Pixel Interactive Retail

The brief.

Google launches new Pixel hardware on fixed dates, in dozens of markets, with interactive applications that have to work on day one. The account needed a delivery engine that could repeat successful deliveries every cycle without burning out the team or the budget.

The work.

I owned the full P&L for the Devices & Services workstream and planned budgets with Google both annually and project by project. Each year I built the account plan covering upcoming projects, opportunities and risks, financials, and planned improvements.

The flagship work was Google’s in-store retail apps: interactive demo experiences on Pixel devices at partner retailers worldwide. What this looks like: 50+ person global team shipping to 40+ markets on an immovable launch date and no post-launch updates allowed. Once established, I drove growth by expanding this approach to more products and stakeholders across the Google Org.

Improvements I drove.

I built a standard system for scoping, approach, and timeline management on Pixel demo projects, based on what we learned from earlier launches. New projects started from a proven plan instead of a blank page.

With other discipline leads, I defined roles, responsibilities, SOPs, and reporting requirements for every project in the workstream. I introduced a hybrid agile and waterfall process that gave us rolling client approvals, so teams could build in parallel instead of waiting on final assets.

I set up resource forecasting that ops used to plan current and future work, and it became the business case for new hires. I reviewed staffing and burn weekly and worked mitigation with producers before overruns hit. I also led cross-functional retros after launches and fed the findings back into the next cycle.

Client partnership.

I managed stakeholders across multiple levels at Google, holding scope and dates while keeping the relationship strong. I introduced review processes Google adopted, revised localization and transcreation processes that increased efficiency, and scaled the team strategically to meet client needs. Beyond delivery, I worked with the client on opportunities to grow their retail marketing products.

Outcome.

YoY revenue growth. A partnership that continues to this day.