As a long time product manager, one of my pet peeves is the bug/hotfix process. Stepping back, we have a well defined triage process, where a good team of dev, support, and support engineers (as well as myself) sit in a room, and agree on priority...
Great drive in music today – Steve Vai set
About 2 minutes into my drive to the office today, a great set of tunes popped up on the ol' iPod plugged into my stereo. From the forgettable movie, "Crossroads" (the Ralph Macchio one, not the britney spears one), there is a scene where Macchio'...
Damn, didn’t need that. Lost my best friend a year ago today
Opened my email this morning and got sucker punched. I knew it was coming but somehow put it out of my mind. Not hard to believe. I set an annual alert in my Google calendar to remind me of the passing of my greyhound Oliver. One year ago today, I...
Travel Foibles: Part 4 (of many) – In room comfort
What is it with mid range business hotels? They all race to the same amenities. Name brand toiletries (Neutrogena here at the Hilton Garden Inn). They have the wide shower curtain bars (so that you don't notice that you are standing in your grandm...
Travel Foibles: Part 3 (of many) – Rental car agencies
You know how hard it is to get a compact or ecnomony car? First, the travel agent seems to guide me into a midsize. It is the "Corporate Standard". Really? We have a standard class for rentals? Next, the jockey working at the counter says "An econ...
Travel Foibles: Part 2 of (many) – in room amenities
I love the little boutique soaps, shampoos and other niceties that they lay out in most decent business hotels. The Iron and Ironing board is also de riguer. Needed for those with small carry on's. You know what I often don't have, and could reall...
File under:Not Fooling Anyone – Smoking in Public Restrooms
How often do you walk into a public restroom in a venue that is non-smoking (restaurant, office, sporting venue, airport), and you get hit with a blast of cigarette smoke. I just rolled off the plane here in MSP, walked into the bathroom and BLAM....
Travel Foibles Part 1 of (many)
As I approach a million miles on United airlines, and lately have struggled to earn even premier status on their Milage Plus program, I am accorded the benefit of "Unlimited Domestic Upgrades". This is a nice touch. But I have yet to receive this ...
NYT – Your special deal for $0.13 a week still blows
Twice in the last week I have received emails from the NY Times advertising a special 80 weeks all access for $0.99. That is roughly 13 cents a week. Sounds like a good deal. But, after the 8 weeks, ir will rise to the $30+ per month. Your digital...
I miss my real blog – rambling about product management, and my sad state.
Summary: A few weeks ago, a sales engineer was being disruptive in our iteration demo meeting. I sent a (non appropriate) message to my scrum master to get this individual to stop trying to turn it into a design review. The message was mistakenly ...