Shagun Aulakh: My Experimentation Career Journey
Experimental Mind #228 | Summer reflection
Hi folks!
I’m enjoying a couple of weeks off. During these week’s I will share some inspiring experimentation career stories. Second up is Shagun Aulakh.
Thanks to Convert, Sitespect and Zoho PageSense for their support.
💬 My Experimentation Career Journey
Today’s interview is with Shagun Aulakh shares her journey. Shagun is currently Director in Product Management for American Express and her role is focused on building an Experimentation program: “… experimentation is an amazing area to join because it intersects all the most important elements of any organization: marketing, product, analytics, data science, design, engineering, and senior leaders, amongst others, and creates a compelling opportunity to challenge norms and innovate in a smart and diligent way.”
What is your current experimentation role and what do you do?
I’m Shagun. Marketer turned Experimentation-evangelist! My experience has spanned across many industries, including retail & fashion, B2B SaaS, Health & Wellness, Financial Services and even working within the vendor side of experimentation. My earlier career focused primarily within digital marketing and as I’ve gained more experience with Experimentation, I’ve pivoted my journey to go deep in this function which has allowed me to spread into new functions like product development.
I’m currently a Director in Product Management for American Express. My role is focused on building an Experimentation program within the Product function, which also currently includes building a platform internally.
How did you enter the experimentation space? What was your first experimentation related role?
I sort of fell into Experimentation. Prior, my career was focused on digital marketing and experimentation wasn’t really a “thing” yet. A previous colleague reached out and suggested that I look into an interesting role at Macy’s (a US-based department store) that opened up this new and emerging team called “Experimentation”. I was intrigued, so I applied without really knowing what it was or what I was getting into. Since the position was organized within the marketing department, my marketing skills and experience working with analytical teams came to my advantage and I think that was why I was hired. My job was ultimately a strategist, figuring out how to take an incubator-style team and evolve it to create a more data-driven culture by embedding it as a practice across the company to drive digital experience decisions.. My role was hyper focused on strategy and governance to build a program, rather than a traditional practitioner setting up and launching experiments hands-on.
How did you start to learn experimentation?
I essentially learned on the job. At my first role, I was very fortunate to work with some incredibly intelligent and amazing thought-partners who sat in an Experimentation Data Science and Statistics role, and an individual who worked in Experimentation Platform technology. They taught me almost everything about experiment design, analysis and execution. Aside from them, I spent a lot of time reading articles, blogs, books and attending training sessions from our platform vendor. Last but not least, I had one of the best managers who helped me foster skills in organization and change management which was critical to creating a “culture” of experimentation, and probably the hardest skill-set to master.
How do you apply experimentation in your personal life?
I guess today I am “experimenting” with how to have a healthier lifestyle and meet some fitness goals I’ve had for myself but haven’t been successful in achieving so far. I’ve been testing and trying new ways to exercise. I tried out heavier cardio workouts vs. weight lifting, and now trying out HIIT style training. I’ve also tested personal trainers, and am deciding if I can make the same or better progress with an online/virtual trainer versus an in-person trainer. Honestly, this is way harder than traditional A/B testing on websites!
What are you currently doing to keep up with the ever-changing industry?
It’s difficult because the industry changes so quickly. But to keep up, I rely on …
Continue reading the full interview with Shagun
In the full interview you will also learn Shagun’s recommendations to someone who is looking to join the experimentation industry.
🚀 Job opportunities
Got inspired? Find 100+ open roles on ExperimentationJobs.com.
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Have a great week — and keep experimenting.
Thanks, Kevin