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Great Product Owners Aren’t Visionaries

This week I’ve been thinking about the projects I’ve worked on that were successful--as well as those that weren’t--hoping to focus the coming year on the former. Not surprisingly, the past winners weren’t led by committees.

I don’t come to you with my problems, do I?

Introducing himself to Bob Dylan at a party, Peter Grant extended his hand and said, “Hi. I’m Peter Grant, manager of Led Zeppelin.”

Dylan looked at him and said, “I don’t come to you with my problems, do I?” then turned and walked away.

This famous anecdote says a lot about Dylan’s dyspeptic personality (Dylan was our Kanye, but with a sense of humor), but it indicates more, and better, I think, about why Peter Grant was a great manager.

Peter Grant

Grant was a former South London wrestler who became one of the most powerful men in the music industry. The formidable 6 foot, 5 inch, ‘Genghis Khan of Rock’ struck fear into the hearts of anyone foolish enough to try to rip off one of his bands.

Across a long career, Grant managed the Yardbirds, Bad Company, Bo Diddley, The Everly Brothers, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, and the Animals, but his reputation was cemented in rock history with Led Zeppelin.

There were many rough edges to this ex-wrestler (who once beat up a security guard who mistakenly cuffed his son), including years of drug abuse and depression when John Bonham (Led Zeppelin’s drummer) died of alcohol abuse.

But, for now, let’s focus on Grant’s positive attributes, the ones we’d like to see in all our managers.

When Do You Know It’s Time to Let an Employee Go?

I’d like to give you a 100 point checklist that will absolutely assure you that you are doing the right thing when you let someone go, but it doesn’t exist.

Wherefore Art Thou Multimedia?

It probably sounds passé now, but there once was a technology we thought would be a new way for telling stories, and maybe even creating art.

That’s It. That’s the One.

o be honest, I won’t miss Mad Men, the overwrought fashion show with vellum-thin treatments of politics, feminism, and pop culture we’re asked to nod and wink at. Emotionally, I’m not drawn to Don’s downward spiral like I was with Tony Soprano or Walter White, who seemed to struggle on more fertile and less claustrophobic […]

Standup: Focus on the Stories

I’m not a big fan of the typical round-robin agenda for standups: What I worked on yesterday, what I’m working on today, and blockers. I find that format often encourages folks to sing for their supper, to develop an on-the-spot narrative of what they’ve been up to and why they’re worth their salary. I don’t […]

Bad Smells

Once I put a take-home container of Chinese food under the front seat of the van I was travelling in with my rock band in the 80s. After about a hot day-and-a-half, we couldn’t figure out where the bad smell was coming from. When our lead singer Trish finally found it under the seat (next […]