User Stories: Build a PM

"Mom, I want to learn computers." That's the first time I can recall expressing a desire to learn something to my Mom. Growing up in South Korea in the 80s, my childhood was pretty standard: lots of standardized testing, ranking by scores, and attending various hak-wons (after-school extracurricular activities or tutoring services), all of which were arranged by my mom. But the computer hak-won was different—it was the first one I wanted to sign up for myself. In those early days, I dove into Basic, learning how to create variables, add them, print results, and run the code. Soon enough, I was writing code with for-loops and if statements. It was exhilarating! I was captivated by the idea that I could command a machine to perform tasks repeatedly without tiring it out or complaint about numbers getting too large. My Apple II compatible looked just like this Then, one day, there it was—a knock-off Apple II on my desktop. It felt like magic. I remember it costing around 600...

So, one day, I woke up and found myself in the shoes of a product manager. That was about 14 years ago, so forgive me if my memory's a bit foggy. I can't pinpoint the exact moment, but I do recall being offered the role of a product manager and feeling a bit apprehensive about what I was getting myself into. At that time, my understanding of product management was minimal – I knew the gist: product managers decide what to build, how to market it, and how to turn a profit. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure I even knew that much. My only exposure to product management was through the lens of an engineer: someone who came up with feature lists and often prolonged timelines by pointing out flaws in the implementation. On this blog, my aim is to untangle my jumbled memories into a coherent timeline. I want to share my journey of how an engineer stumbled into the world of product management, offering insights for others who might be curious about this career path. I...