Cohort 01 — Roster

Who's in the cohort, what role they play, why. Tracks what's confirmed, what's proposed, what still needs to be decided before kickoff.

Core owners (~50% time, 4–6 week cycle)

Kate Hollywood — confirmed

Role: Co-owner, producer/operator angle Why: Kate already mapped the 19-step product data workflow during the strategy sprint. She is the person most familiar with how the work runs today and where it breaks. She is a strong AI user already. The cohort starts with her map and extends it. Source: Claire confirmed in Apr 14 Slack ("We'd like to start with Mary + Kate as core participants").

Mary Corrick — confirmed

Role: Co-owner, operator angle Why: Mary runs alongside Kate on product data day-to-day. Strong AI user. Different slice of the workflow than Kate. Source: Claire confirmed in Apr 14 Slack ("Mary + Kate as core participants").

Participants (~20% time)

A merchandiser — proposed, not yet named

Role: Participant, producer angle Why: Merchandising creates new SKUs but doesn't feel the downstream pain. We want a merchandiser in the room who can see what their side of the workflow feels like from where Kate and Mary sit. Not Brooks Bermingham — too senior to commit 20%. We need someone doing the hands-on SKU-entry work. Next step: confirm candidate with Claire / merchandising leadership before kickoff.

Clint Borrill — proposed, not yet asked

Role: Participant, hacker / consumer angle Why: Clint is one of Balsam's most AI-fluent developers. He works in marketing, consumes product data, and can move from idea to working thing quickly. Having a hacker in the cohort is the difference between good analysis and a shipped prototype. His marketing angle also surfaces how downstream consumers use (and fail to use) product data. Source: Suggested by Mike during Apr 13 internal discussion. Not discussed with Claire or Clint yet. Next step: raise with Claire before approaching Clint. If Clint is out, we need to find another AI-fluent builder who consumes product data.

Someone from eCommerce — proposed, not yet named

Role: Participant, consumer angle Why: eCommerce is the largest daily consumer of product data. Someone on that team who feels the pain of missing or inconsistent data would make the consumer side of the workflow concrete. Next step: identify candidate during first week of cycle. May not need to be in from day one — could join in week 2 when consumer mapping starts.

Adjacent ring (~5% time, bookable office hours)

Bob McDonald and team

Why: Retailer onboarding is downstream of this cohort's work. Bob and his team feel the cost of messy product data daily. Not in the cohort (retailer-specific work is out of scope), but close enough that their input during discovery is valuable.

International team lead — TBD

Why: International launches are bottlenecked on localized product data. Worth having a voice from this function available during the workflow mapping phase.

Creative ops lead — TBD

Why: Creative ops needs product data and matching assets together. They see a different kind of breakdown than Kate and Mary do.

Planning representative — TBD

Why: Planning needs SKU attributes to forecast. Often surfaces attribute gaps no one else notices.

COE operating team

Mike Joyce (Goose Group)

Role: Primary pen on strategy, prototyping partner, readout author.

Alex Finnemore (Goose Group)

Role: Cycle rhythm, sponsor relationship, intake coordination, build partner scoping.

Roster composition rationale

This roster follows the how-cohorts-work.md pattern:

Someone who does the work today — Kate and Mary.
Someone who uses the output — Clint (via marketing) and an eCommerce representative.
Someone who can build — Clint as the primary hacker.

Kate and Mary don't feel the producer-side pain the way merchandising does. That's why we want a merchandiser in the cohort — not to blame, but to bring the producer context. And that's why Claire's framing matters: the producers don't know what happens to their data because they never see it.

The cohort deliberately mixes altitudes: Kate and Mary (operators), Clint (developer/consumer), a merchandiser (producer). Sponsor layer clears blockers that cross functions.

Final roster confirmation

Before the April 29 onsite:

Mary confirmed by Claire (Apr 14)
Kate confirmed by Claire (Apr 14)
Merchandiser candidate confirmed with Claire
Clint raised with Claire, and if approved, asked directly
eCommerce participant identified (can slip to week 2)
Adjacent ring contacts named