Bill Watt’s Blog

Well- another year in my life has passed and it has been a good one. Here are a few of the highlights and you can read the older posts should you care about additional details:

• Alice and I have been having fun in CA
• I continued to attend the Wednesday night dinners with Jason, Jason, and JSK for most of the year. These were often 2 or more dinners a week so it is worth noting given the enjoyment I got and the amount of time consumed.
• I took a 6 week sabbatical from eBay including a trip that spanned places in England, France and Luxembourg (and visiting with friends in each) as well as some time in Santa Barbara and with the family in Ohio
• In one step I ended my time at eBay after 4.3 yrs and finished my official association with FairMarket after 9+ years. Many people thought this day would never come.
• I took almost 2 months off (was planning for longer) before accepting the next stage of my (work) life at Current.com

Ah, it was a good year.

Well… it is Friday and this week has flown and I still haven’t sent out my “new job!” email. So- here’s the info.

On 2/21 I got an offer from Current TV to join as Director, Online Product Management. I accepted that night and started on Monday 2/25. My job is best described by looking at the job description and I’ve copied it to the bottom of this post for when I convince them to stop interviewing other people and remove it from the site.

My first week has been really fun and I’m trying to jump right in. It is amazing how I’d forgotten what it is like to be the “new guy” in an organization. Even when I joined eBay I started with 16 friends (and 1 Hikade) and a firm grasp on the technology. Now it is all questions, new technologies, and many names to memorize.

People have been really nice and amazingly helpful. Since this is not a work blog I’m looking forward to many more posts of a non-work stories that happened at work to show you the personalities who get the joy of working with me. (You’ll need to read their blogs to see how they feel about it. )

Department: Online

Position: Director of Product Management

Location: San Francisco

Description

The Director of Product Management will be responsible for deeply understanding market direction and requirements and driving those requirements into the core technology architecture and product/services for the company. This person will play a critical role in driving our product roadmap. Core functions will include conceiving new online features and optimizing existing ones, developing project specifications, managing projects through the development lifecycle, and working with a wide cross section of stakeholders across the organization.  The Director will take ownership of new and existing products, identify requirements, define the product vision, create design specifications and lead the implementation of the product roadmap.  

Responsibilities

• Lead the full product lifecycle, including concept, specification, design, launch and maintenance phases
• Work closely with technology leadership to manage all stages of the product development process
• Work with multiple cross-functional teams to elicit, understand, rationalize and prioritize requests for new functionality
• Design functional specifications and make tradeoff decisions between functionality and resources/timeframes

Skills

• Strong blend of business acumen, technical knowledge, and strategic perspective. Able to balance business and product interests of the company
• Familiarity with highly interactive, web-based business and social networking products
• Ability to drive cross-functional collaboration and build consensus without clear authority
• Driven, high energy level, and strong commitment to driving results
• Strong interpersonal and facilitation skills. Diplomacy, tact and relationship building skills, especially the ability to develop strong, effective working relationships in situations where team members have conflicting goals and objectives
• Strong product/project management skills. Proven experience managing complex projects to successful completion
• 8+ years relevant experience with 3+ years as a product manager in a web-based environment

They posted the pics here.

I spent yesterday skiing Bear Valley with a group of folks from eBay including most of the FAIM and ROW development and QA.

The bad. Getting up at 4 to be at eBay by 4:45 and on the bus at 5AM for the 3.5 hour drive.

The good. It was an amazing weather day and was maybe even a little too warm out. It was awesome to see the old team and get to hang out for the day on the ski slope.

All in all it was a pretty funny day. Rishi had apparently never seen snow so it was my pleasure to impart a little big brother wisdom on him (”Avoid the yellow snow!”) and it was amazing how many folks from the 2 buses were new skiers. The woman from the ski resort said it was 70% first timers and she was amazed because people started and kept going all day.

I spent my time on the slopes trying to keep up with two friends who were much better than me. It was a good challenge and they were willing to give me pointers as they saw areas to improve and encouragement with every stop. I only fell once and my left side is still feeling it today. I have finally realized that the last 10 years of inactivity really are taking a toll.  Maybe this will be the thing that drives me to the gym? We’ll see.

The ride home started around 5:30, included a stop to pick up pizza, and then we were back at campus by 9. I put in a couple calls on the 10 min drive home and was asleep by 10:30.

Good lord. 388 in line and 20 min to get in. I have time but this is pretty bad. I want to jump in, play or look things up, and then move on.

So, one problem we’ve had with where we live is the growing number of dogs in the development. Don’t get me wrong… I love dogs. What I don’t love are dogs that bark all day or all night. In most cases I feel for the dogs because they’re clearly barking for attention. There was one puppy across the walk from us who was hoarse from barking all day but was really quiet when her owners were there. I left a note and then spoke to her owner who was happy to know what was going on while she wasn’t there. In fact, they’d already started on some training for the puppy and it has been much much better.

But there is this other dog down the street from us who is left on the  deck for hours at a time and goes nuts when people walk past to hit the mailbox. Now that I’m home during the day and mostly not napping (mostly) I hear it barking like Timmy was down the well again. Being a person who likes to address issues, I walked down to leave them a note with my phone number (if you’re going to leave a note, you have to put your name on it otherwise it is just passive aggressive and that’s no way to be a neighbor) and it turns out the owner was there. He was sitting in the living room while the dog was on the deck barking at him.

I actually saw this owner walking the dog yesterday and having watched a few episodes of the Dog Whisperer I could have guessed the problems this guy is having. The dog was walking him. The dog must be all of 5 pounds and was pulling against the leash as if his life depended on it. The sad thing is that it probably would take like a week and then some consistent behavior onthe owner’s part and everone would be happier.
So, the same thing I say about bad parents I’ll say about dog owners… if you don’t want them why do you have them? It is your responsibility, it takes time and it isn’t something you can turn off.

Ok, I’m tired now. Nap time!

Today the first person at one of the Starbucks local to my home remembered my drink and pastry selection.

Yesterday was my first official work day where I didn’t go into eBay. The last two nights have been odd for me because I usually sleep really well but on 12/31 I dreamed all night about work and on 1/1 I didn’t so much dream as was just restless. Last night was much better.

So, yesterday I made some new resolutions. For one, I’m going to think of this as me retiring from eBay and work to put this in a longer term perspective. I need to find the right next job and can afford to take some time to get the right one. Second, I’m going to spend some time fixing some things that have been wrong with my life the last (n) years. I know that big changes rarely stick so I’m not committing to running marathons or writing the next great novel but I am going to get up every morning and walk a few miles to a starbucks, take a paper or book with me and do some focused reading that doesn’t involve blogs or news feeds. (Ok, this might change to being online reading too but for now I’m going unplugged.)

I did wake up yesterday, answered a bunch of personal email, got dressed and walked a couple miles to the closest starbucks that doesn’t blare music so I could sit and just read for a bit. Then I met Carol and Jason for lunch at Baja Fresh (love the bare burrito) followed by a quick jaunt home, a 30 min nap, then a shower and some errands (our Comcast bill jumped like mad so my first task was to call and get that fixed) and then I got to visit with Alice when she got home. It was a Wednesday so we had our weekly dinner at the Counter even though Heidema is off doing God knows what in Asia for his sabbatical.

Then it was home to watch some TV and then I crashed around 11 to read and was asleep by 12.

It was a good, simple first day of retirement.

OK, I decided to post my goodbye email to the blog because it evoked quite an interesting reaction from folks I worked with at eBay. The funny thing is that when I’ve interviewed places it has an almost opposite reaction on the people interviewing me. eBay people look at the list and say, “Oh, that’s a lot of sites” but because they know me and they know the team they accept it. People outside eBay look at the list of sites launched and ask almost as an accusation, “How much did you really have to do with any of those sites?”

It is going to be a long road to find the right company that gets what I do. That’s ok though… just like Goldilocks I just need to find the right fit and then I’ll be comfortable, well fed and rested.

Subject: Well, it certainly has been fun!

Howdy,

Over the last 9.5 years spanning FairMarket and eBay I’ve had many occasions to think about the content of my goodbye email. Would it be something hilarious that people talk about for years to come? Would it be something controversial that people would talk about for years to come? Or would it be a quote from Atlas Shrugged causing people in the know to simply smile and nod in silent agreement?

I want to leave you with the least amount of words someone like me can ever be limited to use. First, my thanks for the last (n) years depending on who you are and when we met. Second, while I have so many people I want to thank individually I have to single out the FAIM and ROW development teams. Without them I could never have delivered a thing. Finally, and in keeping with my love of Atlas Shrugged, here is a list showing some of the value I’ve in some way helped deliver. I assume my account is balanced.

Thanks,

Bill
bill@billwatt.org
skype: fmbillwatt

http://www.linkedin.com/in/billwatt
The sites we’ve run for eBay on the FairMarket and ROW platforms:

 

** FairMarket **
SamsClub.com
Argos Clearance Auctions - Private Marketplace
Lego Germany
Washington Mutual Declining Interest Rate Auctions
solutions.paypal.com
Devzone REST Hosting
BMW CPO Showroom
pdn.paypal.com
PayPal Tsunami Relief
Monster Baseball Promotion
Liquid Loot - Win Millions of Anything Points
Camp eBay
Fandango promotion
AOL promotion
Circuit City Private Marketplace
USPS(R)-eBay Priority Mail Box Center
SpiderMan promotion
PC Selling Center
LL Cool J Loyalty
Purina promotion
VIP Experience at the Grammy’s promotion
Get To Know eBay
eBay Rethink
Valvoline500
Sun Reference Center
DevZone
Fandango / eBay Promotion
eBay Exclusives
Win With Milk
eBay Reseller Marketplace
ticketmrktplace
Equifax
Misez avec Royale
SAE
Dr Pepper
Popular eBay Keywords
XM Radio promotion
XM Buyer Appreciation Program
WhatIsIt
Hershey’s Get it! with WrapperCash Redeem Now Store
Hershey’s Get it! with WrapperCash Online Auctions
Product Finder
eBay/Harrah’s Treasure Hunt Promotion
eBay/Harrah’s Treasure Hunt Promotion
MyConstructionWorld
DAS Auto Shippers
Click You’re It
Balance Bar
Xmen
Village Marketplace (Beta for the Artisan Marketplace)
Paciolan_DixieChicks Private Marketplace
eBay India: Motors B2B Marketplace
GE Money Bank - eBay DE
Coke Fridge Auctions - eBay DE
Virgin Broadband promotion - eBay UK
o2 Mobile - eBay UK
T-Mobile - eBay DE
Equifax - eBay UK
Asstel Insurance - eBay DE
eBay Express promotional site
eBay Affiliates Hub
Pack Your Bags
API Content Project
eBay AdMarket Pilot
Live Nation Auction Club
Name That Show
Today’s BIG Deals
Pop Hits! Sweepstakes
FreeFlow
Eclipse
Holiday Giving Works Promotion
eBay Motors Financing Center
eBay Trick or Treat & Win it Sweepstakes
eBay Map It Support
Media Marketplace
Boodoku Halloween Promo
Rocky Balboa promotion
eBay Holiday Dreams
Dominos promotion
Netflix Marketplace
What’s It Worth
Transformers movie promotion
USPS Star Wars Promotion
eBay Reseller Wholesale Marketplace
eBay Mastercard
eBay Giving Works
Spider-Man 3 movie promotion
eBay Giving Works Give Fest
Pack Your Bags
ASD/AMD Private Marketplace
Windorphins
Popular eBay Keywords - eBay FR
Norwich Insurance - eBay UK
Tele2 Wireless - eBay DE
affari.eBay.it
Picture Loans
Popular eBay Keywords - UK
20th Century Fox - eBay DE
Commerzbank AG - eBay DE
Popular eBay Keywords - FR - Motors
Popular eBay Keywords - IT - Motors
eBay Gift Card
Hairspray Movie Promotion
Second Life Private Marketplace
SecondLifeLindens Private Marketplace
Experian promotion
7th on Sale
Shop Victoriously
Nokia Private Marketplace
Wal-Mart Private Marketplace
eBay Certified Provider Program
Ingram US Private Marketplace
Ingram Canada Private Marketplace: English
Ingram Canada Private Marketplace: French
World of Good Content and Support Site
Mexico Imports

** ROW **
Yahoo! Shopping India co-brand
Deal Finder US
Deal Finder DE
Deal Finder AU
Deal Finder UK

MapIt

Global Buying Hub

Item Search Beta
NGVI Beta
Artisan Marketplace