ALEX LEVICH: I'm Alex Levich, and I'm
a product manager at Google, leading one of the areas
in Android platform.
Today we are joined by Sabrina Ellis, product manager
and director at Google.
Welcome, Sabrina.
SABRINA ELLIS: Thank you so much for having me.
ALEX LEVICH: Tell us a little bit
about yourself and your background.
SABRINA ELLIS: I am director of product management
on the Android team at Google, and the areas
that I'm responsible for include Android apps, location,
and context.
And just recently, I took over the Google store.
ALEX LEVICH: Excellent.
Sabrina, tell us all about your take on product management.
What is that role about?
SABRINA ELLIS: A product manager, I
think the main role is really about bringing together
all the different parts of a team to launch a product.
You know, one key element is really understanding the user.
And another is to take that knowledge
and communicate it to the team.
So you're bringing together the design team, the engineering
team, and then all the way through when
you're moving into launch with the QA team and the launch
team, and all of those aspects.
And a lot of the role of product manager
is to bring those groups together,
so that you can launch a successful product.
ALEX LEVICH: What does it mean to actually bring things
together, to launch products?
What do people actually do in this role?
SABRINA ELLIS: So it starts from just the concept.
Who are we building this for?
And really making that clear to everybody that's on the team,
really thinking about that user, what are their needs, how do we
fit into their lives.
I think that's the first step of really trying
to communicate that and make sure that everyone's
aligned on those concepts.
And then from there, it is saying, so how
is it that we want to build the best product for them?
And that can mean, let's bring together the engineers.
Let's think about where it is that we want to go.
Let's work with the designers to say,
if this is the user that we want, how is it
that we would design the best user interface for them?
With all of those things, how do we
build a product, how do we build a road map,
and then make sure that we're getting the best
product out to them as soon as possible?
ALEX LEVICH: That sounds really interesting,
but also challenging.
What's challenging about it?
Tell us.
SABRINA ELLIS: I think one of the most challenging things
is in general in the product management role,
the people are not reporting to you.
So you have this role, and you have this responsibility,
like I said, where you are bringing together all
the ideas of what users want.
You want to highlight what the priorities are,
what we're all moving towards.
You want to make sure that everyone is aligned on a road
map, but you actually don't have the authority
of any of these people potentially reporting to you.
So a lot of it is about influencing other people.
It's really talking about why are these the right things?
Why is it that this is what we want to build for the users?
Why is this the right road map for us to follow?
And making sure that you've thought it through
and convincing everyone that this is the direction
you want to move towards.
ALEX LEVICH: So it's a lot about communication.
SABRINA ELLIS: It's a ton about communication.
That's a huge amount of the job.
It's about influencing other people.
And you know, I like to say that sometimes I
get the most amount of work done in the salad bar line.
But you've got to figure out what your own style is
and how you can convince people.
ALEX LEVICH: And food is important.
SABRINA ELLIS: Food is also important.
And we are lucky that at Google, they do feed us.
ALEX LEVICH: Indeed.
Tell us about what's exciting for you.
What gets you up in the morning, when you go to work?
SABRINA ELLIS: I mentioned, I think, being passionate.
I think that's one of the key elements of being
a successful product manager.
I think you want to be passionate about the space
that you're working in.
For me, it is technology.
It is the potential of taking that technology
and bringing it to large parts of the society
and actually being able to change their lives.
ALEX LEVICH: Sabrina, what about now?
Are you working on anything in particular
that really gets you excited?
SABRINA ELLIS: So right now, one of the projects that I'm
leading is called Google Fit.
We just launched last fall.
ALEX LEVICH: Congrats.
SABRINA ELLIS: And-- thank you.
And that's a project where I think we have a big opportunity
to really change people's lives, hundreds of millions
of people's lives, in fact.
Right now, we know people carry their phones
with them every day.
We know that we also have the opportunity
to take those phones that they're already carrying,
take the sensors that are in them,
and make those into fitness devices
without them having to spend more money,
or really change their habits.
So with that data, we hope that we can help people understand
their own fitness and how they might
make small tweaks in order to improve
their overall well-being.
And what gets me up is we can really
help improve the lives of almost a billion people.
And I think that potential is something
that's just really exciting.
ALEX LEVICH: It is.
It's actually already changing my life,
because I want to do more and more steps using my Android
watch.
SABRINA ELLIS: That's great, yeah.
ALEX LEVICH: True story.
SABRINA ELLIS: I will admit, I feel a lot of guilt
as well when I see my stats at the end of the day.
ALEX LEVICH: Well, thank you, Sabrina, for joining us.
It was a pleasure having you.
SABRINA ELLIS: Thank you so much for having me here.
ALEX LEVICH: And thanks, everyone, for watching.
This is product management with Alex Levich.
Stay tuned for upcoming episodes and subscribe
to Women Techmakers' YouTube channel.
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