So you want to be a product manager, part 1: Love the Problem
Posted On Oct 4 2016This post is a personal reflection on the excellent post written Rohini Vibha and introduced earlier on Hectic Pace. 1. You’re not managing a product. You’re managing the problem it solves. If you’re not solving a problem, you’re not a product manager. I’ve said it before and I will say it again. The most dangerous four words from a systems librarian or a developer are “Wanna see something cool?” Nope. I wanna see something that solves a problem for me or for my customer. I’ve had many, many meetings with librarians and library staff about features. It’s easy to fall into the …
Reviving Hectic Pace
Posted On Aug 30 2016This is the third, and I hope, final resting place for Hectic Pace. When I learned that the American Libraries version of the blog (2006-2007) would disappear into the ether and when OCLC announced that Movable Type (don’t judge!) Hectic Pace content (2008-2013) could be migrated to a new platform or thrown away, I was tempted to let the past be the past. But then I counted up the 150 posts and nearly 300 comments over 10 years and could not let the past be forgotten. I’m grateful to ALA and to OCLC for being my blog platform, but I’m excited …
It was 20 years ago today…
Posted On Aug 19 2016I’ve always scoffed at mid-life crises. The number of dads out there buying Porsches and dying their hair gives me a lot to scoff at. Nevertheless, I’ve been feeling kinda old lately. At first, I thought it might be my daughter finishing up high school this year, or the fact that my son has the hair that I always wished I had, or the fact that my wife has not a single grey hair and looks better than the day I met her. More likely it’s my lingering fear that professionally I would one day become what I once beheld–that …