Aries Systems Corporation

Tell us a little about yourself – how long have you been working for Aries? What did you do before joining Aries?

I have been with Aries’ Product Management team for two years. At a previous company, I led a tech team where we collaborated with Aries to benefit our mutual customers, and so I already knew some of the people working here. Having some knowledge of the Editorial Manager and ProduXion Manager systems, at least from a publisher’s view, really helped with the initial job transition.

What have your roles at Aries been?

I spent the majority of my first year as a Business Systems Analyst with a focus on Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS) XML. We were working on a project that involved rendering journal articles from XML, and it was important that the files meet the structure and guidelines that we created. So, helping with that analysis, testing and documentation was a priority. My role later changed to Product Manager and my focus also changed at that time to the area of researcher/user identity.

How have your previous roles helped you in your current position?

Editorial Manager is a robust, but complex system that is very customizable and my time in the Business Systems Analyst role allowed me to explore options in the interface and become more familiar with EM configuration. My time in this role also helped with gaining a better understanding of our test environment and how the system processes manuscript data.

How do you stay up to date with customer needs and industry trends?

To help stay current on industry and customer needs, I attend the annual Aries Editorial Manager User Group (EMUG) and NCBI JATS-CON events, and I participate in the NISO JATS4R Steering Committee and STM Researcher Integrity Working Group (RIWG). I find these working groups fascinating and very different from each other even though some of their goals are similar – to support the quality and integrity of scholarly research. Discussing challenges in the industry and learning different perspectives outside of my normal course of work is very beneficial.

Tell me about your department and the people you work most closely with.

As a member of our Product Management team, I am responsible for helping define EM’s product vision based on customer and stakeholder needs and research. Some of us are also Product Owners and help create and prioritize product backlogs to align with product goals.

Our tech squad is a great team to work on! As with all squads at Aries, our team follows an Agile framework and together with the Tech Lead and Scrum Master, I work alongside the entire Scrum team to form plans and organize new product features into manageable parts. Everyone is very collaborative, and it is not uncommon for someone to arrange their schedule to help another person who may be working against some sort of difficulty. This kind of teamwork inspires confidence that anything is possible. 

How do you collaborate with other departments within Aries?

I work with other departments such as Client Services, Architecture, Engineering, UX/UI, and others based on project needs. Communication happens through calls, daily meetings and shared messaging channels. As our squad is focusing on enhancements around Identity (user authentication & authorization), we have been collaborating very closely with the UX team to ensure that any development aligns with Aries’ user needs.

Describe your typical workday.

I usually begin my day by reviewing priorities and tasks that I need to accomplish. It could be a mixture of product- and squad-related tasks such as researching a certain topic or reviewing tickets in our backlog for future sprints. Each day I try to pick a task to complete that will take the most time. Because I’m in the US and many of my colleagues work in the UK, mornings tend to be meeting-heavy, and then the afternoons allow for more focused project work.

What do you most enjoy about your job? What do you enjoy most about working for Aries?

I really enjoy the people and sense of spirit working together because there is great support inside and outside our Product team, development squad, and wider Elsevier network. I also really appreciate the company’s culture of continuous learning through webinars, educational materials, internal team learning sessions and sometimes just independent study.

What are you currently reading, listening to, or watching?

To wind down at home, our family usually picks one TV series at a time and sees it through with an episode each night. I also tune in to a lot of random channels on YouTube – from live rock concerts, to topics like nutrition and world exploration. I’m currently listening to an audiobook called “Brothers” by Alex Van Halen, which is a memoir about him and his brother Eddie.

Tell me about some of your hobbies/interests outside of work.

I really enjoy spending time with family outside of work, such as going on mini trips out of state. We have three energetic dogs, and they keep our household animated! I play guitar in a cover band and that keeps me busy on the weekends, too.