The Productologist

Today, my own advice worked…for me. I went to visit a customer with some other team members to hear feedback from the customer about their experience with my product and hear some of their enhancement requests. I tend to over-prepare for these types of visits where I end up bringing a lot more than I need (everyone else on my team just brought a notebook and pen), but today it turned out that my over-preparedness paid off.

I wrote earlier that it’s a good idea to bring along a thumb drive in case you need to transfer files. I also carry around an extra (my company gives them as tchochkies) that I can give out if needed.

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.

On my work calendar, I have the first 30 minutes of each morning blocked off so that I can review the tasks for the day and read any email and listen to voicemails that came in overnight. I do this because I know that it will help me stay focused on what needs my attention most. Unfortunately, this level of organization doesn’t fit well with what my job requires.

Most mornings, I get into the office 20-30 minutes before my scheduled review block. I regularly do the one or more of the following things: