I wrote a book. Everyday, I will be publishing one chapter.
I think it’s time for some congratulations! I’ve always dreamed of writing a book, and I’m excited to announce that I’ve finally completed my draft.
Although I’m not a professional writer, writing a book has been a lifelong dream of mine. To make this experience even more special, I’ve decided to conduct an experiment: instead of working with a major publisher, I will publish this book online. Every few days, I’ll post a new chapter here.
So, without further ado, here is “28 Small Confessions About Building Huge Products.”
Intro
The idea for this book emerged about two years ago. To be honest, I’ve always wanted to write a book — a real one, with a hard cover and paper pages. When I say “always,” I mean that I can’t exactly remember when this idea first came to me. I just know for sure that this book had to exist — no matter what it would be about.
So, if you are reading these lines, then my little escapade has indeed succeeded. Considering that I have spent the last ten years working in the whirlwind known as the “IT business,” the subject of the book is quite self-evident. Here, we will talk about the whimsical things that have settled in the world of computers and mobile devices, and now help people live better lives, while somehow bringing a good deal of money to their creators.
My relationship with IT was just as ambiguous as the idea of writing my own book. As a child, like all normal kids, I dreamed of becoming an archaeologist or something of that ilk — a classic profession straight out of a textbook, and it sounded cool too. However, as I grew older, life first steered me towards journalism, and then completely into electronics. And that’s where it all began.
I dabbled in coding for those same electrical devices and at some point realized that I enjoyed managing the process and interacting more, so I eventually “migrated” to project management. After a while, I understood that merely following the textbook during process control was not to my liking — I obviously wanted more action, so this time I retrained as a product manager.
And that’s when things got really interesting: I worked with several startups, saw how the outsourcing and product business operated in different countries, served as a consultant in small companies from their inception, and even got a taste of marketing and sales…
It’s worth mentioning that for me, the entire IT market is like an uncharted ocean. And although I personally swim in a rather small pool called “fintech,” sometimes I’m very tempted to look over the tiled edge, to see what’s out there in the big world. Sometimes I manage to do so. Sometimes — not so much.
It is these very small (and sometimes quite significant) “sometimes” and their outcomes that I have decided to describe in this book. Many of them were long hidden deep within my world of self-reflection and justification. In some, I was afraid to even admit them to myself. That’s why instead of chapters or stories, this book contains confessions. Small, somewhat truncated, written in the concise language of someone in IT who wants everything at once. But still, confessions — about how things should be done, how they shouldn’t, and how they definitely shouldn’t be done, though sometimes they might just work.
This book is not meant to teach or guide. Rather, it’s my personal tool for reflection, which I’ve decided to release to the public. Who knows, perhaps our reflections will align?
