For almost 3 years I have been trying to use, create or cobble together solutions that fit my business as ‘THE’ solution for managing projects, bills, people, etc. Our problem is unique in that we design, manufacture, market, and sell our goods to multiple channels. Add to that the complexity of a retail operations, an ecommerce site and your starting to look at some very expensive software solutions and time consuming process analysis. What I’ve found over the past while is problems can be solved with some simple tools and organisational changes.

Let’s start with ‘Who’s The Boss’?

My company is run fairly lean; and being in a capital intensive business we must keep staff to an absolute minimum. So how does this lean/small business model affect project management, software choices and the decisions around implementation?

The idea of identifying ‘whos in charge’ was an interesting concept that bubbled up from the recent ProductCamp ‘08 in Toronto. In my session ‘Product Management @ a Start-Up’ we explored the idea that a CEO/Founder is ‘THE’ original Product Manager and as an organisation evolves that responsibility falls to someone new who then inherits the title ‘Product Manger’ but they essentially need to become the CEO/Founder *reborn* infusing new ideas, entrepreneurial spirit, taking the product/service forward with confidence from senior management .

There was some confusion around the idea, not because it was some complex theory, but because the session was peppered with entrepreneurs who hadn’t considered this potential issue, and product managers in start-ups who were experiencing this very challenge. Bottom line is when CEO’s don’t hand over their ‘baby’ a power struggle occurs affecting the team who only wish to do their job. This unwillingness to ‘just let go’ also affects the solutions available to you. For entrepreneurs you need to consider your successor, CEO’s need to let go, and Product Managers need to identify this unhealthy distraction with their senior management.

By applying this logic to my organisation I was able to identify myself as CEO and the primary designer/manager which drastically reduced my software/process choices and more importantly I could now identify the need to plan for my future successor.

As a good friend of mine reminds me of almost everyday “the talent is in the choice”.

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