Yazeed Al Oyoun is the Product Manager of Waseet.net and DaleelWaseet.net, both products of integrated digital content platform, 7awi. Yazeed worked on building notorious products at various online and technology companies across the Middle East and North Africa, including Jeeran, ikoo and Bluesky Technologies. One of his own successful products was the iDescribe Facebook application that succeeded in attracting more than 4 million users back in 2007.
Yazeed’s aspiration to build web-based products developed from his passion for programming as a kid which was picked up and introduced to the world of web development by Jeeran’s Co-founder and Chief Product Officer, Laith Zraikat, at the young age of 14. Yazeed is a judge and mentor for technology startups with Youth Business Jordan (Tamweelcom).
Besides the internet and technology, his interests include photography, music, entrepreneurship, and social media. You can follow Yazeed on Twitter at @yazeedaloyoun.
Yazeed’s agenda:
7:30AM – 9:00AM
Typically, techies are not known to be morning people, but this is usually the time when I decide to lose my daily battle to the alarm clock and start my day. It only takes a drive in Amman streets and a cup of latte to get to my desired state of mind.
9:00AM – 9:30AM
As soon as I reach my desk and set up my laptop, I always start by opening 2 browser tabs, one for our product requirements management platform, and another for my e-mail as that helps my mind get in sync with where we stopped yesterday, but also in planning for the day ahead.
9:30AM – 10:00AM
After responding to e-mails and taking actions on our requirements management software, I dedicate some time to look at our web and mobile analytics data for significant insights, trends or events that may need to be shared or discussed later in the day.
10:00AM – 10:30AM
This is when the product and technical teams get together for a daily standup meeting as part of our agile development process. Such meetings help us learn about the status of development to a highly detailed level. It also allows each technical resource to share what they had achieved on the previous day, what they will be working on today, and raise any issues they may have hindering them from completing their tasks.
10:30AM – 11:30AM
I often use this time slot after the daily meeting discussions to kick off some important items. These could include sitting with people who represent feedback points for our products, such as the head of customer relationship, the top management, or the head of web/mobile/UI insights; other times, you can find me taking in calls.
11:30AM – 1:00PM
I make myself available for the development and quality assurance teams to reach out to me in case they have any issues or require clarifications on product requirements. In such a highly agile and collaborative environment, this is an essential part of the process to ensure full integrity and quality of developed items and the product as a whole.
1:00PM – 2:00PM
Finally time for my first meal! I usually order in food or go somewhere nearby for a quick meal with colleagues. A perfect opportunity to build relationships always happens to be this one, where we put work discussions aside and try to get to know each other on a deeper and more personal level.
2:00PM – 4:00PM
This is when I dedicate some time to write, plan and prioritize product requirements, enhancements or bugs for the next development cycle as per the quarterly and yearly product roadmap. This occurs in a collaborative manner with my notebook and sometimes the head of product management.
4:00PM – 6:00PM
At the near end of my working day, I make myself available again for any testing related inquiries. When all is working smoothly, we usually sit in the big-screen room to engage in business and analytics discussions that often involve customer management and marketing.
6:00PM – 7:00PM
As I drive back home through the usual heavy traffic in the streets of Amman, my brain goes through some kind of hibernation in order to flip from my working state of mind to my home and family. That means I have to rest for at least for 30 minutes doing something incredibly non-brain-challenging, such as browsing my social accounts.
7:00PM – 10:00PM
My wife and I usually dedicate our evenings to visit friends and family or have them visit us at home. When there are no visits planned for the evening, I go out with friends for coffee or shisha (planning to quit!) or spend some time reading articles or books on my laptop, or discovering some new web development language.
10:00PM – 12:00AM
This is the sacred time for me and my family – the part that keeps me sane – so I think it is only wise to spend it accordingly, before calling it a day! :-) For professionals who wish to become product managers, I would like to share the following popular image that visually describes who product managers are. The best product managers are people who know a lot about user experience and design, application of technology and software, as well as business
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I also recommend all aspiring product managers to read the following books: Running Lean by Ash Maurya; Rework by 37signals; Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things by Don Norman; and Agile Excellence for PMs by Greg Cohen.
