The Productologist

I went to visit a customer a few weeks ago as part of a commitment to myself (and my products) to get out into the field more often. My goal with them and with all of my planned visits to the field was to talk about how they use my product, what business challenges they face and what they see for the future in terms of their own growth and what they would want and need from my product. I got what I was looking for…and a whole lot more.

I have read (examples here and here) and heard in numerous places that a Product Manager is like the CEO of the product. I’ve even used it to describe what I do to folks who are unfamiliar with the job. It makes for a nice visual and makes Product Managers feel good about themselves and the role that they play in a company. But it’s not really true.

On my way back from a trade show, I spied an article in the airline magazine about how companies are starting to use the “novel” technique of Ethnography to understand how customers really use their products or to test out prototypes in real-world situations (this seems to be a hot topic, because after seeing the article in the airline mag, I also found a recent post about it at Requirements Defined, a blog from the folks at Seilevel and Experientia).

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.