What I Learned in 2012

  • published on10, Dec, 2017
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1) You have to pick your company very carefully. Culture is everything. Don’t pick management teams who are “too nice” or too mean.

2) Know when you’re ready for the next step in your career. Don’t waste your time treading water.

3) Demand recognition for your efforts.

4) Be strategic in your relationship building. Treat senior team members as mentors, your coworkers as allies, and junior team members as mentees.

^^^ A draft I lasted edited December 31, 2012 at 3:05pm. Very entertaining to look back on my apparent mentality at that time, as I publish this unfinished post at 5:52pm on December 10, 2017.

When Customer Service Pays Off

For the first time in my career, I’ve been doing a lot of direct customer service. Initially, this pained me greatly since as a Product Manager I’m really meant to be the third wrung of support (Customer Support Representative > Quality Assurance > Product Management). And as much as I love hearing direct feedback about the product from the customers, I really don’t enjoy dealing with people who write in a simple “FU” or find impossible to reproduce bugs. However, the email below comes from a woman who I helped out a few weeks ago, and I found it very touching, and a reminder of just how little customers mean to so many companies.

Dxxxxx Sxxxxx

Vice President of Products
TV Guide Digital

RE: Stephanie Neill

Dear Mr. Sxxxxx:
For the past several years I have been disabled to the point of bedridden as I undergo testing to determine the cause of chronic pain in my shoulders and lower back. I also have developed an exasperating problem with reading, trying to make sense of what I’ve read, and putting the details together. This also applies to thinking in general as well as memory problems. I can best describe this as trying to think with a brain full of soup. I think all of this is a result of having my spinal cord pinched in a not-very-good way. During this time I have found few people willing to assist me with even the most minor of inquiries or
Problems. Just trying to get an answer to a simple question is often much harder than need be.

This past December my husband, Jxxxxx, got me a NOOK Tablet for Christmas. At first I wasn’t sure I wanted it because I wasn’t sure what it could do. Now I love it, but I’m still having problems learning how to use the darn thing. Questions are plentiful, and trying to get answers is just about impossible. I’m sure you can imagine that Barnes and Noble is very busy when called upon. Making a list of questions and then trying to get them answered by Barnes & Noble seems to fall within the ridiculous.

One of my problems has been with applications. Are they all compatible? Can I download any app to a NOOK and have them all work together? If they don’t, do I still have to pay for that? Where do I find answers to these questions and a person with time to help me understand them? I was getting to a point where I truly figured I would have to take classes to figure out all of this stuff, but I wouldn’t be able to that until after spinal surgery. (I hope THAT will happen in early April!) Until then I expected to remain frustrated with the whole thing.

Earlier this week I came upon an offer to put TV Guide on my NOOK free of charge, and I really want that! But is it compatible? How could I find out? Feeling incredibly stupid, frustrated and aggravated to no end, I sent off a quick question on the TV Guide site which I was positive would never see the light of day. Imagine my shock when I received a reply from Stephanie Neill. Very briefly she explained the difference between IOS and Android. The entire reply probably consists of less than 200 words yet it was more than I had gotten from anyone else, and frankly, it was helpful! Imagine that! I sent back a “thank you” to which she replied again, and now I have an open invitation that should I get stuck on something that I cannot work through and Google cannot answer for me, I am welcome to send an inquiry to her. OMG! Where did this girl come from? What a breath of fresh air in an otherwise exhausting situation!

Let me tell you Mr. Sxxxxx, I am over fifty-years-old, and I can tell you this entire situation since August of 2008 has certainly taught me a thing or two about people. One of those things is that people like this just don’t come around every day anymore! Rudeness has become the norm, and most people believe that if they ignore you, you DO go away. If you are lucky enough to have someone like this land in your lap, you had better take the minute or two to thank them and to try to improve THEIR life in some small way!

Beyond this situation I do not know Stephanie Neill, but I’d be happy to make her acquaintance personally anytime. She is beyond the norm and one of those few people who take the extra step or go the extra mile. I’m quite certain she would tell you that she didn’t even do that much or say that much which is hardly the point. What she did say, how she said it, and the offer of follow up assistance says more than the words she used. I am happy to send this email to you on her behalf. What a pleasant surprise she has been. I hope you will put this in her file and remember it when time comes around again to discuss her wages. This one is a good one, and you’ll want to hang onto her!

I still don’t have TV Guide on my NOOK, but maybe I have something better. (I couldn’t find the information online for NOOKS and TV Guide. When I called Barnes & Noble the person I talked to said she “didn’t know”. Typical.)

Have a Good Day, Sir, and a Happy Weekend to you!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Rxxxx Mxxxx
Bxxxxxxxx, OH

#Rewind2011

I remember telling myself that 2011 would be my best year yet last January 1st, and I’m looking toward 2012 with the same optimism and enthusiasm! 2010 had been a rather placid year for me, and I was ready for some action. Here are my 2011 monthly highlights:

January: Social uprising hits home — literally — as friends and family are evacuated from my hometown of el Ma’adi, Egypt. On a more positive note, I obtained a certificate in Practical Product Management from Pragmatic Marketing, Inc., and launched the Mindjet Developer Network website, as well as revamped the Developer Program. My efforts led to a 300%+ increase in membership and the development of over 15 new software add-ins.

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February: Flew out to DC to interview with a “deal-of-the-day” website giant, and ended up turning down their offer. Sometimes even when the money and the role are right, the company culture just feels wrong. In the end, I’m very glad I didn’t take the position.

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March: What can I say? March is always awesome because it’s my birthday month! This year was especially special because I drove down to Pasadena to celebrate my pal LM’s bridal shower.

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April: Drove down to LA with my BF to pick up his two best friends, and then onto Vegas for some gamblin’ and the Hoover Dam for some history to make for an epic birthday trip! [Sorry, no Vegas pics allowed! ;)]

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May: Ran Bay2Breakers and attended LM’s absolutely amazing wedding. Definitely one of the major highlights of the year.

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June: Two major product launches in one month — you can believe I hadn’t slept for at least a month. Version 1.0 of Mindjet for iOS launched on the 14th, and MindManager for Mac launched on the 23rd!

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July: Smat’s goodbye party as they head off to Germany.

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August: Traveled to the Big Apple for an interview; spent a couple of weeks exploring New England with the BF and reacquainting myself with the Atlantic.

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September: Accepted a new job in a new city; resigned for the second time in my life.

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October: Moved to NYC on the 2nd, and managed to find, sign for, and move into my new apartment on the Upper East Side within 6 days. That was intense (and quite possibly some kind of record). I also founded the very first ProductCamp San Francisco, an annual educational and networking unconference for local product management and marketing professionals, on 10/22.

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November & December: A few visits from friends and family in the area, and a LOT of exploring in my new city!

  


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I hope you all had just as epic of a story to tell for #Rewind2011! If not, there’s always 2012 to make up for it.