You might be a product manager if...

Product managers are a strange breed. (I should know.) People think engineers can be odd when they start talking about struts and POJOs and Ajax. But product managers can be just as nerdy and, worse, they tend to be more verbal so they talk about their work to anyone who will listen (and even when some aren't).

Product managers are constantly analyzing, and the world is so very ripe for analysis. You might be employed as a product manager, but if you're not and you've ever wondered if you were cut out for the job, here's how to know.

You might be a product manager if:

1. At a restaurant with your significant other you've ever ordered dinner by saying, "the meal shall include the following in priority order..."
2. Visiting your in-laws you ask them to show you how they use their new cooktop "in their everyday process"
3. You've ever used Visio (worth the trip) or Photoshop (this one too) to try out different color schemes for your dining room
4. You send the menu out in advance for a dinner party and ask for feedback by EOD or COB
5. You use boolean logic in every day conversation, complete with hand gestures for the parentheses. "We could go shopping OR we could go to (the park AND the library)"
6. You've ever justified a home electronics purchase referencing use cases
   
7. Your can process Indian, Irish, Russian, English, Australian and other accents all at once via speakerphone and only end up with a little in your own speech
8. Instead of organizing your shirts according to color palette, you organize them by application
9. You've explained to family and friends that just because you work "in computers" doesn't mean you can repair (worth it) their laptop or tell them what printer to buy (but have gone on to do so anyway)
10. You've ever been tempted to use your Crackberry during dull moments in your kid's parent teacher conference (if you did it you're an engineer)

Those are my ten. Now I'm going to ask every product manager or wannabe product manager (or relative of a product manager) reading this to post one you might be a product  manager if... in the comments below. Don't wait. Do it now!

Comments

[Bruce McCarthy]

I'll kick off the comments with a tip o' the hat to Paul Young at Product Beautiful who posted his own "you might be a product manager ifs." The ones about extroversion and introversion are me all over!

http://www.productbeautiful.com/2007/02/16/you-might-be-a-product-manager-if/

[Barry Coleman]

1. you have to schedule vacation to spend any time with your family.
2. you bring your family with you on business trips to increase the probability that you can spend time with them.

[Ken Volpe]

Too funny - Two quick ones come to mind...

1. you ask your spouse to provide you with rank-ordered lists of household projects (and then ask him/her to schedule some time to review it). And of course, you end up with so many lists that you ask to have the lists prioritized (and or you have to merge and triage the lists).

2. you create "feature lists" for family vacations - for packing, for must-do activities, etc.

[Ben]

You might be a UI designer if...

* You reorganize the coffee selections in the office kitchen so coffee selection will be more intuitive for your co-workers
* You selected your bank because the online banking experience is good.
* You spend your MBTA rides listing the issues with the Charlie Card user experience.
* You kitchen drawers are organized based on context and frequency of use
* You think the biggest moment in sports in the last 20 years was when they started showing the first down marker on TV.
* You ask your 4 year old talk about a use case for the vehicle he's making out legos.

[Geek]

If you are constantly yelling at the top of
your lungs for your kids to do their home-work, while they are doing their home-work. You are a product manager.

[bob corrigan]

1. You daydream about what you'd order your Evil Minions(TM) to do. . .if you had Evil Minions(TM).

2. Repeat #1.