Making a Game-Changing Platform

Name: Lovel R.
Job Title: Product Manager, Enterprise Decision Platform

Leading the Enterprise Decision Platform
As a Product Manager for Enterprise Decision Platform, my primary focus is to enable business capabilities that help reduce risk exposures. We reduce risk by providing more data and by reducing cycle time when we’re implementing strategies and models.

Staying curious
I’m a very curious person, and I value progress over perfection. But, I also spend a lot of time probing and asking questions during our requirement gathering sessions. I work closely with my Architect to ensure alignment and help our team define and synthesize requirements. That means sorting “business critical needs” from “important, but not critical.” This alignment helps bring business value without compromising our platform roadmap.

Harnessing the “game changer”
One of my biggest achievements at Discover was when I helped deliver the Enterprise Decision Platform. I’m incredibly proud and humbled that our team successfully delivered the platform. It’s considered a cornerstone for the future account and application decision-making at Discover. It was one of the most challenging initiatives I’ve worked on because it forced us to change how we do things as an organization. We had to adapt everything, from business processes to technical solutions. It challenged the status quo across multiple organization levels and areas. It’s why the team is proudly named “Game Changer.”

The power of we
As an organization, we talk a lot about the “Discover Behaviors.” They’re the behaviors we’re all aligned on as a company that direct how we get things done. You may notice that there’s always a “we” when we talk about the Discover behaviors. We Play to Win, We Get Better Every Day, We Succeed Together, etc. I think the “we” explains what kind of company Discover is. We value inclusiveness and collaboration.

Stretch projects
I get to work on different projects that allow me to learn and be challenged at the same time. The Enterprise Decision Platform in particular brought complexity and stretched my skillset—from organizational savviness to technical knowledge. It’s nice to work on initiatives that enable me to leverage that skillsets I’ve acquired from previous roles while allowing me to learn something new.

Designing with psychology
I’ve helped build two different case management systems that our fraud and dispute agents are currently using to assist our customers. I know that building applications seems to be common, but we design with our agents’ psyche in mind. Remember, customers are calling in due to suspicious activities or to dispute charges. They’re already upset, so I strongly believe that right colors on screen and the right placements of fields on the screen help our agents to lessen their stress, become more efficient, and give good vibes.

New approach to working
I think we’re very innovative compared to other financial companies. I also think that we’re heading in the right direction with the changes we’re making on our technical solution. I’ve experienced team huddles at previous organizations, but I have not seen other organizations practice what we do with the Discover Management System (DMS). DMS is a new way of working that organizes our processes and drives alignment. It fosters transparency and alignment. Our communication runs from top to bottom and bottom to top of the organization. It’s amazing! I’m excited to bring more business capabilities that help our strategy.