Woman in Tech of the month: Alison Whitehouse

Describe your role and what a typical day looks like for you?

I lead thinking on product-led organisations, and I am an organisational agility expert. I don’t think I ever have a typical day, but the main parts of my day are overseeing teams, or spending time gathering, analysing, and exploring insights that can be used on projects. The other part of my role is helping build knowledge on product-led thinking, and how to effectively manage products and services end-to-end within an organisation. One of my favourite parts of my role is helping people in their careers, ensuring they are well looked after.

What has your career journey been like so far?

My career journey is not very typical for a consultant. I’m a bit of a magpie in that I like doing interesting work but don’t necessarily need it to be in the same industry, or on the same topic. If I see something that I think is interesting, I’ll see how I can get involved. I started my career at Zurich Financial Services leading some big delivery programmes as they were rolling out new policy and claim systems. It gave me an early perspective on my leadership style, and who I wanted to be as a leader. I then moved to PA as a consultant working on IT delivery. After working across financial services and government clients, I had my son in 2015. I had quite bad post-natal depression after. I didn’t want to be client facing, and PA were great and gave me an operations role in our Agile team. Then after I had my daughter in 2017, I began working on a project with a financial payment platform provider, where I started to build my knowledge of product-led organisations. This knowledge has led to some fantastic work across financial services, government, and retail services helping organisations understand how to manage products effectively.

What advice would you give to other women looking to pursue a career in technology?

You don’t need to pigeonhole yourself too early. Be a magpie for as long as you can. Go and try different things and get a broader knowledge of as many areas as you can. It will help to give you a different perspective on common problems that you might be facing within your role. Being a woman in technology, you are likely to still be the anomaly in a room. My philosophy throughout my career is that it’s ok to ‘fake it until you make it’. Assume a level of confidence that you might not necessarily be feeling. You can be a vocal person in a meeting. Say what you want to say, you can voice your opinion. Don’t feel like your voice isn’t something that someone doesn’t want to hear. It’s always great to have different perspectives and more organisations are realising that diversity of thought and opinions is absolutely where we need to be, so lean into that. And be confident, even if you don’t feel it.

Does personal branding have value in career placement?

Absolutely, but I don’t think it needs to be the same brand, it can change and evolve. Being confident in your brand at every stage of your career is something useful to have in the back of your mind. So, when I started off in my career, my personal brand was being good at delivering anything. I was a safe pair of hands. And I was curious, and I think tenacious was a word that followed me around for quite a few years. Over time, how to evolve from where you are to where you want to be started to become more important to me. Therefore, my brand started to evolve into having more transformation within it. And now it’s product, and product-led organisations. I have always been very happy for my brand to change given my lifestyle and my family commitments over time.

One thing I always mention in career conversations is to do a ‘three circles’ exercise. Someone asked me to consider it when I started at PA. The first circle is a list of everything that is non-negotiable for you. For example, working in a particular geographical location. The second circle is everything you do not want to be core to your brand. The third circle is something you are happy to compromise on. So it might be something like the industry. Those three circles will give you a useful steer on your brand today. Your brand can be about the person that you are, and the person that you’re not. Being aware of those two things will be useful throughout your career. You don’t have to stick with one thing, you can pivot and change. If you’re a designer one day, you don’t have to stay a designer. You can do whatever you want. You can upskill and train. Everything can change overnight, but keep in mind where you want to be.

Can you share your personal experience of being an ally for women at the workplace?

I’m open to having conversations with other women about where they are in their career, and in their life. Where do they want to get to? That’s something I will always make time for and was one of the drivers when creating the ‘Ingenious Women Breakfast’. These regular meet-ups cultivate a nurturing and authentic environment where senior women professionals particularly in product-led roles, come together to share insights, offer support, and tackle common challenges.

One of the other things that shaped the start of my career was finding role models, whom you want to be like in terms of their role, behaviours, and ways of thinking. That shapes what you need to do to get there. Keep yourself open to networking. I’m a fierce advocate for getting more women into senior positions, creating diverse teams, and bringing in a diverse range of opinions.

What has helped you navigate challenges in the tech industry while managing work and family responsibilities?

There are two things that have helped. Firstly, having very open and honest conversations about balancing home and work with my husband. The second is having open and honest conversations at work about where you want to be in a year. Communication from a work perspective and a home perspective is so important because otherwise there is a risk you will burn out and everyone will be unhappy.

Has motherhood impacted your growth in the workplace?

Yes, but in a positive way. I don’t mean to say that it’s all been wonderful because it’s been very hard and very humbling. I don’t think growth in the workplace is just related to promotion. Motherhood has made me an unbelievably empathetic person. I’m a lot more patient with people. I’m a lot more accepting of people’s family dynamic. I think things have changed so much now that you don’t have to separate who you are at work with home. I think that’s so great. Because of that, I’m a much better colleague.

Do you have any tips on building a better workplace for mothers in tech?

It all starts with empathy and understanding that every individual’s situation is unique. While it’s important to be mindful of not overloading anyone - especially those with family commitments - it’s equally important not to make assumptions about what they can or can’t handle. Mothers in tech, like many others, often balance multiple responsibilities, including work and managing their households. However, this doesn’t mean they should be excluded from opportunities for growth or advancement.

Instead of making assumptions, have open conversations. Ask what kind of support they need and let them be the ones to express their boundaries or preferences. Flexibility in scheduling like ensuring meetings are accessible to all is crucial, but so is providing equal access to career development and leadership roles. Empower everyone by creating opportunities for growth and advancement, while also respecting their personal boundaries.