Buddy List Ads - there was a lot of internal debate surrounding this feature and whether it would turn off customers. There was some initial negative feedback but this was soon relieved when competitors also included ads in their products.

A common theme from VOC was a need to be able to IM multiple buddies without cluttering the desktop. Tabbed IMs was one of the features that alleviated this issue and enabled customers to have multiple IMs open in one screen.

AIM Blast was the second feature (along with Tabbed IMs) launched to eliminate the issue of a cluttered desktop. It enabled customers to send out a 'group' IM similar to group SMS found on today's mobile devices.

AIM Express addressed feedback from customers who were not able to access AIM from work where the AIM client was not allowed to be downloaded.

Video IM was slow to take off until high bandwidth became ubiquitous but was launched to address a demand in the marketplace and to remain competitive from a feature-set perspective.

AIM for Blackberry was the first mobile version of AIM, it was later followed by versions for iPhone and Android.

AIM lifestream enabled customers to meld instant messaging with social streams from Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Digg, and Flickr. Feature included two-way communications for Twitter and Facebook in the AIM beta so that customers could update their status on those two social networks from within AIM.

This feature enabled customers to receive messages from their AIM buddies even when they weren’t signed in to AIM. The IMs were forwarded to the customer's mobile devices. This was an immediate responses to the threat of SMS.

PROJECT: AIM Enhancements (AOL)

Role:

Hired by AOL as a product manager for AIM.

Challenge:

To define and deliver features that enhanced AIM adoption and engagement.

Resolution:

Launched the following features: Buddy List Ads, AIM Blast, Tabbed IMs, E-mail Alerts, AIM Express, AIM for Blackberry, IM Forwarding, AIM Lifestream and Video IM. Lead product manager on a team that moved AOL Instant Messenger to number one in the instant messaging market.

Skills Used:

Specifics:

Conducted research, including customer feedback, and analyzed data on product positioning, pricing and revenue, competitive products and services, and market trends to identify product enhancement and development opportunities.
Articulated and recommended product enhancements and product positioning strategies to support business objectives.
Performed business case analysis
“Sold” and obtained acceptance from stakeholders for the recommended features and enhancements
Documented detailed requirements along with their prioritization
Worked with the technology teams to deliver the enhancements that generated business value
Developed a new revenue stream for AOL by supporting team to add advertising to the instant messaging clients.
Collaborated with the UI design, marketing, analytics, branding, technology, compliance, operations, legal and lines of business to understand the feasibility of the solution and subsequently obtained delivery of the following features: Buddy List Ads, AIM Blast, Tabbed IMs, E-mail Alerts, AIM Express, AIM for Blackberry, IM Forwarding, AIM Lifestream and Video IM
Conceptualized and launched customer feedback intake process leveraging house ad inventory
Identified lack of collaboration and good will between product and IT teams. In order to improve morale and collaboration, initiated 2 processes: a) conducted monthly competitive product review meetings that included both teams b) brought in IT team members during product/feature ideation period vs. simply handing over requirements without feedback
Oversaw bug reporting with operations, IT, content owners and QA