James Maskell

“I can't recommend James highly enough. I met James when he joined Marks and Spencer as a product owner. I was a software engineer, but I was looking to move into product management. He gave me the opportunity to work as the Product Owner for M&S Touch Screen Order Points under his supervision. James is excellent at coaching. He gave me a lot of space to dive into the role and take ownership, but challenged me to use data, read more, understand customer problems and manage stakeholders effectively. He has a wealth of experience in different products and his own business ventures and he uses this to guide others to build experiences that meet the needs of customers. James is highly empathetic with those that he works with and is excellent at working collaboratively to move products forward. I would welcome any opportunity to work with James again. ”

“Joining a team who are several months into building a product is never an easy thing, in any role, never mind in a Product Ownership role, but from the start of his involvement, James showed the qualities I've come to appreciate and value very highly over our time working together. James is intensely collaborative - giving everyone the space to contribute and be heard - but decisive when necessary. Those collaboration skills extend beyond the product team itself, to the wider stakeholders, establishing trust and confidence, and forming the mutually beneficial relationships which are needed to Get Stuff Done. He is strategic, and has a vision (informed by both internal and external factors) but pairs that with the tactical skills necessary to adjust to the ebb and flow of product life without losing sight of the vision. James is enthusiastic and encouraging, but never satisfied with the status quo. He's always looking to improve the product - for the user as well as the business - as much as is possible at the time, and genuinely believes in and supports iterative design and delivery. He is user-focused, supporting frequent user research activities for the entire team, which helps ensure that everyone on the team doesn't just know _what_ we are building, but understands _why_, and combines the insights gained from these activities with data to allow more informed decisions to be made. This, along with the commitment to iteration makes it more likely that the team is working on the right thing, at the right time, to the right fidelity, and, most importantly, the product is actually delivered into the hands of the people who need or want it. He's also savvy enough to know that no matter how well a product works for the users, it has to work for the business too, and not only understands how the product fits into the wider strategy, but can clearly communicate its value. And if the product isn't demonstrating the necessary value, first, looks at what changes need to be made for it to bring that value, and if all options are exhausted, has the integrity to stop, if that's the wisest option. Furthermore, he's more willing than many I've worked with to have the hard conversations. The necessary but not nice conversations that nobody ever wants to have, but _need_ to happen for good work to emerge. It has been a joy, a privilege and an education to work with James, and I recommend him without hesitation. I would work with him again in a heartbeat.”