In the Now with Matthew Smith #TBPP

More segments from the Q&A session I had with Matthew Smith  — and shedding some light onto just exactly what made Matthew an outstanding runner-up to The Best Product Person of 2013.

Take a moment and congratulate this year’s runner-up to The Best Product Person of 2013: Matthew Smith. (tweet)

In the Now

> Whose shoes would you like to walk in for a day? why?

I actually don’t have a single person in mind, but I have always wanted to be part of a “product person swap”.  Specifically, I’ve had this idea that it would be amazing to due a week of work at various companies to understand how they handle product.  There is no handbook and there are no hard and fast rules for product people, but there are general guidances that most of us believe in, and they come from our experiences.  So if we could amplify those experiences, then I think it would be amazing. 

> What excites you about your current products?

Right now I am working on a new business; we are basically a startup within Shutterstock (it’s called Offset.com), and it’s amazingly fun.  We are building everything from the ground up and re-defining a space.  The business came from customer feedback, and we believe that we can make something amazing that our customers are going to love.  We get excited every time we get a piece of feedback, good or bad, because we know that it’s leading to something special.

> What do you like most -and least – about being a product manager?

Let’s start with the thing that I like least.  The hardest thing about being a product person is that you have to be aware of all aspects of the business, and you have to make sure that other people in the business are aware of what’s going on.  In that light, I’d say that the thing I like the least (and it’s not that bad, but it’s all comparative) is there can be a lot of cooks in the kitchen; managing those stakeholders can be daunting. 

The thing I like the most is making something new.  I love white-space, I love creating new products, I love figuring out where a business needs to be next.  Its the hardest thing to do, but by far the most fulfilling for me.

More to Come

Over the coming weeks we will be speaking with and learning more from Matthew Smith.

Thank you to everyone who participated, nominated, interviewed, AND passed on the word! The nomination period for The Best Product Person of 2014 has begun!  The individual who first nominates TBPP is also awarded!  This year, the first nominator of Adrian received a $100 gift certificate to Amazon.com.  Nominate your pick for The Best Product Person right now!

http://tbpp.wufoo.com/forms/the-best-product-person-of-2014/

And, don’t forget, take a moment and congratulate this year’s runner-up to The Best Product Person of 2013: Matthew Smith. (tweet)

Enjoy!

Jeremy Horn
The Product Guy

About ‘The Best Product Person’

The Best Product Person (TBPP) is the leading international award honoring excellence in Product Management. Established in 2010, TBPP is awarded annually in association with The Product Guy (https://tpgblog.com) and The Product Group (http://meetup.com/theproductgroup).

TBPP Recognizes 1 person each year, invites them to speak and share their knowledge and experience with the larger product community. The nominations can be submitted by anyone. And, if you are the first to submit the winning nominee, you too will be rewarded  Over the course of the year, the various nominees are interviewed and the finalists narrowed down to: The Best Product Person of the year . The finalists are interviewed and evaluated for excellence in Product along the following lines… Becoming a Product Person, Your Product, Advice to Product People, and Future & Trends.

TBPP is both (1) the way the Product community gets together to recognize excellence amongst our ranks as well as (2) provide, to a large audience, insights into that excellence in a manner we can all learn from and leverage in our own Product journeys.

For more information about The Best Product Person award and past winners visit https://tpgblog.com/tbpp

About ‘The Product Group’

The Product Group is an opportunity for Product Managers, etc. to come together to meet, interact, and network. It’s an awesome way to meet fellow Product People in a laid-back, conversational environment within which sharing and learning can flourish and complement the knowledge base for all on a peer-to-peer basis. The NYC chapter of The Product Group meets the first Thursday of each month. If you are interested in a establishing chapter near you, please contact The Product Guy or The Product Group for more information. (https://tpgblog.com/theproductgroup/ )