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Kim Norlen

MIMS 2001
Staff Technical Program Manager
Twitter

My life before the I School

I was living in Portland, Oregon, working for a company that made medical CD-ROMs. I had an English degree, and was fond of using information technology, but had no specific training and no computer science background. Over time, I became more interested in the tech side of things, and started experimenting with solutions and reading a lot of theories about the future of information. And I became intrigued. I taught myself HTML and built an early web site, way back before there were even pictures on the web. I was also active in the Portland music scene, and became convinced that the Internet would one day become a delivery system for music. However, no one believed me at the time.

I School as start-up culture

I’ve spent a lot of time in start-ups, and have found that the unique culture of these organizations isn’t for everyone. Being able to form professional relationships rather than working through a top-down management structure is an important skill if you want to work in this space. At Google, Facebook, and Twitter, the organization structure is flat; there’s no middle management. You have to be able to get with the people you need to work with to solve a problem. If you can’t do that, you can’t work in this culture.

The I School is great preparation for this world because its culture is so similar. There’s no top-down hierarchy. High value is placed on adaptability. Project work took place in small groups, across disciplines, just like in a start-up. The I School encourages that kind of collaboration and creative thinking in the interest of finding creative solutions.

About the community

At I School I had the unique opportunity to form many close, lasting relationships that are both personal and professional. I remember my first day I met another woman who had also worked at a medical CD-ROM company and was into music. It was the first time I’d met another woman who was interested in technology. Beyond personal connections, people I met at the I School have been important in my thinking and on my career path, particularly because they come from across disciplines, from journalism, to business, to computer science.

What I do now

Since March 2010, I’ve been operations project manager at Twitter. My job is to ensure, as the company grows in scale, that repeated tasks are performed effectively and efficiently using scalable solutions rather than developing new systems. It’s been a crazy ride — the kind of opportunity you only dream of. Twitter is three times as big now as it was when I started. And I’m not the only I School person.

On today’s entrepreneurial business model

In start-ups, there are no business plans, no market research. The new model is to start with an idea, write it up, get it out there, and get enough people using it so that a community develops. Twitter is the perfect example. People used to ask, “What’s it about?” But we couldn’t answer that question until Twitter was out there, and people began using it in ways no one could anticipate.

Thoughts on the future of information

The future is here right now. Every day, something new is emerging. One day you think, “It would be great to be able to do X.” The next you find out that somebody is doing it. The things you might anticipate are already happening.

Last updated:

February 12, 2016