The Productologist

There’s an interesting thread going on across several blogs about the Agile development method (Agile, here and across other posts, is being used as a catch-all for many rapid release methodologies) and the role of Product Management. I have posted an article and made comments on several of these blogs, but this post isn’t about that. It’s about the relationship between Product Management and Engineering.

The Cranky Product Manager, in her post about Agile, and a response from one of the other bloggers involved in the discussion demonstrates the tension between Product Managers and Engineering groups.

In a post I wrote back in March [Hiring for Success], I discussed the importance of finding and hiring great Product Managers. But in the same way that great workers can be a boon to your organization, poor performers can drag you down. Not only do they create more work for others on the team, but they can poison the atmosphere and cause other members to become frustrated or leave.

“When they (managers) finally decide to get rid of the under-performing slob who plays PC solitaire all day in her cubicle, it can be surprisingly tough to do. And that, in turn, affects productive workers. Few things demotivate an organization faster than tolerating and retaining low performers,” says Grant Freeland, a regional leader in Boston Consulting Group’s organization practice.

I wrote a comment the other day on another blog, Security Buddha, in response to a post about how Product Managers (at least not the ones who write blogs) are not really geared for rapid product release cycles. The author had reviewed several Product Management blogs, including this one, and came to this conclusion–

“I can’t help feeling that most of the PM gurus are cut out for old school software development with long release cycles and would balk at the real meaning in the Agile Manifesto.”

My comments on Security Buddha went something like this (paraphrased, but you can see the original here):

I usually only travel once or twice a quarter (which my BW really appreciates while not-so-secretly wishing that it was less), but whether its a short hop to LA or a cross-country jaunt to somewhere in the Eastern timezone, it used to be an ordeal to figure out what I needed to bring. Not clothes or sundry items, but what technology to lug along. Some things are easy; laptop, power supply, mouse, phone/pda, but there’s a whole host of supporting items that can make or break a business trip (trust me, I’ve experienced first hand what happens when you don’t have something you need).