Friday is my last day working at Trello. I started as a Support Engineer (a role that they didn't have at the time and probably didn't really need), then took on the interim role of Dev Advocate. Then, I added the hat of Team Lead and eventually Manager when Ben left. I've done basically every role on the support team, and loved all of them.
I honestly didn’t ever think that I would leave this company: the people are amazing, the product is easy-to-use, adoptable and clean, the customers are genuine and appreciative. But, I guess all things eventually must come to an end. I am excited to be taking another step in my career and moving to the role of Head of Support at Appcues.
I’ve known Appcues, much like I knew Trello before it, for a long time. The people there are also amazing, welcoming, intelligent and kind. I am lucky to be always afforded opportunities with the best of humans. I am excited to work with a small team, implement processes and put frameworks in-place. While working and growing with a larger, more-established company has earned me a lot of great learning opportunities, I find that I am most invigorated when I am on the ground floor. Appcues also offers a great service that takes some things I'm very passionate about (user onboarding, foremost) and makes them accessible to all companies, whether they have a dev team or not.
That being said, I am immensely proud of the team that I have built and fostered. I am extremely grateful to have Mike Labrecque-Jessen willing to step up to bat to lead the team, as it’s been a true pleasure to watch his journey towards leadership and help him along the way. I have no doubt that Trello will continue to do amazing, amazing things, and I’m excited to get to watch it from a different viewpoint than I’ve had for the past several years.
Here are some of the things that I am most grateful for and proud of from my time at Trello
Being the “Teamiest Team”
At our off-site, Trello Together, when the acquisition was announced, my team was dubbed “The Teamiest Team.” I wasn't there, but I'm still pretty proud.They have always been so good at having each other’s back and supporting one another when the going gets tough. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such a kind and loving group. I have many, many fond memories with the team and could easily list a whole slew of inside jokes, but I shan’t. Torben, Denise, Mike, Crystal, Crystal, Teddy and Marta: you are all amazing. Emily, Michelle, Ben, and Caity, our alums, you are also amazing.
Promoting a Culture of Feedback
It can be really scary to offer constructive feedback to someone, and I am grateful that my team was so willing and receptive always. Not only that, but they were supremely keen-eyed and good at offering feedback up. If I had a dollar for every time that Caity brought to my attention that I was working too much, and that I should do the things that I advocated team members to do, I would be one rich lady. It bears noting that, sometimes, feedback can come from a place of maliciousness, but I truly feel that the Trello support team offers their insights from a place of desire for everyone to grow and learn.
Implementing and championing the OKR and OOTQ processes
While Ben and I figured out what our first year of OKRs should look like together, I was responsible for building the process and holding it all together. It was exciting because, at the time, no one else in Trello was working with the OKR system, so we were really pioneering that (and the idea of a support team getting 20% of their time out of the queue!).
We are a year and a half away from the first round of OKRs, and they’ve been going amazingly. This was one of the largest growth opportunities for me, and I am grateful that my team were so flexible and willing to try new things as we iterated on the original process. They also totally slayed at the OKRs and brought so much enthusiasm that it was totally infectious.
Making it through a year with 0 regrettable losses
The first year after an acquisition can be a hard one, but we made it through the first year with no regrettable losses. Our team remained committed to our goals that we had always had: providing excellent support to all of our customers, and we leaned on each other to get through some of the tougher times. I’m grateful that we stuck together, overcame and bonded over an experience that could have potentially broken us up. I’m also proud that I was able to, as a manager, make everyone seen and heard and properly convey our views and needs to Atlassian.
It’s bittersweet, right? Any of you that have left a company you love would know that. But I am grateful for Trello and all of its employees giving me a place to experiment (sometimes successfully, sometimes failing), grow my own chops when it came to development and management, and make some deeply lasting friendships along the way. I have changed immensely for the better since starting my work here.
So long, Trello, and thanks for all the fish.