Brad Potthoff

ChildCare CRM is a comprehensive CRM purpose-built for the global childcare industry, from SMBs to large enterprises with hundreds of sites. It is fully competitive in the vertical with the best-known general CRMs.
In my role as the sole PM/PO, I managed the entire SDLC in an agile/scrum environment. Key activities included strategy, research, road mapping, capacity planning, extremely attentive backlog management, user stories and workshopping, UI/UX, release management, and enablement. These efforts resulted in the acquisition of numerous enterprise-level and SMB clients, a more powerful system, and greater NPS.

Strategic planning and customer research-informed intensive and rapid feature development: public calendaring, a kiosk to facilitate tours and meetings, contact center functionality, UI/UX reboot, enhanced reporting, a mobile app, broad expansion of marketing capabilities, rearchitecting to enhance system performance at scale, creation of alternate versions to address other functions and verticals, and numerous other targeted enhancements for ramping up customer acquisition and retention.

ChildCareForms streamlines the childcare registration process, turning a center's paper or electronic forms into an online, mobile-friendly experience to reduce the uncertainty, inconvenience, and back-and-forth of other methods.
Input from customers and SMEs informed a vision to enable dramatically more efficient implementation and a smoother user experience. Completely rebuilding the administrative interface for document conversion was the top priority, beginning from scratch with story mapping and leading to a large backlog of similarly-sized items for refinement and scheduling. User-facing upgrades included an integration with ChildCareCRM to eliminate any re-keying after registration and numerous items targeting enhanced UX for parents and childcare administrators.

The ChildCare CRM mobile app optimizes frequently accessed parts of the web app for small screens, freeing childcare administrative staff to stay in close touch with their leads as they move about the center, step out for lunch, or check in after hours.
The key to success was including the right subset of functionality and keeping it simple, focusing mainly on what the owner or staff member needs to accomplish today.

Those items include consulting the tour and meeting schedule, viewing alerts, performing scheduled tasks, accepting pending leads, accessing lead history, communicating promptly via email, phone, or SMS, and updating the lead status to reflect progress with their evaluation and registration activities.

The mobile app is available for iOS and Android phones and tablets.
My responsibilities included coordinating with SMEs and customers to validate design and functionality, working with design and development resources to ensure accuracy and attractiveness, testing prerelease builds, meeting the schedule for a soft launch, and training the sales and support teams on the new product.

MindTap is a learning-and-course-management platform for political science courses in university and secondary education settings. A large research study that I had commissioned indicated that a lack of student engagement was the biggest concern for instructors of the American government courses. The study also indicated that in-class simulations were a popular antidote, but that they did not translate well into the digital realm and for online classes.
Upon approval of my business case, I led a team effort of SMEs, developers, a digital product owner, and their managers to formulate an MVP of an engaging American government simulation module for customer validation. Validation came quickly, and I road-mapped a phased release plan for an increasing number of simulations. Funding came through restructuring my product portfolio and creating a new content revision process, resulting in 40% cost savings while delivering no less quality.
Upon release, VIP customers renewed their commitment to the product and many others changed their requisitions to MindTap for American Government.

Revel is one of Pearson's main digital learning platforms for higher education, built on a "read a little, do a little" approach for many disciplines, including English composition. Revel includes digital tools, content, videos, and assessments and is fully compatible with major learning management systems (LMS).
To capitalize on this promising platform, I identified the products in my portfolio most conducive to the new environment, then created plans and budgets and led development efforts for product iterations to ensure a smooth transition to the digital realm. The schedule was vastly accelerated to capitalize on both market opportunity and university adoption cycles. Revel is now the sole delivery method for Pearson English products.