Getting to know our featured user for July - James Perkins
What is your current job title?
Principal Product Manager
Previous roles?
I have spent the last 10 years as a product manager. Most of that experience was at EMC working on the Documentum Enterprise Content Manager product. All told, my post-graduate career has included some very interesting roles in control-system design, circuit design, firmware development, software development, engineering management, software consulting, professional services and pre-sales.
What has been your most challenging task?
When you are a product manager, it is very common for users to tell you how to fix your product, but my responsibility is to understand the problem the user's "fix" is trying to solve. Product managers communicate with engineers and architects in use cases, not solutions. So, my favorite ideas on the community are those that include a detailed description of the problem they are trying to solve. Otherwise, it can sometimes be a challenging task to understand the underlying problem in sufficient detail to supply engineering with the right requirements. A product manager's worst nightmare is releasing a solution that doesn't provide enough value to solve the original problem he set out to solve in the first place.
Favorite movie of all time?
This is the hardest question you have asked me. I am going to say Sneakers with Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier, and Mary McDonnell.
Favorite book?
Good to Great, by Jim Collins
What are some of your hobbies that keep you busy outside of work?
I am a licensed pilot. One of my favorite things to do is treat friends and visitors of Colorado to an aerial tour of nearby Rocky Mountain National Park. Longs Peak takes on a very different perspective when you are right next to rather than below it. I also enjoy getting outdoors with my family bicycling, hiking and canoeing throughout the Rocky Mountains.
Can you share an interesting fact about yourself?
I was raised in the state of Alaska. It was there that i acquired my appreciation for the outdoors and for flying. I left Alaska to come to Colorado to attend college. My career has afforded me the opportunity to live here ever since.