This writing is practice.
Malcome Gladwell expresses in his book, "Outliers", the idea that that it takes 10000 hours of deliberate practice to master a subject.
My work here may not be my best. But this is the path to continued, lifelong improvement.
I'm a Product Manager, technology optimist, and music artist.
I was born in 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. My earliest memories include Sesame Street and staring at the sun.
I started learning how to program when I was very young, on an old Apple IIe computer, in 1994. My father had recovered the machine from an Edison Company dumpster, where he worked as an electrician. I was an avid reader of MacWorld Magazine. I was one of the school's first computer lab assistants, the only kid with the password for admin rights on those old Mac Classics. (The password was "sphincter".)
I was an akward, blue-haired punky nerd. I played in a few local bands. I carried my beat up, sticker-covered Fender Squire Strat everywhere.
I worked at a Children's Theatre Company for a few years. First, as a pianist for a kid-friendly rendition of Grease. Then various roles over the years including Webmaster, Filemaker and Office Admin, and helped with everything from set building, lighting, and more.
I was an award-winning sales rep at Best Buy, Pasadena. I started working in their PCHO (Personal Computer Home Office), and was quickly adopted by the Geek Squad. Our store was one of the Personal Shopping Assistant Pilot Stores, and I became one of the first Personal Shoppers. I got ridiculously good at Guitar Hero in the downtime.
I graduated college with a degree in Music, and got my dream job working at an indie record label. This is when I realized my love for Excel was above average. I became an Excel Master. It was a time before Big Data, and we were the subject of rounding errors due to limitations in the file formats of the time. I learned do much.
I left the music industry and started working at AT&T Interactive. I was hired for my Excel mastery, and had the opportunity to participate in a [Startup-in-the-org]() environment. As a Data Analyst, I worked closely with the Product and Operations teams on all needs related to a "Deal of the Day" Groupon me-too product.
I'm beginning to understand the significance and nuance to storytelling, beyond an artform. Product Managers write stories. Writers and poets and musicians and artists of all kinds are storytellers throughout history. But these days, we're learning something different. We know that humans are unreliable narrators. And we are sharing stories more than other. History has proven, time and time again, that stories don't need to be true, to be effective.
Hans Rosling's book "Factfulness" was what caused me to reach a tipping point. I understand the difference now, between traditional storytelling. And storytelling with data.
We use data to describe, analyze and understand reality. Stories create reality.
Combine this with the power of goal-setting, such as the OKR Framework, where get real measurable goals that contribute to long-term objectives.
These are the conditions that allow us to experiment. Try a lot of things. Let the data drive.
I'm goin to leave this markup here, for reference
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