Do business without any feelings!
For me is difficult. I’m a product manager and a friend is a technical expert. For fun, let me just tell you our after work discussions (m=me, h=he)
M: I was in a meeting today with the technical guys. I just needed the development of a small features and the email response was, like always, no
H: I was in a meeting with PM today. I proposed them a new feature. It’s something new and the competition doesn’t have it yet. We can do it in time for the new release, but they said that they will think about it. My God feeling is that they don’t care.
M: But my feature is so easy to be implemented and it will improve our customers’ experience.
H: We could be different! We could have been the first on the market! We could have developed interesting solutions.
M: After long discussions we’ve agreed on the light versions
H: I have sent them an email asking again if we can develop the solution and they said ok (after 2 weeks – through a new meeting) The product manager asked me if we can develop the same feature.
Since 2 years I still can not believe that discussions have the same tone. And I’m just wandering if we interact with different people or our companies have a different vision.
Power Point and efficiency
I have a couple of year experience in working with Power point and not once happened to me to have a presentation that was ok.
At my last job every presentation had at least 5 version, because everybody who seen it had a new idea of how the graphic would look better and hoe the red can be changed in dark red and a comma can be inserted.
After any presentation that I had to prepare, I was feeling confuse: the dark red, has to be switched into light red and next day in red and the day after that in dark red. After some bad experience, I decided to first agree with my managers the content of the presentation and ask for further advices regarding the format. (Now it seems stupid, but this method has reduced the time need for finishing a presentation from 1 week to 1 day).
Looking back … this may be a good definition for “office time lost” 
The video below is very interesting, although I have never done such a presentation because people want to see:
- bullets
- and
- numbers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB7S-KOJIfE&feature=player_embedded
How do you work?
Situation: Your manager (or your VP) comes to you and says that you have to develop/implement the Y feature, but you know that the same idea has been tested in the past with low results. What do you do in this situation? Do you sustain your opinion with arguments or just do what your boss told you to do [because his/her is the manager]?
My response is that in general, I try to explain my point of view with arguments. If it is not considered, then I do the job as requested (but I have lots of question why do I do this). From my experience the task done just because your boss says so…ends up with low results. Although the idea may be excellent (which in general is) the internal problems (like lack of results) or the local market trends may change the pictures.
Pictures from http://i.ehow.com/images/a05/0h/11/write-business-plan-boss-800X800.jpg
life…sweet life
If someone will have the opportunity to drop you a new project, s/he will do it in 2 sec (no matter how busy s/he is), but if someone has to give you more information that are useful for a project, s/he will put this as the last thing that needs to be done.
What should a Product Manager do when s/he is felling lost?
In the last days I start stressing because somehow (I do not know how) I’m in a circle of passed responsibilities and I do not know where to start and, most painful, I do not know where I should get.
Did this happen to you? How did you solve this issue?
To summaries, the story is the following: I’m new in a company; I do not know all the details regarding the systems, department, people…well, I know something, but I can not create the whole puzzle.
I received an interesting project in which are involved lots of departments that will from the good results of this project. But, in general, any meeting defines a new objective.
When I had the confidence that we have established the objectives and we have agreed on the main steps, something happens (like new persons are involved) and the whole process must be redefined.
And the end of the day, people are telling me that I put to much passion in this project and that things may work just fine…without this.
Now I just wander…are they right? Should we just modify everything, expect all and do what we can?
Picture from http://sloanreview.mit.edu/business-insight/files/2009/11/proddev-ntr23.jpg
Some useful tips
I will start my new job as a product manager in few days and I hope that I can do a good job. I know that is going to be difficult, but on same level, I was looking for this.
Just for enter in the work atmosphere, I was just reading my feeds and I have found an interesting post about first 30 days at the new job. It’s true that there are some specifically point for software product manager, but I believe that some are useful for product manager in the Telecom aria, too.
So, thank you very much gopalshenoy for the tips…I’m sure that they will help me at my new job.
My French Experience
For holiday, I have been in a small, but very beautiful French city, called Annecy. Beside, the relaxing atmosphere, which most of the mountain city have, I have learned a lot about the work productivity.
For example,we have arrived on Sunday evening when in general, all the business are closed. Yet, based on the fact that Annecy in a touristic city, we sill have found (on our host recommendation) a small Pizzeria opened. We have entered and there were like 4(or maybe 5) persons inside, waiting for the pizza. We said ok, let’s wait. After, a few moments (in which we have decided which pizza should we order), we have start feeling the atmosphere. There was only one person working, which actually we believe it must be the owner.
This person was:
- answering the phone and take the order
- take the order from the customers who came into his pizzeria (without calling) – like us
- making the pizza
- backing the pizza
- packing the pizza
- taking the money (credit card etc)
- giving the bonus points (for each pizza ordered, any customer receives a small piece of paper which represent a reduction of 60 cents for the next pizza).
I must mention, too, that the pizzeria was opened Tu-Su from 5.30pm until 8.30 pm and the average cost of a pizza is 10 euros.
I do not know which are the taxes in France, but after a small analyze, anyone can see that the business was working very good. We have wait around 20 minute, the estimated amount of pizza sold is 100 euros.
Plus, the customers were very happy, because they can even chat with each other, buy the largest pizza in the town and feeling good.
So, to summrize:
- one pizzeria
- one employer (the owner)
- lots of happy customers
- classic marketing message (largest pizza in the town)
- calculated working hours
an excellent business, which probably, brings more money that a pizzeria in Paris.
For me, the most important observation was the customer attitude: “They were happy!”, although there were waiting for their pizza – they enjoy the atmosphere.
My New Year Resolutions
Well, inspired by the following post, I have decided to publish my resolutions:
1. Do not care so much (Impossible for me, sometimes, but possible for a lot of PMs that I know)
2. Be more opened with all the departments (I have learned from the last job, that as a PM we must be a “good” friend with all the departments in order to have the job done – on time. The force, the escalate or any other stuff mentioned in books, are only in books. In real life, people help you if they believe in your product or if they believe in you)
3. Talk more – smile more
4. Have lunch and eat less for dinner
5. Walk more (use the public transportation rather than the personal car) – this should be easy, because the new office is in the city center and not outside the town
6. Talk more with the customer care departments – at the end of the day, there are the persons who discuss every day with the customers
7. Knock on as many door as I can, although they may never open
8. Learn and read more
9. Relax during vacation and not worry about job problems (or read the email every morning)
10. Trust myself more
Some of them will be hard to achieve, but I’m sure that I can check all of the items by the end of 2010.
PS: The photo is from here
Grey Product Management
Grey Product Management- I’m going to give you 100 percent of my 80 percent of my time May 3, 2011
- Posting from Blackberry January 10, 2011
- Creating a business plan August 30, 2010
- Email Dominates Mobile Web Time August 27, 2010
- Social Products August 23, 2010
- Product Management Problems August 12, 2010
- The Change Cycle July 12, 2010
- The surprising truth about what motivates us June 28, 2010
- Good joke for each morning June 16, 2010
- Free content June 15, 2010