Favorite Parts of Working in the E-commerce Industry as a Project Manager

Especially in e-commerce, creative people will always be thriving there. You always have to think outside the box and consider how to become a better version of yourself.

This doesn't mean you need to be a designer. I can only draw stick figures, and my first grader can probably draw better than I can. Creativity, in this sense, is about problem-solving, breaking the mold, and asking, "What else is out there?"

Think about a company that has stagnated. Sears, for example, used to have expensive physical catalogs. They needed someone to design pages, list prices, and manage orders. The question becomes, how do you break that mold?

This applies to all departments, including warehousing. We had some guys in the warehouse who were awesome. They approached us and said they wanted to change the inventory system.

They explained that we kept putting an item upstairs, but its sales had increased so much that we were using forklifts three times a day to move pallets. They suggested stocking these items downstairs and moving less frequently sold items upstairs. This made sense because sometimes we don't have the full picture or awareness.

They were creative enough not to get stuck in the way things had always been done. They asked, "Why not change it up?" This is what I mean by being creative, especially in e-commerce, even if you work in a warehouse.

Creativity can involve color-coding or putting a colored line on shelving. Instead of just knowing it's a shelf in the back, you could use a spray can to make a green line. If you pass the green line, you've gone too far; the items are not there.

It might also mean grouping items by vendor or item type. For instance, all our filters are here, instead of by manufacturer, because different logic systems can exist. We had scenarios in the warehouse where one shelf was organized by manufacturer and others by item type, as it made more sense.

This applies to anyone working in the warehouse, picking items, or in the office crunching numbers. When looking at retail, thinking outside the box is monumental.

This is true even for developers. When writing code, it's about finding creative solutions to achieve a goal, even if it's not the way you initially thought. Sometimes, you need to focus more on how the price is displayed or the end result, rather than solely on the technical aspects.

I really enjoyed working with developers who thought outside the box and focused more on the deliverable. The architecture usually followed suit and fell into place as we worked towards the solution.