Process
Small companies cannot have too much process; there is no debating that. You attempt to put too much in, and the culture will cack. However, as the company scales it is key that you start laying the foundation for the years to come. This is my current challenge, at least in the Product Management spectrum.
I love Product Management; there is nothing I would rather be doing. I’ll be honest, it has taken me quite a bit of time to get to the comfort level I am at now, and I still have plenty of work to do, but, I feel great day in and day out about how things are progressing. I love knowing that my contribution ensures the whole company will have more knowledge at their disposal, and each cross-functional group will be more in tune with the product, and subsequently, together.
I’ll admit, we don’t have the issues of dealing with a large number of consumer driven products. We have about 60 clients, all using the same product that has been split into a virtual line. This makes gathering market data and ensuring everyone is on the same page a little easier, because they are always retaining knowledge about one product. Nevertheless, a structured approach to disseminating and acquiring this type of information has never been put in place before where I am currently working.
However, I’ll never deny that the small wins are great. Today, I got a numbering scheme put in place that will start to see benefits come the new year, along with a client advisory board initiative, and general all-around transparency and assistance. I plan to write an article or post here for each major initiative that I work on to ensure I have an active record of this exciting point in my career.
Patience, Grasshopper
If one thing has been really hard for me to learn, it’s patience. My ambition clouds everything I do — I just want to rock n’ roll, and it sometimes feels like I’m making false starts. I feel I’m at a certain point, but just need to have the patience in order to actually get to that certain point. I think I’m going to have a hard time learning this virtue for some years to come, but that’s OK. I’ve identified it as a weakness and I’m dealing with it.
It’s amazing how lucky I’ve been thus far. AND, I really don’t feel like I’ve hit my stride yet with where I am at. Don’t get me wrong, I’m getting there, and I still have so much to learn. However, I’m in such a cool spot, with really smart folks willing to mentor me through spots they have already been and learned from. It’s freakin’ cool.
When I reflect on the last 11 months, I can really get a good picture for how much I’ve figured out and learned. I guess that would equate to "growth". All of my friends are just getting out of University and figuring out what they want to do, and I’ve known since I was 17 or so. I was talking to a friend the other day about how I can actually pinpoint the exact moment I knew what I wanted to do; it’s quite amazing. I just need to have the patience to get there, and maintain focus.
Still Exciting
The Web is still exciting. I’m involved at the core of an e-commerce company, and love every second of it. There are still a ton of places that can be leveraged and built upon. Hell, I still love coding some things myself, and have yet to even touch my first e-commerce application. But, I can say this: it’s coming. I feel the urge stronger more each day to develop something that deals with electronic commerce, users, and all of that really fun and exciting stuff.
There are a ton of technologies that are very, very cool and have yet to be used in a ton of areas. One such example includes Windows Forms. I wish I was more of a Microsoft guy than a PHP guy just for this stuff alone. However, there are a ton of things that Google is doing with AJAX that really gets me going. I’ve explored this before with PHP / JavaScript / XML, but have yet to get really deeply into it.
Away from my full-time job, I’m working on a ticket-based support app that I’m calling 24×7. It’s going to be pretty simple in its first iteration, just e-mail pulls, customer recognition, tying e-mail responses to a single ticket, etc… Nothing too serious. However, I hope that I get to use these technologies that I find really awesome more and more.
Plus, I know that I’ll be able to track things more effectively for nothing. Congrats, Google. You’ve done it again with Analytics — free, enterprise-grade analytics based on the coolness that is Urchin. Wow. I continue to love this stuff more and more each day.
Movin’ On Up
I’ve heard the argument that e-commerce is full of commodities. From where I’m standing, it is. Providers are having harder time competing on strictly feature set. It’s becoming more of a services and marketing game than anything else. So, where does product management fit into that equation? I’m now in a position to find out.
I don’t want to make out to sound like I’m complaining about what I do. At this point in my life, where I’m at is the most favorable spot I could be, and I love it to death. I also don’t want to come off sounding whiny, and like "what I do is so hard!", because at the end of the day, it’s just all about common sense and reading the right stuff.
When I thought up this post up about two seconds ago, I realized I wanted it to be about having doors opened and developing the confidence and know-how to walk through them. I’ve finally faced up to the fact that I’m hella inexperienced compared to the majority of folks around me. But, at the same time, I’ve also figured out that does not have to stop me from being ambitious. There are ways around inexperience, and those are what have allowed me to get to where I am.
One thing that I definitely have realized is: it’s a lot easier to be the "idea" man than it is to be both that and the "execution" man. Vision is simple; coming up with the ways to successfully execute that vision is not. Especially when you are dealing with putting a new role into a company that has never had it before.
Product management is not too hard. However, there are many moving parts. To be successful, it’s important to realize and communicate that you do not have to be a specialist in each discipline the job requires, but you need to have a solid understanding of how each aspect works, and the ability to perform each one. "Jack of all trades, master of none" is a good phrase that describes the job well. I’m realizing a lot of this stuff for the first time, and in parallel, being called upon to do many things that someone with 10 years on me would have a tricky time with.
Alright, enough complaining. I’m extremely lucky to be where I am. I am not going to give it up. It’s all a matter of realizing a few key things:
- You don’t have to know everything, you just need to search Google as much as it takes to figure it out
- Keep it simple stupid
- God is in the details
- Always give 110%
A list of really old, and seemingly stupid, clichés. BUT (and that’s a big but), they are true. After all, common sense tells us if they were not, they would not still be used today. Just don’t put them in your presentations. Keep them in your back pocket and relay the messages they deliver in your own way. Then you will sound like you know what you are saying, even if you are still just figuring things out.
I’m off to read some more books. Sorry for rambling and topic jumping. Although, isn’t blogging all about stream of consciousness anyway?
