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Death of a Product Manager
- dmor 15y agoBeyond death of employees, the issue of bereavment for 20-something startup employees is something we don't talk about much... but sadly it happens to a lot of us. I went through this with my mother-in-law last year, and it was very hard. My company was very supportive and did the right thing for me, which was basically "we support whatever you need to do" and then checking in with emails every couple days. For me, it was the first close family member I've ever had pass away, so I hadn't even thought about what I would do in the situation and I ended up planning a funeral.
- peterb 15y agoI learned what truly great leadership was at Microsoft in the mid-90s. My father passed away unexpectedly and I was devastated. My director at the time (who is now a VP), called me at my mother's home, and I was a mess. He told me how difficult it was to lose his own father and to take as much time as I needed to grieve. He told me not to worry about work and come back when I was ready. The call was short, maybe 2 minutes. I will never forget that call and its lesson. Empathy is the single greatest "skill" a leader can learn.
- ballard 15y agoIf a company bungles this badly, one can only imagine how poorly they handle everything else.
- dotBen 15y agoI actually thought this post was going to be about the 'death' of the Product Manager role in general. It's something that is implied all the time on HN - that product management is everyone's job but not discussed enough. (I was toying whether the above was insensitive as it is off-topic to the somber post - but given Cranky PM's post isn't about a specific person or recent event and is just a set of guidelines to follow in general I hope no one takes offense)
- fishtoaster 15y agoI was hoping for a "Death of a Salesman"-style story of the downfall of a self-deluding developer trying for managerial greatness.
- protomyth 15y agoAs a manager, you better be especially careful and sensitive if it was suicide or homicide. I am not sure about the grief councilor thing, I have my own experiences there and am still not sure about the value.
- masterponomo 15y agoWe outsourced our PM function some years ago. After a couple of years working remotely with an excellent PM in Mumbai, we noticed that the spelling and grammar in his emails had changed radically. We asked through discrete channels whether our guy had had a stroke or something that impacted his writing. It turned out Habarjahn had actually died and been replaced, but they tried to sneak the new guy in on us without letting us know. Funny how you can form attachments with a co-worker you never even saw or spoke with. Now, though, we're equally fond of Narendra (assuming it's still him.)
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- lukejduncan 15y agoThey tried sneaking a new guy in... and you still trust these people?
- erik_p 15y agoproject or product manager? I find it odd that you'd outsource product management...
- masterponomo 15y agoNot so odd: we're targeting the Indian market. We lost our PM to an arranged marriage (or rather to his new in-laws' family business) and we needed an Indian, fast. They are in short supply in our part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, so we went straight to the source. All we know about India is there are a lot of potential customers; we know we need a local to navigate the culture for us.
- happyfeet 15y agoWhen you found the company would do such a thing as slipping in an employee without notifying customer in first place, isn't it right to NOT deal with that company anymore? Surprised you are saying you are fond of new guy "(assuming it's still him.)".
- kommentor 15y agoi hate to say it, but the last sentence of this article is hilarious.
- BasDirks 15y agoyou're right though, wonder if it was intentional given the first sentence of the article.
- pnathan 15y agoWow, that's a great blog (overall)! Thanks for linking to this!
- kabdib 15y agoHad a co-worker who committed suicide. I still vividly remember the all-hands we had when it was announced. The company behaved well; supported his widow (I am not sure of details, but I know that at least one manager was still in contact with her over a year later). We went to his funeral. I don't remember if counselors were available, but it wouldn't suprise me. About six months later the product shipped and we had put his name in it, in an easter egg. No one objected, at least that I heard of. It was a depressing time in the middle of some of the hardest work I've ever done. I was single and unattached, and just dove into work as a coping mechanism, as did a number of other co-workers.
- Argorak 15y agoIn my experience, this is a good opportunity to gain insight on how sane a company really is. If a company puts there business before such a unique event, something is wrong. I had such a case with the (rather expected, as in "old age") death of relative. Working freelance, we had to call a number of clients that I would have to take a few days off for funeral arrangements spontaneously. Luckily, all of them were very supportive and adjusted their timelines accordingly. I don't know what I would have done if any of them had a problem with that situation. Chances are high I would have dropped the client as soon as possible.