Saeed says he has made requirement decisions – when all things are equal – so people will “get off his butt.” And, he says he was honest. But, he shouldn’t apologize. Anyone who has been in product management has done the same thing.
Even in the short time I’ve been in service pm, I have done the same thing. If there is a content owner who is more cooperative, responds in a timely manner and generally doesn’t beat me up on every call, e-mail or IM, and I have a content owner who is nasty, demanding, and uncooperative – guess whose work I favor?
Yes, requirements should be prioritized. And, yes, this prioritization needs to be driven from market information. But, if all things are easier, don’t we all tend to add a human element into the prioritization process. Saeed chose one over the other to get people to leave him alone; I chose one over the other because it would be less confrontational to finish the work. Haven’t you not returned to a restaurant because the service was poor? I mean, the server had to prioritize, and you lost.
Will Saeed and I pay the price later? Maybe. Does it mean we ignored the market needs? No. Looking in from the outside, aren’t product managers allowed a little room? Developers take it. Management takes it. We’re just claiming a little piece.
