A product manager must be a big thinker. Instead of asking can we do this, be sure to ask why can’t we do this? When managing “call home” for IBM, I continued to ask why can’t we create a common cross-platform solution?
We faced plenty of architectural challenges trying to run across multiple operating systems from the largest of mainframes all the way down to PC servers, but in the end, we were able to solve them. In fact, I think engineering loved the challenge. I used to tell them that only the best engineers can solve the biggest problems.
By thinking big, we standardized on a secure protocol, a common back-end infrastructure, and a common client. We increased the portability of our software and significantly reduced future development costs.
For the next big idea for your product, be sure to ask how can we make this happen? You might just be pleasantly surprised with the results. The best engineers love to tackle the big problems.
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