Inês Brilhante, a former Biological Engineer graduate from Instituto Superior Técnico, has professionally transitioned into the technology industry. She joined CTW in March 2021 to further develop her skills in Product Development.
Inês' career reached new heights as she played a significant role as Product Visionary, in App Grade Unit, in developing MyBMW App, contributing to an enhanced customer experience.
Her passion for product management drives her to continuously seek opportunities to learn and grow alongside her peers. She has been managing her Mastery Process with enthusiasm, constantly pushing the boundaries of her capabilities. Check on how she has been managing this process...
What made you feel ready to do your mastery process?
Since the last process I did, everything changed: my product, my team, stakeholders and mostly my engagement with the new product. I felt that so many things made me learn and grow, so it was the perfect time to evaluate what I've proposed to do in the past and define new goals for the future.
What was the impact that the mastery process had on your career?
Daily, we are so involved in the product needs and team activities that sometimes it is difficult to find time to think about how you are doing so far and what your position is considering the product, stakeholders and the team. The mastery process encourages you to do a "break" just to stop and look, to reflect on your accomplishments, to ask for feedback if, for some reason, you are not doing it often, and to evaluate how much you have grown during the year.
What did you learn about yourself by doing your mastery?
This is a tough question. I think every time you put some thought into your growth path, you learn more about yourself, what you are capable of and didn't know.
What was the biggest challenge of this process for you?
I think the biggest challenge is to see you as if you were a different person, to find your strengths, to measure the progress of your goals, and be able to know that you actually grew and how you overcame some issues. As human beings, the easiest thing to do is to criticise ourselves and to think how we could have done it better, but sometimes we need to leave the impostor syndrome behind and see it through.
"Sometimes we need to leave the impostor syndrome behind and see it through"
What tools or resources do you use for your Mastery plan and why?
For the different goals I had, the learning budget was used and also some internal trainings, for example, some trainings available on the LMT. If you think that there are some skills that you want to develop, but you don't know how, go to your HoI, and see if any internal initiatives are happening.
"Start writing everything that you remember was significant and important during the last months"
Tips for people who haven´t done their mastery yet?
Take a break from the product activities (which will always be there for you :D) and choose a moment that you think it makes sense to re-evaluate your growth and start writing everything that you remember was significant and important during the last months, being, important accomplishments, the challenges you had, the feedback collected from the team and stakeholders and just do a draft analysis.
After that, you can take a look at the facilitators' list and choose a person you identify with or that you think will be able to help you discuss your development path. Also, it's important to discuss some ideas with your HoI, they are always available to give you important inputs.