Greenfield Software Product Management

Summary
In May–December 2020, I led the development of NOAA Fisheries' first software wizard to support the Seafood Import and Export Tool. The tool has saved agency staff an estimated 2,000 hours a year in repetitive labor and freed up an estimated 6,000 labor hours for the seafood trade industry. It has also been credited by enforcement officials and partner agencies for providing significant clarification on trade requirements. 

Responsibilities
​​Product management
Project management 
Information architecture 
Content creation

The Problem

NOAA Fisheries has four seafood trade monitoring programs that facilitate the trade of approximately $12 billion annually. They have distinct but overlapping requirements and are managed by three different departments. Prior to this project, the agency had web pages with detailed information on the scope and requirements for each program. Our analytics suggested that this content was helpful for users who already knew which programs applied for their products. However, we learned through conversations with the trade community that the site did little to help users answer the basic question, "Which programs do I have to follow?" 

At the same time, our Office of Law Enforcement officials also expressed that it was difficult to quickly determine which trade program requirements are relevant when interacting with the regulated public.

What I Did

In collaboration with developers and the leads of the four trade programs, I oversaw the development of a software wizard that helps users identify trade program requirements based on their products. This included: 

• Mapping requirements for the four trade programs to identify areas of overlap, divergence, and conflict. 
• Creating the wizard's information architecture. 
• Communicating requirements to the web designer and development team. 
• Drafting all static and dynamically displayed content and clearing it through program leads and the agency's general counsel where needed.  
• Conducting user acceptance testing over several sprint cycles and submitting bug tickets as needed. 
• Developing a rollout plan and marketing materials to promote the launched tool.
• Managing the project schedule. 

The wizard was developed within existing branding and style requirements and using existing user personas. 

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Initial wireframe developed after determining the information architecture

Trade tool as it appeared during user acceptance testing