This session focused on the career insights of Payton Lynch and Allison. Payton is the Lead Product Manager and Allison a Product Manager. As almost all cast members at Disney, both were College Program participant years ago. They shared their journey in the company since their College Program to present, presented in a time line outline displaying the multiple roles they acquired in the company. As Product Managers, Allison and Payton are responsible for the virtual queue and those features that we use on the My Disney Experience app. Payton was also involved in the development of the digital room key and shared her experience about the testing process. I then shared my experience of guest being upset at me when the room key doesn’t work to open the door. It was interesting to learn about these products and to be in the same room with the person who had a huge contribution to the app and features I assist guest with daily. 

Another information learnt from this session was product cycle. Discovery starts the cycle followed by delivery, launch then test & learn. The discovery process entails the problem we’re trying to solve and how to solve it. Launch is to get it in front of the audience it is intended for. Test & Learn is the process to build on the technology; what guest wants to add to it.

I was left with a quote and questions to ask myself by the end of this session with Payton and Allison. Payton shared “No doesn’t mean never.” My interpretation is to never let the word no discourage you but instead try to look into your yourself and see what you need to work on to get that yes or what other route you can take. In other words, no should be a motivation and for you to take the time to identify what might be the factors of that no. Three questions that Allison left us with: where do we want to be? what skills do we need to get there? and who can help us? These are very important questions for success, some valuable information was taken from this career connection.