Meet me! I'm an education + community program manager. I help companies build programs that make education more accessible and equitable 🎒.
Feb 25, 2024
Day in my life
I'm an education + community program manager. I help companies build programs that make education more accessible and equitable 🎒.
I work in the tech industry, specifically a SaaS (Software as a Service) company that specializes in web design and development.
I run all programs that support our students and community.
Some days are more busy & focused than others. Since I juggle multiple programs, my day really depends on program health, colleagues’ availability, and priority tasks.
Morning: This is my Airtable, email, and Slack time. I review applications & proposals in Airtable. Then I get a pulse on all my program timelines from top to bottom; what’s on track, what’s blocked.
Afternoon: I structure my day based on priorities identified in my morning review. Priorities include hosting cross-functional meetings, communicating with program participants, or ideating on enhancements.
Wrap up: I browse through lower-priority Slack channels, Twitter, and email to stay informed about departmental and company updates, like new hires or reports. I also learn more about feature rollouts or new developments within my tech stack. Also, anything I didn’t finish becomes a Google task on my calendar for the next day.
For me, broader program management planning typically happens at the top of each quarter. It’s a time for me and my team to identify priorities. So for 2-3 weeks I’m planning (brainstorm, user interviews, internal audits, etc.) then spending the rest of the quarter on task execution.
Airtable and Figma!
95% of my programs run on Airtable and are supported by backend automation magic like Zapier. Because of this, I’m quickly reviewing proposals, applications, and finances in an Airtable base and approving or rejecting with 1-3 clicks. My automations aren’t just quality of life improvements, but complete time savers and core to the success of my programs.
Example: I set up Slack automations so that whenever a new application comes in via Airtable, Slack will not only notify me, but share who applied and a link to their application, so I don’t have to refresh the Airtable base every five seconds.
Torn between Assess and Plan. I love facilitating user interviews gathering feedback from end users on how we can improve. But I also love to plan. I would legally change my middle name to Workback Plan if I could.
