How Shopify juggles 300 projects at once with Descript
As VP Product, Glen Coates oversees a fully remote, global team who at any given time are working on around 300 projects—from infrastructure mechanics to game-changing new features for the millions of merchants who use Shopify as their e-commerce engine.
Glen applies the same high standard to every single initiative. But he couldn’t possibly give his full attention to every one if it required regular meetings with the product managers.
So instead, when a product manager needs to give Glen an update, or propose a new idea, they use Descript to make and share an async video.
When I get a video review, that person now has the floor to say their whole piece. And it forces me as the reviewer to listen to the whole story.
You don’t need a bunch of recording setups or a team with video skills to replace meetings with asynchronous video. You just need Descript. Here’s how Shopify does it in four simple steps.
Record: Product Managers deliver updates and float ideas by talking into their webcams or laptop
cameras; they can also incorporate screen recordings to supplement the narrative.
Edit: With Descript’s text-based editing, PMs can quickly edit out mistakes, tighten their narrative, even move segments around by cut-and-paste. It’s as fast and easy as editing a word doc or an email.
Pro tip: In video, audio matters. "When it's hard to listen to someone, you don't want to listen to them," Glen says. But you don’t need pricey mics or soundproof rooms: Shopify PMs use Studio Sound to instantly clean and enhance their audio.
Share: When the 2-3 minute video is ready, the PM gets a shareable web link and sends it to Glen.
Respond: When Glen has time to give it his full attention, he’ll watch. Then he’ll add comments and ask questions in the transcript, just like in a Google doc.
Video gives you the elasticity of either saying, ‘this is a no brainer, approved’; or, ‘I'm going to think about this for a while. I'll get back to when I figured out what I really think.’”
All product managers are, on some level, product marketers. But they rarely get to hone their messaging skills because they’re busy juggling so much technical and project work. Delivering regular async video updates forces them to learn to tell concise, compelling stories. And Descript handles all the technical parts of making video for them, so they can focus on the story they want to tell, and how best to tell it.
Click here to listen to Glen's full conversation with Descript CEO Andrew.
Giving your full org access to Descript's AI-powered video editing can unlock 2.5x more video output. And you'll get enterprise-grade security, brand controls, and collaboration—all in one scalable solution.
