I have two distinct phases of my career at TokBox split between working in the engineering group, and then transitioning into product once we launched OpenTok. Building the prototype of the OpenTok platform is both the marker of the transition, and the high point of my career in engineering.<\/p>\n
I call it the high point because it was a period where I felt like I was locked in, and able to execute at a fantastic level. Context-switching between coding the project, evangelizing the API, \u00c2\u00a0and doing my day job was as efficient as could be. By the end of September, when I left to get married, I was on a high that I genuinely appreciated after two years of sloshing through in a bit of \u00c2\u00a0a lost state.<\/p>\n
I fully transitioned into the product team by March, and was thoroughly getting my ass kicked the next day. Right back in that lost state, I got bullied into decisions I didn’t agree with. I didn’t understand how to successfully create accountability, deliver ownership, motivate, or execute. And that didn’t change for some time. It was de-motivating, and difficult, but I found a bunch of small wins along the way to help push through it. Small wins are the flotsam of a drowning PM, that’s for sure.<\/p>\n
But then funny things started to happen. I stopped feeling bullied, and instead turned meetings into really intelligent conversations where folks could disagree. I found the guts to suggest crazy ideas, and bold initiatives. I started defining the discourse and language of my meetings, and then my colleagues, and finally my company.<\/p>\n
And then I arrived back to that high. And let me tell, after the slog of everything else it’s a good place to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have two distinct phases of my career at TokBox split between working in the engineering group, and then transitioning into product once we launched OpenTok. Building the prototype of the OpenTok platform is both the marker of the transition, and the high point of my career in engineering. I call it the high point […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[62,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQyAq-9p","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1230,"url":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2014\/07\/17\/learning-to-let-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":0},"title":"Learning to let go","date":"July 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I always tell people that I have 3 babies: Amelia Luka OpenTok And all three have had an amazing year. They've gone from needing epic hand holding to having a village around them that makes them better than I could alone. At work, the hardest part has been learning to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Becoming a PM"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":425,"url":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2011\/01\/30\/philly-startup-weekend\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":1},"title":"Philly Startup Weekend","date":"January 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The ink has barely dried on the weekend that was Philly Startup Weekend, but I felt the need to just jot down the experience before I lost it in the chaos of getting back to the grind. I need to just start by saying that it was for me simply\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Entrepreneurism"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1450,"url":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2014\/11\/19\/1-day-til-30\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":2},"title":"1 day til 30","date":"November 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The good\u00c2\u00a0moments\/learnings\/thoughts\/regrets of the decade in no particular order: Meeting Micky\u00c2\u00a0&\u00c2\u00a0marrying Micky Moving to California Learning how to build a product Luka Amelia Getting OpenTok built, and convincing Ian it was a good idea Birthday break up Growing up, and building a team at TokBox Building a product that got\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "just thinking out loud"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1322,"url":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2014\/11\/08\/12-days-til-30\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":3},"title":"12 days til 30","date":"November 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Things to do better (Part III) Work\/life balance I spend too much time solving problems at work that don't move the needle. As a result, I feel like I genuinely haven't stopped working for at least two years (except our recent Turkey trip where I didn't check email once). I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "just thinking out loud"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":585,"url":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2012\/11\/03\/uk-adventure-week-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":4},"title":"UK Adventure - Week 1","date":"November 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We have started a bit of an adventure this past week. Micky, the babies, and I are in England for the next two months, and out to see a bit of Europe while also having some excellent family bonding time. I'm also working out of the Telefonica Digital offices over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Updates"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":486,"url":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2011\/12\/08\/trying-to-get-to-just-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":5},"title":"Trying to get to \"just right\"","date":"December 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Hunch co-founder Chris Dixon wrote a blog post about the \"Goldilocks Principle\", and how it affected their relationship with customers as Hunch pivoted from a B2C to B2B offering. Hunch was in the position of being \"too hot\". I think that OpenTok is still in a position of being... not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Becoming a PM"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}