A Day in the Life of a Senior Curriculum Development Manager at Code.org
A senior curriculum development manager at Code.org starts each day with a team "chicken" — a prioritization meeting using Asana to tackle tasks ranging from minor edits ("a wrong use of a semicolon") to major bugs ("this program is crashing"). The role involves constant collaboration and prioritization amidst interruptions from marketing, user feedback, and numerous Slack messages, demanding a balance between planned work and "fire putting out".
Project Management, Problem-Solving, Teamwork, Communication, Technology
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Amy Berkhoudt Woodman
Sr. Curriculum Development Manager
Code.org
Point Loma Nazarene University - 2009
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor - MA in Education Policy & Leadership
Creative Writing, Journalism
Technology
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Student Athlete, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. A senior curriculum development manager uses project management tools like Asana to organize tasks and collaborate with a team.
2. The work involves addressing various issues, from minor corrections like fixing typos to resolving major bugs in programs.
3. The role requires multitasking and responding to requests from different teams and individuals, such as marketing or users reporting issues, showcasing the collaborative nature of the work.
Transcript
What does a day in the life of a senior curriculum development manager look like?
That's a great question. My team and I always start by looking at our product management tool, Asana.
There are other tools like it, but in Asana, we have a backlog of tasks needed to achieve our goals. Each task has a different weight, from extra large down to extra small.
We then discuss what needs to be done today to reach our final goal. This involves choosing the right people, assigning the right tasks, and ensuring there are no dependencies before creating a process for completion.
In a perfect world, we'd just do those things throughout the day. However, interruptions are common. These can include other meetings or questions from teams like marketing about website content or wording.
We also receive "in-desk" tickets. These are often from users pointing out errors, like a misplaced semicolon, which we need to fix quickly. We also handle larger issues, such as program crashes that require immediate attention.
So, there's a bit of firefighting involved. As I mentioned before, the work has so many different aspects. Many people reach out to me on Slack, our work messaging app, throughout the day.
This means I'm often pulled in many different directions. My priority is to ensure we're still completing the necessary tasks.