# Ashwin Sharma
I build the systems behind high-volume transactions
From consumer payments to ecommerce delivery
Principal Product Manager working across payments, shipping and logistics software, integrations, public APIs, operational UX, and products designed for AI agents.

# Work
## The integration layer behind ecommerce shipping
id: integration-layer
status: SHIPPED / EVOLVING
domain: ECOMMERCE SHIPPING
summary: Connected commerce platforms, order systems, and warehouse software to shipping services.
decision: Treat the integration layer as a product with its own contracts, mappings, events, failure states, and adoption experience.
work: Owned product direction across upstream integrations. Shipped webhook controls, event filtering, sensitive-data controls, custom-field mapping, and native automation links including Klaviyo and Zapier.
outcome: Made shipping capabilities available inside the systems merchants already operate.
capabilities: INTEGRATION PRODUCTS, WEBHOOKS, B2B ADOPTION, SYSTEM UX
evidence: https://ashwinsharma-pm.github.io/shippit-klaviyo/, https://ashwinblog.substack.com/p/a-year-of-growth-at-shippit?r=7qdp3

## A shipping API built for the next operator
id: api-cli-mcp
status: DIRECTION / IN PROGRESS
domain: DEVELOPER PRODUCTS
summary: Shaping a public API that developers, integrated software, and AI agents can operate.
decision: Frame the public API as a product contract. Give REST, command-line tools, and Model Context Protocol tools distinct jobs on top of shared shipping capabilities.
work: Set direction for versioned contracts, scoped identity, structured errors, explicit states, safe next actions, idempotency, event loops, testing, diagnostics, migration, and governed agent actions.
outcome: A product direction for software that can be operated by people, partners, coding agents, and approved business agents without giving each surface a different product.
capabilities: API STRATEGY, DEVELOPER EXPERIENCE, CLI, MCP, AI PRODUCT DIRECTION
evidence: https://ashwinsharma-pm.github.io/build-shippit-for-agents/, https://ashwinsharma-pm.github.io/developer-agent-experience-teardown/

## Smarter parcel allocation for complex orders
id: parcel-allocation
status: SHIPPED
domain: SHIPPING DECISION SYSTEMS
summary: Designed an allocation algorithm that assigns order items to the right parcels before label creation and dispatch.
decision: Expose the parcel decision clearly, reduce repeated work, and make the system state understandable before booking.
work: Mapped the existing flow, designed the target interaction, and worked through the allocation rules and exceptions with engineering and operations.
outcome: A more legible path from order contents to executable shipments.
capabilities: WORKFLOW DESIGN, DECISION LOGIC, PROTOTYPING, OPERATIONAL UX
evidence: https://ashwinsharma.info/assets/parcel-allocation-before-after.html

## Delivery promises before checkout
id: delivery-estimates
status: SHIPPED
domain: DELIVERY EXPERIENCE
summary: Built a predictive delivery-estimate product so shoppers can understand when an order is likely to arrive before they buy.
decision: Expose a predictive estimate through reusable product and API surfaces, with fallback behaviour when confidence is limited.
work: Defined the product behaviour, API response, fallback logic, integration path, and partner adoption plan.
outcome: A delivery promise that can appear before checkout and travel across merchant experiences.
capabilities: PREDICTION PRODUCTS, API DESIGN, CHECKOUT UX, ADOPTION
evidence: https://ashwinsharma-pm.github.io/

## Tracking that explains what happens next
id: tracking-experience
status: SHIPPED
domain: POST-PURCHASE EXPERIENCE
summary: Redesigned a high-volume parcel-tracking surface around clarity, trust, and the next useful action.
decision: Design around customer questions: where the parcel is, whether it is on time, and what happens next.
work: Restructured status hierarchy, delivery context, event history, and exception communication.
outcome: A clearer customer surface for routine progress and delivery uncertainty.
capabilities: CONSUMER UX, INFORMATION DESIGN, SERVICE STATES, TRUST
evidence: https://ashwinsharma-pm.github.io/tracking-page-revamp/

## The mobile payment path from discovery to outcome
id: mobile-payment-flow
status: SHIPPED
domain: MOBILE PAYMENTS
summary: Led the payment path inside Paytm's 70M+ monthly transacting-user super app.
decision: Design one confidence path: prioritise repeat payees, make search fast, show enough identity to prevent mistakes, and keep payment and outcome states clear.
work: Led product work across mobile-number and UPI-ID discovery, contact search, recipient ranking, bank and card integrations, amount entry, authorisation, success, failure, and repeat payments. Used behaviour data to redesign discovery: 75% of visitors attempted to search, repeat-payment success was strongest, and first-time-payment success was weakest.
outcome: Turned a fragmented set of payment decisions into one mobile flow built for speed, confidence, and repeat use.
capabilities: UPI, MOBILE PAYMENTS, FUNNEL DESIGN, IDENTITY + TRUST, PRODUCT ANALYTICS, TRANSACTION STATES
evidence: https://ashwinblog.substack.com/p/building-p2p-payments-via-mobile?r=7qdp3, https://ashwinblog.substack.com/p/designing-for-mobile-phones?r=7qdp3, https://paytm.com/document/ir/annual-reports/annual-report-2021-22.pdf

## Payments with identity, context, and history
id: p2p-payments
status: SHIPPED
domain: CONSUMER PAYMENTS
summary: Designed Paytm Chat payments for a product used by 25M+ people each week.
decision: Organise payment history around verified payee identity and a persistent one-to-one channel.
work: Led product work across verified payee details, chat-based payments, shared attachments, bill splitting, reminders, repeat payments, search, and contextual notifications.
outcome: Made payments easier to recognise, discuss, find, and repeat at consumer scale.
capabilities: CONSUMER PRODUCT, PAYMENTS, IDENTITY, INFORMATION DESIGN, REPEAT USE
evidence: https://ashwinblog.substack.com/p/paytm-chat-an-easier-more-organised?r=7qdp3

## A code-aware product teammate inside Slack
id: odin-assistant
status: PROTOTYPE / IN USE
domain: AI PRODUCT TOOLS
summary: Built an internal assistant that answers how shipping products work from a living view of the codebase.
decision: Bring code-backed product answers into the communication surface teams already use.
work: Designed and built the product concept, retrieval path, response shape, and Slack experience.
outcome: A working example of AI reducing the distance between a product question and grounded product knowledge.
capabilities: AI PRODUCT, KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS, PROTOTYPING, SLACK UX
evidence: https://odinslackbot-production.up.railway.app/

# Writing
- Mapping a year of shipping product work on the journey: https://ashwinblog.substack.com/p/mapping-a-year-of-shipping-product?r=7qdp3
- Building P2P payments via mobile number: https://ashwinblog.substack.com/p/building-p2p-payments-via-mobile?r=7qdp3
- The challenge of designing for mobile apps: https://ashwinblog.substack.com/p/designing-for-mobile-phones?r=7qdp3
- The Craft of Working with Designers: https://ashwinblog.substack.com/p/the-art-of-working-with-designers?r=7qdp3
- Paytm Chat - An easier, more organised way to make & store your payments: https://ashwinblog.substack.com/p/paytm-chat-an-easier-more-organised?r=7qdp3