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 usually only travel once or twice a quarter (which my BW really appreciates while not-so-secretly wishing that it was less), but whether its a short hop to LA or a cross-country jaunt to somewhere in the Eastern timezone, it used to be an ordeal to figure out what I needed to bring. Not clothes or sundry items, but what technology to lug along. Some things are easy; laptop, power supply, mouse, phone/pda, but there’s a whole host of supporting items that can make or break a business trip (trust me, I’ve experienced first hand what happens when you don’t have something you need).

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.