Why the Cranky Product Manager Really (Honestly) Loves Product Management

Today is a rare day. A day where the Cranky Product Manager is actually not that cranky.  Even though she is yet again hunkered down in a hotel plagued with problems, such as broken Internet access, poor television reception, and random hotel staff barging into her room in the middle of the night.  Even these trials cannot dampen her mood today.

Your interest is piqued, is it not? Why, you ask, is the Cranky Product Manager -- dare she utter the word? -- "happy"? 

Well, it might be the jolt from her venti non-fat sugar-free vanilla latte with two extra shots, or perhaps it is just the afterglow from reading the riotous Fake Steve Jobs blog. But she thinks it's really because she is now in possession of that most rare of creatures, that perpetually elusive beast: a good build.

More specifically, a good build of the next major release of the product suite.

A good build where she can at last see the ideas and hard work from the last two years brought to fruition. 

A good build that lets her do live, unstructured demos to customers, all without fearing that the next keystroke will pop up a null pointer exception. The thought of not needing to repeat over and over and over, "Well, this is a pre-production build, so we're still working out a few kinks!"... why, it gives the Cranky PM goosebumps and threatens to make the outside corners of her mouth turn upward!

A good build that lets her feel proud instead of ashamed; where customers and prospects say "that's SO cool," "this is EXACTLY what we need," and "when is this going to be released, because I want to buy it NOW."

The joy, the pride, the nirvana of a good build! How sweet it is, and how ephemeral! If history is any indication, tomorrow something will break in attempt to remedy something perceived as more serious. But... perhaps, PERHAPS... (indulge the Cranky Product Manager and let her dream, since she is -- after all -- permanently cranky) all builds from this moment forward will be even more awesome, even more kick-ass, able to truly solve the market's most pressing problems, and capable of utterly decimating the competition!

Well, WOW. Just WOW. 

Maybe, just maybe, all the hard work will be worth it.

The Cranky Product Manager has only experienced six or seven such blissful "good build of a really important release" days in her entire life. The euphoria is always too short-lived and ultimately fleeting. Nevertheless, the Cranky PM looks back on those rapturous memories, longingly, early every day of her professional life. Those recollections have thus far never failed to keep her in the profession for yet another go-round. To date, they have always renewed her aspiration of solving  real problems of real people with technology, and her dream of one day working on a tech product that just might change the world.

Days like today make the Cranky Product Manager glad and proud to be a product manager... incompetents, jackasses, harlots, and effed-up processes be damned.

Tomorrow, we will return to our regularly scheduled cynical programming...

Comments

[Bob Corrigan]

Producing a high-quality build is no guarantee of success - make sure your market-facing side of the business has a similar commitment to quality and to process. Just be aware that the creative-types that lurk in marcom are managing what is unfortunately a very subjective counterpart to your very objective product - so be patient with them and give them the time they need to be successful. Nothing $*#s up a release more than good product dumped on an unprepared sales team and a less-prepared marketplace.

Getting to the point where the entire organization understands what it takes to serve customers is the ultimate goal - getting PM on board is a critical first step. So congrats. You have exactly one minute to feel good about this. Now get back to work...(grins).

[Scott Sehlhorst]

I've been lurking for a while - really enjoying your writing - you do a great job of putting personality into the articles. Keep it up.

I was with a small company as it quadrupled in size and quintupled in maturity over about 8 years. Watching and helping the company introduce repeatable quality processes created a believer of me. A decade ago, we would have killed for half a dozen euphoric days. In the last couple years, the ratio has been inverted.

Release content was driven by strategic requirements management. Release quality controlled via continuous integration (linked to my name for this comment). Release content and delivery managed via timeboxes and communicated with use cases.

Track me down through my 'about the author' post at Tyner Blain if you decide you want to retitle your blog as "The Formerly Cranky PM".

Either way - congrats on a great day, revel in it, and I hope it lasts for you!

Scott