Developing a New Bug or Bugging a New Development?????

I wanted to be sort of like Aamir Khan, (he acts in just one movie a year. FYI) writing just one blog every month (Note: I said sort of and not like. I cannot wait for one year to write one blog...dammit). So anyways, here I am again. I was talking with my chum Vagmi today during lunch (we usually talk off lunch hours too...but during lunch our topics normally stray to many things [not teen stuff though ]). So, we were talking about how to get noticed outside your workplace through social networking (like LinkedIn, Orkut, Facebook, iBibo, Big Adda :D (I am a member in almost all of them)), and he was saying, "The best way to get noticed by others, outside your domain, is through writing blogs. Dedicate 2 hours to blogging everyday". And Vagmi happens to be our Technology Whizkid...and when Vagmi talks, the World listens ;)

In my previous blog, I had written about my movement into Product Management from Build and Release Profile. I got a few comments (offline) about my life being simple, all I had to do now was to direct work to others and sit peacefully watching Youtube. Now, if my manager were to read these comments, he would think the same and this would not look good. So I thought of outlining some of the cons of being in this role.

One example of the many converastions I have with the ecosystem (aka Developers) everyday. I was talking with this developer today morning, that a particular feature is not working the way it should, and it should be fixed before customer reports it. You know...be proactive and all that. Now, this developer (henceforth I shall refer him as "Developer") says:
Developer: This is a new development request. Please close the ticket. I shall fix it later.
I: But how can this be a development request. It is something that is part of the functionality and should be fixed.
[No sound] Which means, this would be a development request for the next release (and I am sure it would be missed out in the next one too). Not that the application would not work. Just that the application would have too many relatives around it to deal with, since the setup would be all the required contents + the not so required contents into the machine. But....if the developer says it is a Dev Request, what can a poor product manager do than wait for the feature to be available in the next SP's.

So you see...to be a PM, you should have the nerve of steel and the guts of Iron to deal with these sort of shockers everyday. Now all of you there...please refrain from envying me for having a easy go lucky life, and go and get some coding done.

"Always write code in such a way that the person maintaing the code would be a psycho who knows where to find you."