Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Gutierrez:
What's something you've been proud of from your work at
Nordstrom?
Shellman:
I'm really proud of what we've been able to accomplish in a
short amount of time. In under a year we released a recommendations API
that is used in so many different parts of the business. Recommendo is all
over our website, in our marketing and transactional emails, and soon in the
mobile app.
From a personal point of view, I'm also proud of how quickly I was able to
learn and adapt to the industry after school. When I think about my skills
and the technology I used as a bioinformatician, there's not a lot of overlap
with the skills and technology I use now. I've learned so much and matured in
my skills quite a lot and that's been really awesome. I don't feel like I'm done
though, I don't even feel close to done, but I'm really excited to see where I'll
be in another year's time.
Gutierrez:
What does a typical workday look like?
Shellman:
We start with a group stand-up where we discuss what we're
working on for the day, any requests for help, or anything that needs atten-
tion. Our group uses a kanban board to keep track of our work, so we
describe tasks on post-its and move them around from to-do, doing and
done. Then generally, depending on what I'm doing, I spend most of the day
programming. Yay!
Occasionally, I will have meetings, though our director does an excellent job
of shielding us from the bulk of these. This allows us to spend a lot of the day
doing productive work. The team also engages in a lot of ritualistic behavior.
Group lunch is typical, as is coffee in the afternoon. I feel really lucky that all
the people on my team are people I want to be around all day.
Gutierrez:
How do you view and measure progress and success?
Shellman:
We are all responsible for our own progress, and don't do sprint
planning. We write specific tasks on the Post-it notes, like “add more tests
to scorer” and work on those tasks until they're done. We don't necessarily
have things to hit every week, and just try to work as fast as we can on the
task-based projects we own.
In terms of measuring success, on Thursdays, the Nordstrom Innovation Lab
hosts show-and-tell, which entails 5 five-minute lightning talks. The purpose is
to show what you've been working on and get early feedback. It doesn't have
to be remotely complete. It could even be something that's broken that you're
stuck on and need advice.
