Mums in Tech ft. Alice Mannion

As part of the ‘Mums in Tech’ series, MotherBoard caught up with Alice Mannion, Product Director at Ocado Technology.

The purpose of our ‘MotherBoard’ content series is to highlight incredible working mums within tech, as well as individuals and businesses that are supportive and progressive within their approach to creating more inclusive tech teams for women.

Firstly, can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your current role?

I am a Product Director at Ocado Technology. We provide the software and hardware for multiple grocers around the world to run successful online grocery businesses – this includes Ocado.com here in the UK. I look after the Delivery Experience, which covers everything from slot booking to order tracking. We are delivering the best possible shopping experience for customers, while helping retail partners to reduce costs and drive efficiencies.

As a Product Director, I support my team of Product Managers in deciding what features and functionality we should build. This involves using data and insights to work out what matters to our customers, and how we can best support our business strategy. We then work with cross-functional teams — engineering, data, UX — to determine what to build and how. Finally, we experiment as much as possible to learn what really works.

If you could sum up what it’s like being a working mum in tech in one sentence, what would it be?

It is busy but exciting!

How do you find the balance between your career and motherhood?

It’s important to me that my career and family work together. For me, balance is achieved when I can build a regular routine that also allows enough room for occasional flexibility.

I’ve tried out a few different working patterns since I returned from maternity leave. When my daughter was little, I worked 4 days a week, and really enjoyed having a day off just the two of us. When she started at school, I decided to finish early on Thursdays and Fridays to allow me to pick her up.

I quickly learnt that taking the time out was doable as long as I was clear in my communication to others and also realistic when setting expectations with myself. On some days, this might mean asking for meetings to be moved if they get scheduled on afternoons. On others, it would mean making sure I stayed focused on my top priorities, or simply accepting I can’t do everything (even if I worked 7am-7pm).

One-off events are also really important to me. I want to see her in the school play and be there for sports day. I’ve found my colleagues to be really supportive of taking the time to do these things, and as long as I’m clear about when I’m not going to be available, I can manage my own time to make this work. They often want to hear how it went!

What has been your greatest challenge as a working mother in tech?

I find 5pm the greatest challenge. In the past, if I had a big piece of work or a deadline, I could work later into the evening to get it done. Now I need to leave at 5pm to collect my daughter from after-school club and am then busy for the next few hours with dinner and bedtime. That 5-6pm window also used to be my catch-up time when I didn’t have any meetings. As well as not having the time, I find the mental switch from work into family life difficult. The transition from talking about work to talking about playground dramas can be tough!

What skills have you developed as a mother that have helped your work life?

I’ve already talked about getting good at prioritisation and time management, but I also think my communication has improved. I get lots of practice at home in being clear, patient and empathetic, all of which I can use to my benefit at work.

When you were returning to work, what one thing helped you / would have helped you the most?

I went back to work after 8 months of maternity leave, while my husband took 4 months of shared parental leave. This worked really well for all of us. It meant that we both understood what it was like to be the other one (either going out to work or staying at home). It also meant that we were equal partners in looking after our daughter from the start.

One thing that I always recommend to people now is to have a plan for the bad days. There will be nights where you don’t get a good sleep, or you’ve had a terrible weekend dealing with tummy bugs. Having a plan for what you’ll do at work on those days helps reduce the stress and means you can still be productive. This will look different for everyone depending on what you find easy and what’s needed in your role, but it could be things like planning a 1:1 with a supportive colleague or using the day to catch up on admin.

What do you feel should be the top priority for employers who want to support working mothers better?

In the short-term, demonstrating compassion and flexibility can make a huge difference. Knowing that you can (and should) go to the Christmas play, or that everyone will understand if you are taking a call with Bluey on in the background, makes it feel possible to continue to thrive in your role.

In the longer-term, I think offering great paternity leave options will encourage more fathers to take time with their children. Then the conversation shifts to supporting working parents, and hopefully the “motherhood penalty” will start to decrease.

Any final words of advice for other mothers in the Tech Industry?

Technology will be better with the input of mothers! Diversity always leads to better outcomes. Your input matters!