I don’t know what recently reminded me of the classic 80′s comedy film Back to School, starring the one and only Rodney Dangerfield, but it occurred to me the business class attended by self-made millionare Thornton Melon (played by Rodney Dangerfield), led by the stereotypically stuffy Dr. Phillip Barbay (Paxton Whitehead), is a humorous example of an anti-product management, anti-product marketing class.
The particular piece of this funny scene I had in mind occurs early in the YouTube snippet below: Shortly after Dr. Barbay begins a lesson about the creation of a manufacturing company, Melon asks, “What’s the product [we will be making]?” After a few failed attempts to dismiss the question, an exasperated Dr. Barbay finally insists the specific product they will make “doesn’t matter” – absolute heresy for any self-respecting product marketer or product manager! Of course, the entire snippet is well worth watching.
On the contrary, the idea, the answer to “What’s the product?” is, of course, everything to the company’s success. More on this topic soon.
