Self-empowerment: How Shobana scales ITOM at Freshworks
“We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise, why else even be here?”
–Steve Jobs
Shobana Peter has always wanted to work in an organization that empowered engineers with the freedom to innovate.
With more than eighteen years of software experience, Shobana has primarily worked in companies “where the engineering headquarters were placed somewhere else in the globe,” which meant engineers “were always at the mercy of leaders outside our sphere of influence to manufacture work for the teams.”
When my friends at Freshworks spoke about how engineers’ freedom formed the DNA of the organization, I was really impressed.
Growing fast, growing strong
In the spring of 2020, when Shobana joined Freshworks, she was initially in charge of a team of five.
Two years later, she now manages a team of forty.
As a director of IT Operations Management (ITOM), she’s responsible for strategizing the execution and delivery of product features, setting goals and OKRs in her team that align with the product roadmap and accelerate their career development, and improving existing processes to increase the productivity of engineers, as well as the quality of the product.
Thriving in a culture of self-empowerment
Shobana enjoys making the right decisions for the product by striking a balance between business metrics and technical knowledge. “As a director, I’m in the sweet spot of getting the right exposure to customer feedback, business metrics, and engineers’ technical knowledge. This empowers me to make the right decisions,” she says.
As part of a scale-up, Shobana enjoys the culture of “self-empowerment” at work. She elaborates:
At Freshworks, we have the best of both worlds. We have a self-empowerment culture and a lot of freedom to take risks and experiment. At the same time, we have the right processes in place to ensure that we don’t stray from our organizational goals.
Community-feeling at Freshworks Kudumba
Shobana says that her overall experience driving innovation at Freshworks has been “very satisfying,” leaving her with a deep sense of accomplishment. Her team is built on a culture of oneness, making innovation easy. “In my team, it’s less ‘me’ and more ‘we’ because we always have each other’s back.”
Shobana says a lot of her peers outside Freshworks are surprised at the company’s “focus on employee wellbeing and freedom to chart new areas for growth.”
She sums up the community feeling and work culture at Freshworks quite succinctly:
The work culture at Freshworks has a viral and positive vibe that runs through the organization. Just like everyone’s opinions are respected in a family, in Freshworks Kudumba, everyone has the privilege to speak up and voice their opinions. The internal surveys and forum opinions are taken very seriously, and action items are clearly identified based on employee feedback. This transparency gives employees the courage and trust to lean on the leadership decisions.
In a water cooler conversation for ‘A Freshworker’s Life’ series, Shobana describes the work culture at Freshworks as “empowered, transparent, and supportive.” Keep reading to know more about her.
Interested in working with passionate Freshworkers like Shobana who have discovered their potential, passion, and purpose at work? Look no further! At Freshworks, we empower people who power businesses, and we are hiring across roles.
