PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY | EXAMPLES | WORK EXPERIENCE | CREATIVE

PROGRAM DESIGN & FRAMEWORK

HULU ADS PMP | 2018

Program Brief

• Situation
• In summer 2018, Hulu's Head of Ad Platform set an ambitious goal: deliver a fully operational new revenue pipeline for a CES showcase, to be ready by January 2, 2019
• Task
• Build out the plan
• Assemble the needed teams/resources
• Own the entire effort end-to-end to deliver on time
• Actions
• Began with a thorough project plan, accounting for cross-organizational assistance and working backwards from the delivery date
• Built a coalition with outside teams to get on their roadmap and appropriately prioritized to meet delivery deadlines
• Established two new series of project coordination ceremonies specific to the needs of this effort (detailed below)
• Result
• Successfully showcased at CES on time, with several industry articles written to highlight the new marketplace; initial buzz was very positive
• There was a specific living room device where the company in question only does software updates on a very strict cadence that we just couldn't align with our project plan; see below for how this was addressed

Business Impact

• Transformed a previously limited revenue stream into an expanded and scalable revenue pipeline
• The enhanced product offering increased client access and campaign control, thus increasing value to the client and interest in the product
• Critical piece for the Hulu Ad Platform that would eventually evolve into the current Disney Ad Platform's Real-Time Ad Exchange (DRAX)

Approach

• Spent three days in deep planning with Product and Engineering leads
• Mapped every step, team, system, and dependency in detail
• Initiated direct TPM-to-TPM handshakes with partner teams
• Secured visibility and kicked off formal cross-team alignment
• Coordinated between partner teams and stakeholders to clarify individual team roadmaps and work through conflicting priorities

Communication and Reporting

• Standard Hulu channels for project updates and status reporting
• Created two new coordination ceremonies specific for this launch
• "Heads of State" (scrum of scrums) for all project teams (regardless of domains or discipline) to provide progress updates, call out risks, and remain coordinated
• "Deep Dive" sessions for all executive stakeholders, open floor format for questions and deeper, more detailed discussions

Challenges

• Team roadmap coordination
• This project introduced unexpected workload for several teams, stakeholder coordination was needed to help reprioritize work
• Teams slipped and missed milestones
• We anticipated these risks and were prepared, thanks to Heads of State huddles, regular burndown chart review, and direct 1:1 communication
• Missed delivery for one device
• We did not launch with one device in place, they have a very rigid release timeline that did not align with our timing

• Initiated a direct 1:1 with the program's executive sponsor to explain the situation
• Flagged the issue in all formal reports and Deep Dives
• Collaborated to adjust the plan, folding the miss into the final delivery scope and post-delivery iterations

Key Learnings

• Taking the time up front to map out the full road map, including all systems and teams needed, was a very useful investment of time
• Gained early clarity on key partners and collaborators, avoiding last-minute discoveries during development
• Provided the opportunity to establish alignment early and solve priority conflicts sooner before they significantly impacted delivery timelines
• Introducing the "Heads of State" ceremony provided:
  • A useful forum for all teams to understand what was going on
  • Report transparently on status in a blameless environment
  • An arena for faster coordination and clearer understanding of how each team's piece affected the greater whole
• Introducing the "Deep Dive" office hours for in-person executive and stakeholder review provided clarity and transparency, and built trust in the project

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