Work
- Senior Technical Product ManagerApril 17, 2017 to presentSunnyvale, CaliforniaAs a product manager on the Alexa team working on device-facing APIs and platform services, I'm responsible for API strategy and design, as well as architecting several of the core systems that back 100s of millions of Alexa-enabled devices that provide rich and immersive user experiences. I primarily work closely with engineers, TPMs (technical program managers), and other technical product managers to translate our high-level goals into actionable programs and products to build value for Alexa developers and end users.
In 2017, I pioneered a major API decoupling effort that decomposed monolithic sets of APIs into individual interfaces with their own versions. I personally defined the entire versioning strategy and concrete standards, and I designed an API and backend framework that allows individual Alexa devices to assert their capabilities and support for each API change. The result has been dramatically reducing the friction and cost of making API changes, which in turn allows for more rapid release of new Alexa experiences. In April 2018, the versioning strategy and Capabilities API was launched publicly to third-party Alexa device developers. Currently, over 100 million Alexa devices in the hands of consumers hit the API that I designed.
I am now driving the design of a number of related initiatives to unify, standardize, and generalize numerous systems within the broader Alexa platform, dramatically simplifying our architecture to enable faster innovation, fixing suboptimal user experiences, and unlocking tremendous potential for new Alexa interactions. - Technical Product ManagerDecember 7, 2015 to April 14, 2017San Francisco, CaliforniaI'm pleased to announce that I've accepted an offer to be a Technical Product Manager at Autodesk, working on their Cloud Platform / PaaS team!
- Developer ExperienceDec 7, 2015 to presentAs the PM for developer experience, I am responsible for enabling the success of 10,000 internal Autodesk engineers and third-party developers who write code to use Forge, our platform of APIs that unlock the backend services that power Autodesk's desktop and SaaS products. I work with a team of over 20 engineers and designers across Singapore and Tel Aviv, a team of other platform PMs, a globally distributed developer relations team, dozens of platform service teams, and other stakeholders from business, marketing, legal, and engineering.
- launched a completely redesigned documentation learning experience on our developer portal, including an overhauled information architecture, definition of standards, and GitHub-based inner-source strategy (using Swagger and reStructuredText)
- managed 15 globally distributed API service teams to rewrite and publish their documentation, having reviewed over 43,000 lines across ~1000 pages
- wrote our OAuth documentation from scratch
- managed a remote technical writer in developing documentation processes, reviews, and defining a style guide for the platform
- consolidated dozens of web properties for the platform, including 50+ GitHub repositories of code samples, libraries, and SDKs
- standardized developer-facing communications to deliver high-quality updates about platform enhancements, resources, upcoming events, and account management
- managed our gateway (Apigee) and identity provider (PingFederate), providing foundational services for the entire platform, driving the implementation and rollout of access token scopes, JSON Web Tokens, and regional routing to comply with international data privacy laws
- drove instrumentation of consistent data logging across platform services to enable funnel analysis and marketing campaigns, usage analytics for developers, and diagnostic capabilities for operations and support
- managed development of infrastructure and UX for subscription-based monetization of the Forge platform
- Product and Project ManagerJuly 22, 2013 to August 1, 2015San Francisco, California
- Ads APIApr 2015 to Aug 2015
- dev.twitter.comJun 2014 to Apr 2015Based on my work as a Partner Engineer (below), I was asked to be the product owner for dev.twitter.com. When I took on the project, the site was a morass of over 1000 pages--many obsolete--and developers struggled to find the resources they needed.
- Drove a major re-organization of the site, resulting in dramatic developer satisfaction and a 50% reduction in seek time
- Developed plan for and oversaw execution of migration from a clunky proprietary framework to a standard internal Drupal-based CMS, coordinating cross-functional teams, resulting in improved security and 92% reduction in downtime
- Managed the development of a dozen custom product marketing pages, doubling velocity from first to second batch by improving processes and inter-team communications
- Crafted processes for capturing and resolving bugs (capturing several dozen issues weekly), resulting in swift resolution of issues and ability to measure velocity
- Contributed to code as necessary (dominantly PHP and CSS on a Drupal core), totaling over 2000 lines across 170 files - Metrics APIAug 19, 2013 to May 2014- Worked with strategic partners to implement Twitter’s Streaming and Metrics APIs and triage and manage inbound support needs (driving resolution efforts across numerous engineering teams, with hands-on experience with Hadoop and Mesos)
- Translated long-term needs into guidance for internal product strategy, resulting in successful partner product launches (e.g., Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings) and acquisitions (e.g., Gnip)
- Assumed de facto leadership of the Data Platform within Developer & Platform Relations (DPR), managing a globally distributed team of 4 other Partner Engineers, resulting in coordination that reduced average time-to-first-response from 5 to 2 business days for inbound support requests and a 95% reduction in unaddressed issues
- Implemented Agile productivity methodologies (including Scrum and Kanban) through crafting JIRA processes and workflows, developing standardized inbound and outbound communications strategies, and providing training, as DPR grew from less than 10 people to over 50, customizing to needs of 6 different teams while providing consistency for aggregate reporting, resulting in increased, measurable, predictable velocity
- Created and improved the quality of dozens of pages of technical developer documentation on dev.twitter.com - Streaming APIJul 22, 2013 to May 2014- Worked with strategic partners to implement Twitter’s Streaming and Metrics APIs and triage and manage inbound support needs (driving resolution efforts across numerous engineering teams, with hands-on experience with Hadoop and Mesos)
- Translated long-term needs into guidance for internal product strategy, resulting in successful partner product launches (e.g., Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings) and acquisitions (e.g., Gnip)
- Assumed de facto leadership of the Data Platform within Developer & Platform Relations (DPR), managing a globally distributed team of 4 other Partner Engineers, resulting in coordination that reduced average time-to-first-response from 5 to 2 business days for inbound support requests and a 95% reduction in unaddressed issues
- Implemented Agile productivity methodologies (including Scrum and Kanban) through crafting JIRA processes and workflows, developing standardized inbound and outbound communications strategies, and providing training, as DPR grew from less than 10 people to over 50, customizing to needs of 6 different teams while providing consistency for aggregate reporting, resulting in increased, measurable, predictable velocity
- Created and improved the quality of dozens of pages of technical developer documentation on dev.twitter.com - Show all (4)
- Product Marketing ManagerMay 6, 2013 to July 15, 2013San Jose, California
- Product managerApril 16, 2012 to August 22, 2012Los Altos, California
- Financial Transparency
- Sales EngineerDecember 13, 2010 to May 31, 2012San Jose, CaliforniaPerformance Analyst (2010 December - 2011 June);
Product Manager (2011 March - 2011 October);
Sales Engineer (2011 June - 2012 May)- Site Checker 2.0Mar 2010 to Oct 2011
- Co-founderNovember 2009 to December 2010Los Angeles, CaliforniaWebsite and application development: UI and functionality design and coding
- Distribution Officer; Web Developer2007 to 2008Helping to distribute The Undercurrent at college campuses across the nation;
Designing the internal staff website - IT CoordinatorOctober 2006 to December 31, 2009Irvine, CaliforniaIT Coordinator (June 2007 to December 2009):
- Managed help desk for 40-50 employees, including coordinating the efforts of outsourced technicians
- Maintained and serviced onsite technology assets, including multiple Windows servers running a full complement of Microsoft server software and several third-party server applications
- Managed and implemented development of database-driven web applications, including a registration and administration program for company conferences, an image integrity checking tool for archives collections, a student tracking system for educational programs, among others
Campus Club Coordinator (October 2006 to July 2007):
- Established 5 student clubs at universities across the country and supported approximately 50 existing clubs
- Organized 10+ speaking events- OCON Administration DatabaseDesigned and managed implementation of an internal web app (PHP and SQL) for administration of annual summer conference attendance, room and equipment scheduling, volunteer assignment, and more. (Unknowingly, this was my first taste of being a product manager in tech!)
- Executive directorSeptember 2004 to March 2011Los Angeles, CaliforniaDirecting the activities and long-range goals of the organization: studying Objectivism, promoting Objectivism in the culture, and developing a social network
- Resident Technology Coordinator; Residential Computing Resource ConsultantSeptember 2003 to September 2005Los Angeles, CaliforniaOrganizing and presenting computer-related educational programs for on-campus residents and developing a website for residents and staff.
- Network Administrator and WebmasterSeptember 2001 to September 2005Los Angeles, CaliforniaBeing the IT department...basically doing everything technology-related: computers, networks, phone system, web work, programming, etc.
Education
- Class of 2009Juris doctorLawLos Angeles, California
- Class of 2005Mathematics of ComputationLos Angeles, California
- Class of 2002Computer scienceMathematicsSanta Monica, California
- Class of 2000Pacific Palisades, California
Current City and Hometown
San Francisco, CaliforniaCurrent city
Los Angeles, CaliforniaHometown
About Arthur
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/arthurzey
Objectiblag: http://blog.deltawerx.com/
Objectivist Nexus: http://www.objectivistnexus.com/
Gym addict, philosophy buff, computer geek, TV enthusiast, businessman.
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Views on concrete political issues:
Corporate campaign contributions: Corporations, while not people, derive their rights from the rights of their owners, thus giving them legitimate right to contribute to political campaigns.
Gay marriage: The government should get out of marriage altogether (except to enforce the terms of contracts). Short of that, the government should recognize marriages between any people who want to get married.
DADT: Minor issue, but reflective of our culture's attitude toward gays. Properly repealed.
FDA: Dismantle it. They prevent life-saving drugs from being brought to market (and artificially inflate their prices), propagate deeply unhealthy lies about nutrition, and lull our society into a false sense of confidence about safety instead of allowing private rating agencies to develop.
Government education: Dismantle it. The government has no business deciding what children should learn, it outputs a low-quality product no matter how much money is thrown at it, it inflates the cost of good (private!) education by monopolizing the industry, and it results in low pay for teachers. Teachers and their students deserve better than to have to teach at government schools because the government has ruined education.
Healthcare: Should be completely privatized and deregulated. The government has been steadily ruining our healthcare industry over the years by burdening it with more and more regulations, artificially inflating healthcare costs and making it difficult to obtain. Doctors and their patients deserve better. And so do the insurance companies that make it possible for people to afford the expensive procedures.
Foreign policy: End states that sponsor terrorism. I'm talking about Iran here.
Wall Street: Punish fraud and deregulate voluntary interactions among people. We should be thankful that these financial institutions exist to enable all sorts of productive economic activity that benefits us, and they deserve every penny of profit they can squeeze out of their *voluntary* deals.
Tax cuts for the rich: Yes. And tax cuts for everybody. But more importantly (chronologically), spending cuts. Eventually, voluntary taxation. (Ask me about that one!)
Abortion: Hunks of protoplasm don't have rights, but women do. Pro-choice is pro-life--the only life with rights: the woman.
Religion: Worse than make-believe. But I do understand the positive motivations (no matter how mistaken) that drive many people to religion. But religion has no place in politics.
Global warming: Whether there is climate change (and whether it is anthropogenic) should not affect government policy. The evidence I've seen strongly suggests, however, that it is *not* anthropogenic.
Pot legalization: People have the right to do whatever they please with their own bodies.
Ground Zero Mosque: Forget about the stupid mosque and fix our foreign policy (see above).
Net Neutrality: Whether neutrality is a good idea is for the market to decide. Government should play no role in regulating the contracts between private property owners.
Immigration: Completely open borders. At most, maybe a check asking people to present their identification to check against a known criminal database.
Gun control: I don't know where the exact line is between handguns and bazookas, but people have the right to use guns for self-defense, sports, peace of mind, etc.
States' rights: States don't have rights--individuals do. As a non-philosophic matter, I think it's wise to have hierarchical separation of powers between the government of a broad geographic region and the local government, but states have no more right to impose coercive laws on their inhabitants than does the federal government.
Israel vs. Palestine: The PA is a terrorist organization, not a legitimate government. "Palestinians" living under Israeli rule enjoy more protection of their rights than they do under the PA. Israel is a lone bastion of freedom (whatever socialist tendencies they have) in the Middle East, and the triumph of freedom and individualism on a global scale depends on our supporting them (at the very least, morally).
Tea Party vs. OWS: OWS is fundamentally corrupt, and the Tea Party is fundamentally good. However, the Tea Party does have some elements in it that are contradictory (e.g., people who are against abortion and gay marriage and for Medicare), and OWS at least identifies properly the improper mixture of economy and state (but their solution is corrupt).
Proud to be an American for the principles this country was founded on.
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Grammar Nazism:
How to make a singular noun ending in an "s" or "z" possessive: Add an apostrophe-s.
Example: "Chris's book", not "Chris' book"
Example: "Hertz's policy", not "Hertz' policy"
Serial (Oxford) Comma: Yes
Example: "My parents, Ayn Rand, and God", not "My parents, Ayn Rand and God"
Example: "I like chocolate and vanilla, blueberry and raspberry, and peanut butter and raisins.", not "I like chocolate and vanilla, blueberry and raspberry and peanut butter and raisins."
Punctuation and quotation marks: Logical and Consistent
Example: Did she say "I hate you!"?
Example: I love saying "I love you.".
Example: Do you enjoy asking "Do you watch TV?"?
Nested parenthetical statements: Use regular parentheses for all levels (no brackets or braces).
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I'm an Eagle Scout.
I seriously studied piano for 10-11 years in my youth and flute for 2. I sang in middle and high school, and would start a small Objectivist singing group if there were enough people...
I like gardening, especially vegetables, but only for the pleasure of growing them--I couldn't care less about actually eating them.
I love playing sports, but have difficulty watching them.
I have a preoccupation with futuristic technology, magic, and super-powers, especially those pertaining to manipulating time. (Time travel plots are also my favorite in television, movies, and books.)
Star Wars is not science fiction, and neither were the last two films titled "Star Trek". (TNG, Voyager, and DS9 rock--in that order.) Battlestar Galactica was excellent, except the evil, series-betraying last episode.
I love other peoples' animals. I can't stand having the place where I live be permeated by animal dirtiness.
I hate vodka--a betrayal of my Russian genes.
Android for mobile, Mac OS and Linux for desktops/laptops.
Mario is great and all, but nothing will top Sonic the Hedgehog.
Taboo and Pandemic are my favorite board games.
Favorite cars: BMW 740 iL circa 2000, Honda Odyssey circa 2000
Ideal weather: 90-110 F during the day, 80 F during the night.
Aside from cool geological features (e.g., the Dead Sea) or other concrete cool things (e.g., British accents), I hate traveling outside the US. I'm not much of a patriot, but I *LOVE* this country, and couldn't imagine living anywhere else. A few weeks vacation elsewhere is as much as I'd care to handle.
I hate clothes. If I'm not in circumstances where it's mandatory, you'll probably find me at least (at most?) shirtless.
Despite having very strong political (philosophy) views, I hate politics and current events. They're depressing, irrelevant to my life, aren't the driving force of social progress, and arguing about politics never convinced anybody of anything.
My word is my bond--no exceptions.
Favorite Quotes
- "I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
--Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
"[The proud man] does not demand of himself the impossible, but he does demand every ounce of the possible. He refuses to rest content with a defective soul, shrugging in self-deprecation 'That's me.' He knows that that 'me' was created, and is alterable, by him."
--Leonard Peikoff
"...I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.
"Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars.
"I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before!
"I do not surrender my treasures, nor do I share them. The fortune of my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.
"I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no man's soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.
"I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must do more than to have been born. I do not grant my love without reason, nor to any chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I honor men with my love. But honor is a thing to be earned.
"I shall choose my friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters. And I shall choose only such as please me, and them I shall love and respect, but neither command nor obey. And we shall join our hands when we wish, or walk alone when we so desire. For in the temple of his spirit, each man is alone. Let each man keep his temple untouched and undefiled. Then let him join hands with others if he wishes, but only beyond his holy threshold."
--Anthem by Ayn Rand
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