Want to learn how our Product team makes ReCollect tools that you can use to educate people better every day? From small improvements to creating brand new tools, we\u2019re always building something to make your life a lot easier.\u00a0<\/span> Everything we create and launch is designed to solve real challenges you are facing with your recycling education<\/a><\/strong> initiatives.<\/span><\/p>\n In a nutshell, a Product Manager is like a mini CEO of a specific product. At ReCollect, our Product team gathers ideas for new products or features, works with the right teams to build these tools, does lots and lots of research, and helps maintain the product, such as by making sure our information on every tool or feature is well organized and accessible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The key thing that product managers bring to any team is to translate the challenges you face into the best possible solution. <\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you\u2019re struggling with informing people about changes to drop-offs due to the COVID-19. We recognized this real challenge and added a banner to our Waste Wizard<\/a><\/strong> specifically aimed to provide information on drop-off facility closures. Or perhaps you can\u2019t accommodate hazardous waste drop-offs that are walk-ins. No problem, we\u2019ve built an amazing Appointment Scheduler<\/strong><\/a> tool to help transition your walk-in drop-offs to scheduled drop-offs, so you can staff accordingly (and safely). <\/span><\/p>\n Our Product team makes sure that our tools are always relevant and timely.\u00a0<\/span> When you purchase one of our outstanding solutions you\u2019re not just getting a product, you\u2019re getting continuous improvement and innovation, which is a tremendous value add to all our tools.<\/span><\/p>\n We talked a bit about what product management is but how does a great idea become a new tool? To take a step back, where do we even get our ideas from? While every organization approaches this differently, at ReCollect we start by listening closely to our customers \u2013 this is our \u2018ideation stage\u2019. We love speaking with our customers and try to do it as much as possible!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Some of the ideas we receive will become reality but the difficult truth is that it\u2019s impossible for us to turn every idea into a live feature – we receive hundreds of ideas from customers, the people who use our tools, and from our teams. Imagine if you listened to every single piece of advice or idea you received about your own business or program. Many of the ideas would be great to take action on but some would either conflict with your business model or simply not be feasible. <\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re all constrained by time, money, or even legislative requirements and want to make sure that what we\u2019re doing is the best possible solution given these tough constraints.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To start narrowing down our big list of ideas, our Product team does lots of data gathering to make sure that what we build actually solves a real problem. We simply don\u2019t want to build something that no one will find helpful. We do our data gathering by talking to our customers again, looking at metrics, and by researching what’s happening in the industry, as a whole.\u00a0<\/span> We also have to balance new ideas against work to keep our existing tools in great shape. We always want to make sure that the new ideas we chose to build are impactful and pervasive but sometimes, we need to make sure that what we\u2019ve already implemented continues to stay impactful. <\/span><\/p>\nWhat IS Product Management, Anyway?<\/b><\/h4>\n
The Creation Process<\/b><\/h3>\n
Ideation and Research<\/b><\/h4>\n