The Productologist

It’s been a little over a month since I started using this new note-taking method and I wanted to provide some details on how it’s going for me. To be honest, it hasn’t been as easy to switch to this note-taking style as I thought it would be. I have struggled on a few fronts–

Paper

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 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.

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.

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.