Can you share a bit about your professional background and what led you to Motivity?
My career has been focused on making great software products. I have over 26 years in product design and have worked in multiple industries including education, oil and gas, and defense. However the vast majority of my career has been in health technology. I’ve spent time making software for dentists, gastroenterologists, dietitians, and radiologists which is where I met and had the pleasure of working with Motivity’s current CTO and cofounder Catalin Bocirnea. I’ve been following Motivity since its inception and have eagerly awaited the opportunity to be a part of the amazing Motivity journey.
What excites you most about your role as VP of Product at Motivity?
The people. Not only is the team at Motivity an amazing group, but our customers are some of the most kind hearted that I've encountered in healthcare; and that's saying a lot. It takes real compassion to work in the autism space and I want to ensure that our practitioners are able to focus on what matters most, the kiddos. It excites me to know that my efforts will eliminate the technical barriers our customers face, so they can provide the best possible clinical service to families that depend on them.
How do you ensure the product aligns with the needs of our ABA community?
My title is VP of product and I make decisions about what we add to our product next. But, my true role is Translator. It’s my responsibility first to listen to our community and then to translate ABA to technical speak, and back to ABA. My approach is to talk to as many people as I can so that I can bring the perspective of the collective to the solution.
Customers always present me with their solutions…they say, “Hey Raul, I need blue widgets” but rarely do they come to me with their actual problems. I really have to listen and read between the lines so I can uncover the motivation for the ask. My favorite question is “Why?”, and I ask it a lot. I practice a technique called the 5-whys which basically says if you ask why 5 times in a row you’ll get to the root cause.
The solutions my customers ask of me are always logical deductions that stem from a core problem they’re facing and are influenced by the technology in front of them, not necessarily by what’s possible. They aren't technologists, but I am. I am not a behavior analyst, but they are. By working together and really getting to “The Why” I can be the best possible partner in solving the root of their problem, which is the source of their need. They rarely know what is possible or how others are addressing the same issue.
While a single customer may think they have a unique situation, I guarantee that it's not. It may be new to them, or even to the field of ABA, but it's not new to other health verticals, and that’s a perspective I can bring. The solution is out there somewhere, it's already been validated, we just need to massage it into the ABA space.
What are your primary goals for the product development team this year? How do you see the product evolving in the future?
My goal is to enable our customers to do more business with their customers. I am here to be an enabler and I recognize that our business is making their business easier. That starts with ensuring that our solution enables clinical excellence while removing administrative and technical barriers. No practitioner wants to spend time with software, tools, reports, overhead, and all the technical buzzing flies that interrupt their day to day. They want to spend time being the best therapists, analysts, and entrepreneurs possible and helping their kiddos grow into the most amazing humans possible.
It’s not about features really, it’s about making sure our team can focus on the most important needs of our clients while scaling our own abilities to deliver solutions. Of course I’m going to bring highly requested features to market but I also want to scale our team's ability to deliver more and faster. We're a growing company and while we try to address everything, we simply can't. So I have to focus on what our community needs, which is all about their growth and ability to service the large variation in their customer demographic.
What motivates you every day in your work?
Belief in the mission. I love working with like minded people who believe in what we’re doing. And we have that in spades at Motivity. We’re all focused on the goal of clinical excellence and being the best system in the market so that we can enable our customers to be the best practitioners in the market.
Can you share a fun fact about yourself that the Motivity community wouldn’t guess?
Fun fact: I was cool once. I know, I know, it’s not cool to say that you are cool. But I kinda was. In my early days I was a nightclub DJ. I played in Canada, Japan, and Romania and even had a residency on MTV. I love spending my spare time with family and friends and I'm really passionate about woodworking. Oh, and if you’re cooking, I’m eating! I’m a massive foodie.
How do you stay connected with our users to gather feedback?
I talk to as many of our users as possible. I love spending time 1-on-1 with my customers but my favorite approach is to get 2 or 3 customers together and ask them very controversial questions, challenge accepted methods, and let them debate amongst themselves. It gives me great insight into the practitioner mindset when I hear clinicians talk to other clinicians. It’s a different language and mindset which I need to understand.
Additionally I follow what our users are saying online and try to stay abreast of the discussion topics at the various industry conferences. I also love to work with our amazing support team who give me the real talk when it comes to our customer’s needs. They don’t hold back!
It's all about applying the "listening between the lines" philosophy across many customers, users, and perspectives. And at all times, focusing on the why. I look forward to talking with you in the near future!
