I came to the software business »through the back door«. I joined »the company« back in 2000, and I was its very first full time employee. I’ve seen growing the company, its products, and myself. Meanwhile I’m the product manager for interiorcad, and the one who successfully introduced Scrum 20 months ago.
Did I enjoy the journey? Sure, and I learned a lot. As a team player, you have to ensure that people are making the right decisions by providing the right arguments. As a change manager, you have to convince people, day by day. Sometimes it is necessary to overwhelm individuals also, though it is not much fun. As a product manager, you need a clear vision, you need to be open minded and you need to listen. And you need to resist the temptation to try to suit everybody. The latter issue is hard for yourself, and it is hard for your partners as well. But the key to your personal and your employer’s success is focus.
I’m currently transmogrifying my product into a product »that customers love«¹. We’re building an appearently simple feature which is capable of completely changing the perception of what interiorcad is. My teammates sometimes disagreed, sometimes they complained, and some colleagues even tried to antagonize it. This week we encountered a major breakthrough. During the last couple of days, some of them stated that I was right and it was a worthwhile effort. I’m not a stubborn guy. But when you know you are right, stubbornness is not a bug, but a feature :) .
My life is just half over, and I served the same company for more than a decade. I’m really curious what interests, challenges, and opportunities will arise during the next thirty years.
