Our People: Meet Rebecca Coseboom

Explain what you do in one sentence?

I throw parties, except instead of parties, they are software deployments and instead of planning and preparing a menu, we plan and build software features. 

What are the biggest challenges you face in your role?

Ensuring that the right information gets to the right people when they need it, (or just before) and in the best way possible.

What is a recent accomplishment you’re most proud of?

Avail recently launched Avail Assist, which enables people who have recently been in an accident to borrow a car while theirs is in the shop. It’s really full service, with the car being delivered to your office, home, or even the auto shop. Most impressively we do this at a rate much less expensive than a rental car. As a project manager in the Engineering group, I was managing the software portion of that roll-out and I was anxious to ensure that we put our best foot forward. In addition to our normal QA process, I took the additional step of hosting an “All Avail Testing Party,” inviting everyone who works for Avail to participate in testing. The team was able to find some really sneaky defects, identify some areas where our flow could be improved, all while getting an advanced look at what we were about to launch. It took an extreme amount of coordination and triage on my part, but it was very much worth it and I was very proud of our team.

What is one lesson you’ve learned from working at Avail?

The more collaborative you make things, the more ownership folks feel they have over the outcome.

What’s the biggest misconception people have about car sharing?

I think people fear they can’t share their car if it’s not brand-spanking new.  Our lot staff can get cars as old as 9 and 10 years pristinely clean and sanitized to boot.