Freak weather in Austin

Temperatures were unusually high over the past few days. Today we had a true to God thunderstorm in the middle of the day along with unusually large hail (my wife says this is the largest she has seen). Here are some pics courtesy my wife :-)

Product Management: Art + Science + Intuition.

Jeff Lash's recent post caught my attention :-) [Stop gathering requirements:link]. I guess the title is meant to be provocative and attention grabbing (it worked :) . I agree with most of what Jeff says - I would like to clarify it further.

I would amend the title to say "Do not stop with gathering requirements". Gathering requirements is just the first step, the science part. The subsequent steps are where the art and the intuition factor in. The job of the product manager is to collaborate with the other teams (engineering, services, support, docs, etc.) and try to flush out the true customer market need that is buried within those requirements. Sometimes it means extrapolating (customer is not seeing their own problem), and other times it means pruning (customer is treating multiple symptoms instead of one cause).

To me it translates to the following guidelines:

1. Always listen to the customer but the customer is not always right: Do not ever make stuff up. A product manager has accountability across the organization so the sooner you get into the habit of not making stuff up the better.


2. Look for clusters and patterns: This is the art and intuition part. Your job is grok the market. You do that by meeting with customers one at a time but you do not solve an individual customer's problem, you solve the markets problems. Look for patterns, this is where intuition plays a big role. Learn to listen to your own intuition and trust it.
   


3. Collaborate and Communicate: Take the time to earn the respect and trust of your peers and the market, do not assume it comes with the title. The quickest way to get there is to listen and ask others who might know better. For instance you think your product needs better user profile management. A good way to validate this is to ask your support team how many of their customer interactions are around password management and address book management.


4. Do not be afraid of failure: A good product manager focuses on making sure the product being developed is a best-fit for the market needs. This will automatically ensure your individual success but the corollary is not always true.

This is my current mantra and what I call "Evidence based product management".

Caveats:
1. Assumes you are not a brand new start up. If you are one with no customers, then your only guideline is "market research - build - release". Keep doing this till you have enough customers and can extend the hyphen between the three stages.

If you don't think this is beautiful there is something wrong with you

Time she keeps on ticking...

So here is what is going on.

1. Pretty psyched about this development - We are having our first ProductCamp event in Austin. It is going to be at the St. Edwards campus mid June. Follow this link for details. Seriously recommend this if you are into product management, product marketing or interested in these areas. This is the first of its kind in Austin so you have the opportunity to influence and be involved no matter what your experience level. Show up! and make it happen :-)
2. Yesterday was RSS awareness day. I think it is worth a shout.
   
3. Sometimes all that is required for big observable change is a lot of thinking and researching, not a lot of doing. (Something that all product managers would benefit from remembering)
   
1. Proof - 37signals blog post.
2. Anti-proof - Joel Spolsky blog post.
4. My broken collar bone is healing well. I started hitting the stationary bike at the gym this week. I cannot sprint standing up yet but just getting back on the bike has been rewarding.
   

What have I been upto?

This --> And occupying our time this week...

First near opera experience

My wife and I got to enjoy Kathleen Battle perform last night at the newly constructed Long center for the performing arts . Wow! This is my first such show and the closest I have been to an Opera in my life.

Kathleen Battle was amazing! she moved with incredible ease from English to German to French to Spanish and finished with English again.

Now that was a Diva worth watching and listening :) nay feasting on. I seriously encourage you guys to check out upcoming shows at the Long center. It looks like Austin is going to be enjoying some great performances. We are excited about Yo-Yo Ma performing here in September.

Thanks to Yobany and Denise for giving us this very special evening.

Btw, if you want to know more about the acoustical design at the Long center, check out this link.

Austin to Bastrop and back

I upped my PR this past Saturday. I managed to finish a 95 mile ride on Saturday, thanks to Nathan, Drew and Andy :-) No I am serious, this is not an Oscar thank you list, this is a biker thank you list.

I hope to finish strong on my MS150 ride next weekend.


(photo credit: flickr + creative common license)

Austin and commuter rails

Even though I really have nobody to visit in Leander, I see myself going there multiple times through 2008 just to ride these guys :-). They look very cool! let us see what the ride is like.

Multiple Sclerosis - Will you help me fight for the cure?

What is it?
Multiple sclerosis (or MS) is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS), which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves

Who does it affect?
2-3x more women than men. (More info. below).

What is the prevalence?
400,000 in the US. Increasing at the rate of 28/day (just in the US). 2.5 million world wide.

Can I help?
I am glad you asked :-). You can help by supporting me in my attempt to bike from Houston to Austin on the 12th of April 2008. My goal is to raise 500$ to donate to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Why are you doing this?
It started out as a desire to get healthy and find a way to stay healthy. One conversation led to another and soon I had registered to ride the MS150 along with a few other friends. I am new to biking (my first ride on a ride bike was in late 2007) but I am enjoying the learning process and the adventure of attempting... something this ambitious for a beginner like me.
It is a privilege that through all my muddled attempts at riding I have the opportunity to raise support for fight against multiple sclerosis. So to answer the question, I am doing this because I have the opportunity to help and because it is a good thing to do.

Great, what next?
If you are interested and would like to help me meet my goal please follow the instructions below.

1. Remember all donations are tax deductible.
2. No amount is too little or too much, I am grateful for your support so please give as you please.
3. You can either pay directly by clicking here. (I recommend this approach)
   
4. or you can send me a cheque (leave me a comment and I will send you the address details).

I want to know more about MS?
Here are some good places to start

• The National Multiple Sclerosis society site.
• The MS Wikipedia page.
• The MS150 Houston to Austin ride site.
• Squidoo's highest ranked lens on MS
  

Random tidbits

• The ride is a total of 175 miles, 100 miles on day 1 and 75 miles on day 2.
• I will be riding with 4-6 other close friends. some of them are veteran bikers and I am the noob, we will see how long I can hang with the pack :-)
• I began biking very recently (couple months back), so my goal is to ride well enough to finish the ride. Anything better than that the beer is on me ;-).

Finally, thank you for the taking the time to read this blog post. MS is but one of several chronic and debilitating diseases that affect individuals and their families. I appreciate your time and intention is understanding more about this problem.

Sincerely,
amar

UT establishes the BB&T Chair for the Study of Objectivism

BB&T donated to UT, 2million and solidified the research of objectivism for the next 10 years.

Objectivism is the term coined by Ayn Rand for her philosophy and the following is a summary in her own words.
My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

It does sound great and you cannot help but root for John Galt or Howard Roark. But in reality living with "his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life" as the moral principle is a exercise in futility (based on my limited attempt of it). Let us see what UT concludes after 10 years of researching this and 2+ million dollars.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck would chuck wood?

How many jobs can a job search company generate if a job search company could generate jobs?

I have friends and acquaintances who are in job search mode. As I try to help them I cannot have any reaction but confusion when I see the choices out there,

1. jobster.com -- Find your dream job.
2. indeed.com -- one search, all jobs.
3. linkedin.com -- Discover job & business opportunities
4. bluechipexpert.com -- the premier talent source.
5. theladders - the most 100K+ jobs
   
6. monster.com -- make your move
7. careerbuilder.com -- [.nothing.]
8. simplyhired.com -- job search made simple.
9. (update) Doostang.com -- where talent lives
   

I think the only thing that stands out from the others here is theladders. I also like indeed since it is the best aggregator out there but seriously....

So what again? Some of these have pyramid schemes of reward ala amway some think you can do everything from cook in France to manage the books for lulu. Is there any differentiation here?

Should management styles be based on best practices?

This title from wired says it all - "How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong"

It's hard to see how any of this would have happened had Jobs hewed to the standard touchy-feely philosophies of Silicon Valley. Apple creates must-have products the old-fashioned way: by locking the doors and sweating and bleeding until something emerges perfectly formed. It's hard to see the Mac OS and the iPhone coming out of the same design-by-committee process that produced Microsoft Vista or Dell's Pocket DJ music player. Likewise, had Apple opened its iTunes-iPod juggernaut to outside developers, the company would have risked turning its uniquely integrated service into a hodgepodge of independent applications — kind of like the rest of the Internet, come to think of it.

(Emphasis mine) This paragraph reminded me of an earlier post of mine.

This is a very light read but talks about an interesting situation in the valley. Apple's success in the market implies that while there might be a high correlation between egalitarian management, operating styles and success it not the only or guaranteed route to success.

Job openings

My company is looking for a unix systems administrator and two web developers. All of the readers of this blog know what I think about my company - it is obviously not perfect (btw no company is) but overall it is really good in terms of culture, acting with integrity and placing focus on the right areas. If you know of any one interested do let me know :-)

Job descriptions:
Web Developer
Unix SysAd

Bait and Switch?

I was intrigued when I read on kottke about a TED talk by neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor. The talk looked promising when Dr Taylor used a real human brain as prop to explain left and right hemisphere functions. But soon the talk devolved into phrases like "my spirit felt like a genie liberated from the bottle", "great white whale swimming in the silent ocean...", "nirvana, if I can attain it, everybody can".

Yeah, not what I had in mind when I heard one of the leading neuroanatomists from Harvard was going to explain brain function to me. She got a standing ovation from the crowd and is widely considered as one of the best talks at TED. I applaud her courage and strength in coming back from a stroke but I am not sure her talk was meaningful or useful. I expected to hear more science and facts instead I got perceptions and almost a new age religion pitch.

Non linear improvements can look very different at first glance :-)

Cool project being tested in India. Key phrase for me is,

Question Boxes leap over illiteracy, computer illiteracy, lack of networks, and language barriers.

check it out.

Do we need to market the value of education?

Below is a link that takes you to a blog post with 7 different videos shot using cell phones. All of these are videos shot by high school students mostly without their teachers knowledge. It left me numb. The utter callousness, disrespect and lack of value for education these kids display is very frightening.

I don't know what the panacea is, I do know it is not simple and I do believe it begins at home :).

-> Link
Hat Tip: Seth Godin

Cool visualization software

hat tip -> ReadWriteWeb

Is your job related to retail?

Then you need to add this blog to your rss reader : link
This is a blog authored by multiple buyers who all work for Walmart.

Thanks to Corbett

I biked 50 miles yesterday :) Woo Hoo! my longest ride to date. Corbett helped me finish! Thanks man.

Publications I am currently reading...

1. Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman
   
2. Deep Economy by Bill McKibben
3. The Bible (NASB) by :-)
   
4. Six Days of War by Michael B.Oren
5. The New Yorker
   
6. The National Geographic.

Just Finished

1. With the Old Breed by E.B.Sledge
2. The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen
3. The Jewish War by Josephus