Suffering from PPCS?

PPCS:  abbreviation  post-product camp syndrome, common ailment affecting product management and product marketing people primarily, but any of a number of people who voluntarily attend a local product camp on a day off from their day job.

The doughnuts and cupcakes weren’t the only reason why you get an elated feeling during a Product Camp. But, what do you do the Monday after? This is the same question you ask yourself the days following a great training class. “How do you take what you learned and make it real in your everyday life?” Just a few thoughts on how to keep the momentum and enthusiasm moving …

First, don’t attack everyone you just met the other day in the next day or so. Of course you want to contact them, thank them, etc. but, all those people have other lives as well. You don’t want to be inundated right away, why do you think they do? Rather than go on the attack – organize a list of follow-up activities. This list could include, among other items:

• Who do you want to follow on twitter?
• Who do you want to connect with on LinkedIn?
• Who do you want to follow-up with personally, requesting information or a coffee/lunch?
• Who did you commit to do something for/with?
• Did you want to write a new blog about the event?

Then, allocate the time over the next few weeks, to take a chunk of the actions every day. First, breaking it into smaller bits will make it more manageable, and second, you won’t either become obsessed or over-eager in the eyes of the others.

More importantly, by spreading the actions out for several weeks, you keep the feeling and energy you got from the PCamp as part of you for a longer time. Yes, your daily life will drain it away, but by staying inspired a little more than one day, you increase your chances of making one change in your product life. And, one change can make a huge difference. It continues your development.

Oh..and one more thing. A big thing actually. The organizing committee from every product camp actually continues to meet after the event. The feedback that is shared both on the surveys distributed and the emails received is reviewed…carefully. Please put provide feedback at the top of your action list. Your voice will matter.

Looking in from the outside, it’s up to each of us product professionals to take responsibility for our own training and development. The learning and networking obtained at a product camp are like any other relationship – nurture it along, or be prepared to let it die.