BuildingOS controls and integrations
Product manager for the integrations between building and utility hardware and Lucid's BuildingOS platform, and for its public API.
Background
BuildingOS pulled energy and utility data from thousands of buildings into one dashboard: meters, sub-meters, building management systems, and third-party hardware from a long list of vendors who did not agree on anything. I moved from engineering into product for this one, owning controls and integrations.
What I did
I managed the integrations between the 3rd-party utility and building hardware companies and BuildingOS, which is a polite way of saying I spent a lot of time on calls about data formats. I worked with the engineers to design the BuildingOS API using modern API design practices (Apiary for the spec, Runscope for the tests), set up application analytics and user metric reporting, and evangelized modern product practices generally.
The forward-looking work was planning the controls platform, so BuildingOS could act on buildings and not just watch them, and a demand response pilot with a large utility aggregator.
The tech stack was Python, JavaScript, Node, and Cassandra. The product stack was Jira, Sketch, whiteboards, and a lot of Post-it notes.
Things I learned
- An API is a product. Spec it, test it, and version it like one.
- Integrations are where product managers earn their keep. Nobody else wants to own the edge cases.
- Two years in product made me a much better engineer to work with.