The Productologist

Two weeks ago, a friend and I went to a bar to watch the Packers-Cowboys game (thanks, NFL network). Normally, our sporadic football-watching happens as his house, as I don’t have TV (yes, I have a TV, just not an antenna, satellite dish or cable). We watch the game, make armchair quarterback calls, comment on the stupidity of most of the ads and discuss random technology issues (we both work at technology companies). But instead of our normal conversational environs, we were immersed in the revelry of the crowd.

In my experience, a Product Manager’s workload is cyclical, primarily revolving around product releases, but there are other factors, too. For example, I recently had maintenance releases for two products, a Beta program for our next-generation release and managing a special project all going on a the same time. For some of you, that may be a lot happening at once; for others, it may seem like a lull, but for me it’s more toward the former than the latter.

I was stuck in Chicago on my way to a trade show recently, waiting for my connection to Miami get delayed more and more, so I pulled out the latest issue <12Mar2007> of BusinessWeek. Disclaimer: I have a love/hate relationship with Business Week. Some of the articles/columns are well-written, comprehensive and balanced, providing a unique look at a company or business situation.

Others read like they were written by a publicist or just skim the surface, failing to find out answers to deeper questions.