I'm nearing the six month mark in my $latestGig, and my role has turned into a product and people management role. I was hoping this would happen, but not before I got to fully build something myself. Such is life, ruining a well formulated plan.
I've done the customer-facing part of Product Management before as a consultant. But this time around I have learned that Product management is as much about getting alignment and agreement within your org about what to build as it is with users. There is less convincing required, but more prodding for the answer to: "And how does this effect you and your department's plans?" Of course this one runs both ways. Announced changes require getting involved to make sure that your services are still receiving everything they need, especially with new rollouts.
I haven't had a chance to manage people yet, and I'm excited for the new challenge. In the short few weeks I'm focused on communicating our team goals for the quarter, establishing expectations, and staying out in front of the team both in terms of toil and getting them all the definition and details they'll need to keep working without delay.
Over the last few years I've been less and less interested in what happens inside the black box that is the computer. I've become far more interested in how much a well-running team can really achieve. I'm interested in what structures you can engineer that are going to change the landscape for your team, department, and customers.