So, if you’ve been reading these posts you know that I am a product manager. The only thing is that I manage services as a product, not a tangible pick it up, turn it around, touch it product. And, I’m not talking about services like training, where the content stays the same (or is updated,) but services…consulting. You now, when the product is the knowledge contained in a person.
I took the role a year ago because I wanted to tackle the challenge of defining a product lifecycle management process for service product management. This is my ultimate goal. It is what drive me.
Recently I’ve come to realize that after a year on the job, looking in from the outside – maybe I’m trying to reinvent a wheel when the wheel doesn’t need to be reinvented. Hmmm…
Need to ponder this one some more.
So, there’s been a lot of talk on the PM blogs about what are the right qualifications for being a PM, and where should the PM organization sit within the larger context.
So, let’s add a monkey wrench into the thoughts. What happens when the PM goes on vacation?
In my “old” world, where I did more classical software product management, vacations were always a challenge. Not because I was so valuable and could not be replaced, but because there was no redundancy built into the role. I was the sole PM in the company.
Other areas of the business builds in redundancy – there is always someone who can restart the servwe when it goes down, write/authorize the payroll checks when the clerk is away, or talk to the prospect when the assigned sales person is enjoying their “club trip.” But, product management? Not so much.
Is it needed? Can’t the requirements list sit for the week? Can’t someone ignore the market feedback data?
NO! Looking in from the outside, my experience is that when the requirements lists sit for the week, development starts to define their own requirements list. This is the classic time of “we built it in because we could.” When the market data sits for the week unmanaged, development starts focusing on what they want to include technically, not what the market asks for functionally.
Now, imagine you’re in my role now – managing a service-based suite of products. What happens when I’m off training the sales teams, attending events for client interactions, or – heaven forbid – actually enjoying a few days of R&R? Simple, the personnel who drive the idea generation drive product innovation, and I’m out of the loop. So I now spend the next three weeks when I get back running to catch up and trying to make sure the blockades are removed for a successful test. Of course, since I was gone for two days, that gave everyoen else the chance to go gather executive sponsorhip, even though the product idea wasn’t fully baked and the processes weren’t aligned.
So, can a product manager take a vacation? Sure – if 1) you’re willing to make sure that you have back-up; 2) you have a strong manager who will stop things in your absence; 3) you are able to clean-up the mess which WILL happen; 4) and, you realize that your backbone will bend and break in places you didn’t know you had.
Product managers can absolutely take time away – and need to. But only when redundancy is built in.
So, the summer is over and it’s time I came back and noted my observations once again.
First, it was interesting sitting on the side listening to the debate about the Microsoft PM and whether he is or isn’t really a PM. Suffice to say, how Microsoft defines product management is not what the really world does; but, I think the fault doesn’t lie with Microsoft here but rather all of you who weighed in on the topic who were applying your own vision to what the title means. You all seemed to forget that Microsoft has never followed convention, and reality and Microsoft rarely meet. Shame on you for forgetting that.
But, the issue raised an interesting topic. So, let’s take it to another level. Recently my company hired another one of me, a product manager focused on services not traditional products. (Our products are services.) The skill sets that I have versus this other person have are not the same. I have had PM responsibilites with software products (that all of the “experts” would agree is the more classical view of PM,) and the new person’s background is really more of a product marketing/mangement mix. But, we both have skill sets thast are relevant to the product lines we are manging. Does this make us qualified? Should we have more smiliar skills?
From the outside, whether it’s Microsoft, hard core PM skills or relvasnt product skills, I think what matters is not what the title is that you carry, but are you listening to your market and bringing their needs into the product.
