1. Quickly fusing BandPage's complex system with YouTube's enormous platform.

2. Representing the needs of artists while achieving corporate goals.

3. Connecting the dots during YT's ongoing reorganization.

Acquisitions are tumultuous. BandPage was a fast-moving company with great people and a lot of love for our artists, and maintaining that rapport as we threaded ourselves into the Google/YouTube machine was a serious struggle.

In the six months we were given to integrate our product and migrate over a million users, we fought the uphill battle of conveying the importance of respecting the artists' experience, and what it would take to ensure a smooth product transition.

I successfully built consensus around extending the integration timeline, while fostering a more holistic conversation between product, marketing and legal teams around the future of the artist platform. Ongoing staff changes put the onus on our transition team to fill crucial knowledge gaps around user account structures, compliance, and the work of many disparate teams busily planning the future of YouTube.

My time at YouTube was focused on five things:

1. Inspiring the exploration of powerful new solutions for musicians. To build on the momentum of our acquisition and engagement of BandPage users, going beyond a piecemeal feature integration, to fundamentally rethink how the platform can empower music organizations and re-enfranchise artists trying to make a living.
2. Engaging in clear, concrete communication with users. Despite the corporate push for vague and non-committal language, we chose to detail the immediate impact on musicians, while rallying artists to the long-term vision.
3. Building a streamlined and content-rich migration flow. A smooth transition was crucial to our users' happiness and continued engagement, and we had to work hard to incorporate new features and content into YouTube's powerful, arcane platform.
4. Creating a rich user transition guide. Power users were destined for an intricate migration, while others would opt out and rely on third-party services. I worked with the Artist Relations and Support teams to assemble resources and advice that was well received by users from small DIY bands to artist managers at large agencies.
5. Contributing to other YouTube design teams, working on explorations and design updates for YouTube for Artists, YouTube Community, and Red Originals.

Ultimately, while YouTube is a complex and conflicted animal, I know they genuinely has artists' interests at heart—my hope is that they continue BandPage's work to connect out to the many places fans engage with musicians, beyond the YouTube ecosystem.

After I left YouTube to pursue new challenges, the integration met with fresh delays, and the eventually-launched user experience did not resemble my work. My original designs remain the confidential property of YouTube.