In our Productivity Hero Spotlight series, we interview enterprise leaders to learn how they think about productivity and how they got to where they are in their careers. For this week’s productivity hero spotlight, we spoke to Spark Parker, Director of Support & Enablement at Docker.
About Docker: Docker helps developers bring their ideas to life by conquering the complexity of app development. Actively used by millions of developers around the world, Docker Desktop and Docker Hub provide unmatched simplicity, agility, and choice.
Source: https://www.docker.com/company/.
Interviewer: Do you go by Spark or by Sara?
Spark: My family calls me Sara, but I've never worked somewhere where I was the only Sara. So I go by Spark.
Interviewer: That's such a good name. I love it.
Interviewer: Spark, first of all, I’d love to hear about your role. What do you do at Docker?
Spark: This is my second time at Docker. I initially joined in early 2017, and I was here for just over two and a half years before the enterprise portion of the business was acquired by Marantis. I came back last year to help within the customer success umbrella where I own global support. Our collective team of about 29 people covers the APAC, EMEA, and North American regions and focuses on enablement, training, customer support, customer success, and support operations.
Interviewer: What does a typical workday look like for you?
Spark: Every day is different and every day is unexpected, and it's part of why I thrive. My brain works really well in chaos. I enjoy having a lot of things on my plate and figuring out what to prioritize, what I can delegate to someone, or what needs to be communicated immediately.
“My brain works really well in chaos. I enjoy having a lot of things on my plate and figuring out what to prioritize, what I can delegate to someone, or what needs to be communicated immediately.”
Interviewer: What excites you most about your work?
Spark: Every day brings its own challenges. And my goal is to find some reasonable balance between the day-to-day follow-ups and what's new or changed. In the startup industry and Docker life, something changes every time I go to bed and wake up. It's a balancing act, and the fact that there’s no normal day keeps me really happy.
Interviewer: How do you prioritize tasks and manage your time effectively?
Spark: I would say a big chunk of prioritizing and managing tasks effectively is just clear and effective communication with leadership, including my manager. Communicating what's truly new and on fire versus the day-to-day. I rely on my operations, enablement, and support management teams to allow me the bandwidth to spread out, divide and conquer, and tag in people that I trust and know will commit to delivering something by the suggested date. The humans who work on my collective team care so deeply, and it makes all the difference in the world.
Interviewer: How do you use Xembly and Xena in your work?
Spark: Xena’s my best friend.
As a neurodivergent person, I have tried countless productivity tools, and this is the first and only one that has stuck with me.
“As a neurodivergent person, I have tried countless productivity tools, and this is the first and only one that has stuck with me.”
The ease in which I can just Slack Xena and ask it to do things, and Xena will put placeholders and reminders on my calendar is great. I love how I can say: “Xena remind me to do A, B, C, and D”, and Xena not only puts it on my calendar, but if I don't actually check a box that says, I did it, Xena will move it and be like: “hey, you forgot about this last week, you still need to do it”. And the fact that Xena will schedule and join a meeting and have action items with named owners; those are super critical to me. That consistency is what I would expect of a really good executive assistant.
I love Xena. Xena is literally the only productivity tool I've ever found that worked for me and my brain.
“I love Xena. Xena is literally the only productivity tool I've ever found that worked for me and my brain.”
Interviewer: What helps you stay focused?
Spark: I know you're recording this, but Adderall is my first answer. Part of it is medication.
But part of it is like productivity tools where I can look at my calendar and know with the recording service and the action items that every single meeting I own I can expect this summary. The action items exist. I get the summaries by email, by Slack, and they can populate on my calendar. All this makes moving through all of the unknowns, all of the unexpected calls, and the routine calls very manageable.
Interviewer: Can you share any habits or practices that have contributed to your career growth?
Spark: I said it before and I own it. As a neurodivergent, seriously, ADHD human, I think finding a tool like Xembly enables me and positions me to be seriously more accountable for the things I commit to, the things I need to follow up on, the things that make my collective team successful. I hire incredibly smart, incredibly talented people. I pull them together into this universe where they collaborate and make amazing things happen, and having a tool that keeps me in line along with that is undoubtedly part of my success.
“I hire incredibly smart, incredibly talented people. I pull them together into this universe where they collaborate and make amazing things happen, and having a tool that keeps me in line along with that is undoubtedly part of my success.”
Interviewer: What’s the best career advice you have received?
Spark: I have two pieces of advice that probably contradict themselves, but I will share them both. First, Fake it, till you make it. Be confident. Challenge people, and teams, for the better. Keep believing in yourself. Don't be afraid to screw up or to fail if you're supported and surrounded by people that support you. You have the room to fail and figure it out and try again.
“Be confident. Challenge people, and teams, for the better.”
The other would be from a book I care a lot about. If you care personally about the cause, the project, the organization, the company, the direction — If you care personally, you are expected to challenge directly, regardless of title, regardless of who is who. If you're really invested and you really care, you should be expected to speak up and challenge for the better.
Interviewer: What’s a career advice you would give your younger self or someone starting out in their career?
Spark: I think my advice to my younger self would be, to surround yourself with great humans, people who are passionate about something. And then you get to learn. You don't have to be the subject matter expert. You don't have to have the experience. But what makes your day-to-day, Monday to Friday, are the people. Prioritize the people, the culture, the virtues, and who you spend your time with, even if it means learning something new, exploring something different.
“Surround yourself with great humans, people who are passionate about something.”
Interviewer: Spark, thank you for the incredible advice and insights you shared. I loved learning about your approach to your work and how you think about productivity.
