Christopher Makarsky

I'm a product manager and web developer living in San Francisco. I spend my time blogging, microblogging, posting links, uploading photos, and listening to music.

Skills & Competencies

Over four years of management experience in fast-paced, technical environments, with a consistent record of surpassing objectives and delivering exceptional results.
Proven ability to manage multiple aggressive projects with competing resources and priorities.
Demonstrated proficiency in all phases of the development life cycle.

Expertise in implementing simple, elegant, and creative solutions, with a strong interest in consumer products, standards compliance, and human interaction.
Familiarity with common development tools and environments, coupled with a strong understanding of today's best practices in graphic, interaction, and social design.

Oversaw the development and launch of the World of Star Wars, a unique strategy featuring integrated Yahoo! platforms and custom functionality to engage users within the Star Wars universe.
Directly involved in creating product requirements; worked closely with the development, content, and other platform teams to prioritize requests and align roadmaps.
Assumed responsibility for the site's community features and owned the customer-facing portions of the product, including care, help, and abuse moderation.
Earned official ScrumMaster certification; worked with other managers to analyze areas where agile methods could be best implemented within the team.

Managed teams of designers, developers, and programmers to successfully launch over 50 sites for a wide range of audiences and industries.
Continuously monitored schedules and budgets to identify and meet critical milestones, coordinating daily with the management team to prioritize resources.
Stepped in as an additional team resource where needed, assisting with graphic and interaction design, programming, and QA in order to ensure the timeliness and success of projects.
Championed new systems and technologies, including standards-compliant layouts, content management frameworks, and project management methodologies, helping to reduce budgets and schedules by as much as 50%.
Assisted in executing strategic marketing plans to support the sale of company products and services; directly involved in growing the client base and signing over $250,000 of new sales.

Worked with other analysts, developers, and clients to meet business requirements and resolve service issues; provided daily maintenance support for customers.
Aided in the creation of upgrade paths after analyzing user feedback and business goals; researched technologies employed by industry competitors and reported on business trends.