A Product Services view of life in Product Management

Disclaimer 1: The relation between the video and my post below, I must admit, is rather oblique.

Disclaimer 2: This is a video of a lecture at a University. If you aren't in the mood to listen to a lecture, consider skipping the video - just read the rest of the post.

If you happen to be working on the management side in the Information Technology industry, and more specifically a Product Company, then you'll relate to what I say below. Consider these two very common departments at the heart of the company - Product Services and Product Management.

Product Services
This is the group that makes money for the company by providing product-related services for the customer. This would include groups that provide customer support, provide product training, and overall, help the customer use the product.

The high-points:
- Usually over 75% of the employees in this department are cash generators for the company, because every hour they spend at work is billed to a customer. The margins are fat too - roughly 60% or better.
- Because of the fat margins, someone with a good experience (read "barriers to entry") can usually bargain his way to a good salary, but as always, not everyone makes the most out of it.
- Depending on the strength and widespread use of the product, you have the stability cushion - you can remain gainfully employed over long periods.

The non-glamorous portions:
Since the department's reason for existence is to make money, employees go through very similar experiences as cab-drivers do. Consider the following analogy:

• The longer hours you work (read: overtime), the more money you will likely make.
• Sometimes you get paid for overtime, sometimes you don't. Your employer always gets paid for your overtime hours.
  
• Your daily experience with a customer is usually very interesting - some customers are darlings, some others are lousy. Some customers come with excess baggage, and some others have no baggage. Some customers want a slow and steady ride to reach their destination in one piece, while some others just want to reach their destination fast and quick, and in any number of pieces.
  
• You are under no obligation to make the customer experience the very best - more often than not, you will not run into the same customer again. It is up to you though. If you do choose to make your customer experience very good, the customer acknowledges but, alas, that does not assure you he'll choose to call you next time - the town is full of cab-drivers.
  
• One difference - cab-drivers get tipped, while Product Services employees do not.

Product Management
This is the group that spends company money by creating the product, that will hopefully make money for the company in the future.
Since the department's reason for existence is to create a product, employees go through very similar experiences as cooks do. Consider the following analogy:

• You get to choose the menu.
  
• If a customer asks for a dish outside the menu, you get to put your foot down. You could very well cook the dish, but hey.. you aren't in the mood to, so why bother? It isn't your job to pacify the customer - someone else will do that for you (read waiters OR Product Services as appropriate)
• You get to cook at the pace you want. You could very well be swimming or doing yoga while your customer waits. It isn't your job to pacify the customer - someone else will do that for you (read waiters OR Product Services as appropriate)
• You can always forget to add enough salt or spice - the customer can always "patch(rectify)" the dish by adding salt or pepper himself.
  

I'll stop right there. The bottomline is that, as a Product Services professional, I envy the Product Management professional in my organization. There are a list of not-so-glamorous aspects of Product Management that I'd not care to cover here.

To the originally desired purpose of this post - to pass the lecture link below. The speaker works for Yahoo, and his lecture, though intended for the technological/academic community, serve as an appetizer to anyone interested in a Product Management career.

My notes to self: (somewhat unusual and peripheral to the lecture itself)

1) Find a job I love and get excited about, and I'll enjoy it as much as the speaker seems to be enjoying his job.

2) This lecture shows why Product Management is far more fascinating, though sometimes less paying, than Product Services.

Source of video:
http://www.uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.aspx?rID=11363&fID=1471