The Productologist

At the end of each calendar year, I spend a bit of time cleaning house (figuratively, and sometimes literally). I look at the things that I have accomplished (or not), the tools that I have used (or not) and formulate a plan for the coming year.

This year, I realized that I was not spending enough time reading. Not reading for pleasure, but for professional and career growth. As a Product Manager, the majority of my time is spent on 3 things:

1. Meetings
2. Customer/Prospect Calls
3. Product Documentation (MRDs, PRDs, Sales training, product evangelization, status reports, etc)

I mentioned late last year that I was planning to add some new features to The Productologist. Book Reviews is one of those new features.

My motivation is somewhat self-serving (isn’t it always that way?) in that I wanted to spend more time reading about topics that appeal to me professionally and this is the carrot/stick that I am using to accomplish that goal.

I do a good bit of reading already, online and off line, but most of it falls into two categories:

• Escapist fiction (primarily science fiction, but I’m also prone to political or societal farce, too)

Whenever my BW gets asked what I do (and it’s suprisingly often), she usually just says, “Oh, he’s in Marketing…he does stuff with technology.” Now that may sound like BW is a little ditzy, but she’s not. In fact, she has an advanced degree and is one of the smartest people I know.

The problem is that my chosen career, Product Management, doesn’t register with most people who aren’t in high tech.