It’s hard to believe that I joined Salesforce as a Senior Product Manager for Service Cloud as recently as 2016 (amidst the chaos of moving from Philadelphia to San Francisco with my husband, who was starting a new job). Despite the craziness, I felt confident there was a bright future ahead. Now that I’ve had some time to reflect on my whirlwind first year, I want to share a few things I’ve learned on my journey.

But first — why did I join Salesforce? The answer is simple: I wanted to be at the intersection of technology and business, with a platform that was changing the rules of the game. As a Product Manager, I have a unique pulse on the business – I connect the gap between reality and expectations for customers, the business, and the market. I engage with customers, enable sales and marketing, support our partner ecosystem, and much more.

Needless to say, there is a lot going on, and lot that needs to get done every day ... but we get it all done, and have fun along the way. That's because we have a defined way of working that adheres to four core operating principles: Enablement, Empowerment, Integration, and Accountability. These principles guide everything we do at Salesforce and allow us to accomplish extraordinary things. They define the way we work and keep us delivering on our promises to our customers, partners, communities, and each other.

Here's a look at how I put these principles into action in order to execute and achieve success as we move so quickly.

1. Support is necessary for success

On the last day of Dreamforce 2017, I was sitting on campus when two customers approached me. They instantly recognized me as the product manager for our omni-channel routing feature. They sat down and told me how our product helped them consolidate their disintegrated channel strategy for services and support. They also mentioned how bringing out a new Omni trail has made it easy to understand the product, which is one of the most complicated features in service. I was thrilled! This is proof of that by providing people with the tools and resources they need to get things done, we enable them to achieve success on their own.

2. Feel empowered to get aligned

When Jon Aniano, SVP, Product Management Service Cloud, spoke on a leadership panel this year, the one word he emphasized (and I have religiously pursued) is alignment. Companies are not run by just one person, and managing products is not a one-woman show. As a PM I am empowered to take the reigns and work with key stakeholders before embarking on a new deal, product idea, or business plan. Nobody likes surprises, and nothing gets accomplished alone. At every stage of your work, you have the power to achieve buy-in from your partners and ensure products work effectively together, for a smooth, seamless experience.

3. Think about how to bring things together

When we started our journey with Einstein for Service, I wanted to combine the power of service with the underlying strength of machine learning and AI. Our senior executives were very supportive of this idea and were open to the opportunity of exploring new features in a relatively newer space like this. The fact that I was encouraged to think about new ways to integrate our offerings increased my confidence in championing this change, and allowed me to make a significant impact.

4. Measure, measure, measure

Everyone measures success — what’s new about that? But not everyone does it on a sustained basis. The key here is to maintain the cycle of continuous improvement and growth. As my manager puts it: “Think about what you would like to track in an ideal world, and take little steps toward that with each release.” This not only gives us a clear picture of where our product stands, but also provides justification for our product roadmap and funding. And, measuring success provides us with much-needed feedback on what we’ve delivered. Take time every quarter to update your priorities to keep you on track and accountable for delivering on your goals.

Knowing and adopting the ways we work together and accomplish our goals has made my first year in the Ohana a tremendous success. Salesforce has been best career decision I’ve made, and I am confident that it will just get better from here!

Learn more about life at Salesforce at salesforce.com/careers.