser-friendly format. The original search engine was replaced with Endeca enterprise search.
Create a New Publishing Engine
I worked with the business team and developers to create specifications for a new publishing engine that dynamically generated menus in HTML, PDF and XML feeds for external partners. The new system reduced publishing times exponentially and expanded business capabilities for content licensing.
Develop Content Efficiencies
A new system was created to share content dynamically between nymag.com and menupages.com, reducing duplication of editorial tasks and providing fresh content on regular basis for nymag.com readers.
Launch the Grub Street Food Blog Network
Over a four month period, the food & dining blogs for nymag.com and menupages.com were combined into a single national brand, GrubStreet.com and launched across the menupages.com markets – New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston. This project included a full brand redesign and upgrades to the Moveable Type platform.
In addition to business analysis and product management, I also worked with the management team to convert the organization from a waterfall development process to Agile SCRUM, improving productivity and product quality across the board.
Consultant – Business Analysis and Information Architecture
Edelman is the leading independent global PR firm, applying public relations to building consumer brands.
For a number of key accounts, I have provided product strategy and created site specifications, wireframes, and proof-of-concept prototypes. Below are examples of services provided for these accounts.
Registration Optimization and Community Engagement
For the a national voluntary health agency focused on raising awareness for women’s heart health, I performed a site usability audit and pinpointed areas where the user flow could be optimized to increase registration numbers and toolkit usage. We focused on improving the registration process, reducing the number of steps from three pages to one easy sign up page. Post-registration, the users was then linked to a page which drove them toward using the tools on the site.
Information Architecture
For the nutrition marketing arm of the leading organization in dairy nutrition research, education and communication, I worked with the team to provide full site architecture to meet the goal of creating an authoritative, cohesive, focused and engaging digital presence by making improvements to the site look and feel, functionality and visibility. The existing site was difficult to navigate, with important information buried several levels deep. We cleaned up the organization of the site, ensuring that site was only four levels deep and that users could navigate easily throughout the site. We also folded in content from two other sites and the newsletter to create a central destination for dairy marketing and research inquiries.
Client Pitches et al.
I have also participated in client pitches as well as created website prototypes, wireframes and fully annotated information architecture documentation for other Edelman clients, including the world’s largest online marketplace and the world’s leading agricultural technology company.
Consultant – Project Management and Information Architecture
Creative Mobile Technologies is the largest comprehensive taxi technology services provider in the United States, providing New York City taxicabs with credit and debit card processing, media and advertising content, text messaging, interactive passengers maps, GPS, and electronic trip sheets.
In September 2008, I recruited and managed a team of FLEX developers and Flash designers to develop the front-end GUI for CMT’s FREEdom solution. The interface has been deployed in Chicago and Boston, with roll-outs planned for New York City and Las Vegas.
Frontend Design: Cameron Browning, Frontend Flex development: Scott Selikoff and Daniel Cohen, Backend: Creative Mobile Technologies
Consultant – Product Management and Information Architecture
Waterfront Media is the largest privately held online health company and operates The Everyday Health Network, which attracts over 25 million unique users per month across 24 sites. As the Director of Product Management, I worked on the product strategy for EverydayHealth.com, WhatToExpect.com and SouthBeachDiet.com.
Working cross-functionally with engineering, sales and marketing, I developed the product requirements and specifications for the social networking and community components of Everyday Health and What to Expect. Everyday Health social networking launched in July 2008. From October 2007, the site grew from from 15MM page views/3.7MM monthly uniques to 40MM page views/6.1MM monthly uniques in July 2008. What To Expect social networking launched in late November 2007, resulting in 100,000+ new members and increased monthly PVs from 11.8MM (November 2007) to 17.2MM (April 2008).
As a product consultant, I created the requirements for the lead generation product in conjunction with the business development team. The goal of this project was to create a new business unit and generate additional revenue from the Waterfront Media membership database. The lead generation platform was developed with a third-party partner and was launched across Everyday Health, What to Expect, South Beach Diet and other WFM sites.
“Deborah is an exceptional manager. She has always exhibited grace under pressure, and has a solid track record of delivering high quality products that are on-time and within budget. She is a natural leader and is instantly liked among her peers; she brings with her a special social chemistry that can make even the most mundane tasks fun. Deborah is a true gem for any organization.”
- Albert C. Lee, Executive Director of Technology, The McEvoy Group
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“A project under Deb’s governance will meet deadlines and exceed expectations. She’s a superb manager, and what’s more it’s fun to work with her.”
- Daniel Cohen, Principal, Bluetail Studios
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“I had the pleasure of working with Deb on a number of initiatives once I joined New York Media. She began with New York Media long before I did, but I would hire her in a heartbeat. She has phenomenal project management skills, and she approaches product management with great acumen. I hope to work with her again in the future.”
Top qualities: Great Results, On Time, High Integrity
-Hal Danziger, Director of Interactive Technology, New York Magazine
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“Deb is the simply best project manager and analyst I have had the pleasure to work with. She’s attentive to both business and technical needs, and knows how to organize projects to finish on time. On top of that, she’s got a great sense of humor and is fun to work with. I look forward to working with Deb on many projects down the road.”
-Scott Selikoff, Owner, Selikoff Solutions, LLC
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“Deb is a stellar product manager. She handles all aspects of product management flawlessly. Things like scheduled releases, interfacing with business, time boxing feature releases, frequent (useful) communication, knowing when to be hands off, knowing when to be hands on, always perfect at hitting deadlines, and being generally amicable all come to Deb with ease. I have never seen her in a state of panic, even when all the chips are down. Her tempered nature helps her safely navigate her products through the most choppy of business environments. She is loved by business, she is loved by engineering and she brings a lot to the table. I would love to do a project with Deb again, in fact I hope I do.”
- Apaar Trivedi, Sr. Software Engineer, New York Magazine