It’s been a little over 365 days of hard work, fun and learning for me at MyGate. The opportunity to shape the roadmap for, and run experiments on, a product that powers over a million homes is exactly what I had hoped for at this stage of my career. I honestly have enjoyed every one of these days, but some have been more special than others. Here are my three most memorable days at MyGate.
Day 1: Launching the feedback feature on iOS
I have successfully led multiple key initiatives in the past year, but the most memorable one has to be the day we launched the user feedback feature on the app. The primary purpose was to understand and resolve consumers’ problems quickly. We identified the right places to seek feedback on critical features and it worked very well as we were able to route the complaints for quick resolution.
This also had a remarkable impact on the App Store ratings with a 10x growth in iOS app reviews in a month. Building a feature to figure out one key high in the entire user journey, gather feedback, and finally steer it towards a positive outcome, both in terms of better user experience and improved ratings, is a proud moment.
Day 2: The Ideathon 2019
MyGate is always buzzing with energy and ideas. In my first few months here, it seemed like every other day someone would stop me in the corridor to discuss ideas for a new feature. In early May, I decided it was essential to formalise the process – with an Ideathon. The founders agreed and I was eager to see it through. The only problem? I had never organised an event of any kind.
Reluctantly, I sent out an email seeking entries, knowing full well that there would be an avalanche of entries – and that it would mean planning a full-blown event. As expected, we had a lot of entries flowing in from all 10 cities.
Over the next week, I would spend a big chunk of my day as an event planner! We flew in colleagues from other cities, agreed on an evaluation criteria, organised food, stay and entertainment, shortlisted judges and much more for the 48-hour event in no time. The event was a great success and now I can’t wait to plan Ideathon 2020.
Day 3: Running the Midnight Marathon
Weeks ago, I took time out on a Saturday to do a work thing! Not quite, of course.
I teamed up with three of my colleagues to participate in a corporate relay, the Midnight Marathon. The goal was to complete a circuit of 10km by dividing the distance among the team. The run was scheduled to commence at 10:50 pm.
The energy of the runners turned up in huge numbers was quite a ‘warm up’ session in itself. We got our running gear on and waited for the final whistle to blow. I was able to sprint through my course in a record 15 minutes, which was no less than a personal achievement. Also, the fact that the event was organised with an objective to improve the lives of thousands of underprivileged children, made it a fulfilling experience.
