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.
