Blog Entry by Mark Richter

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Over the past year ThoughtWorks has introduced several technologies and extensions that allow Mingle to more seamlessly integration into the Microsoft Office and development ecosystem. We have started three open-source projects supporting this effort:

Mingle.NET – A library wrapping Mingle’s REST API that is easily consumed by clients written in C#, Visual Basic or C++.

Visual Studio Extension – An extension for Visual Studio 2010 that delivers Mingle interoperability inside the Visual Studio IDE working environment for software developers. In its current form the Visual Studio extension supports Mingle. Soon it will also integrate GO with build management and control for continuous integration and delivery. You can watch a five-minute demonstration video here. Mingle Extension is available for download from the Visual Studio Extension Gallery.

Excel Add-In – An add-in for Microsoft Excel 2010 that compliments Mingle’s export feature providing general-purpose data extraction from Mingle into Excel from Excel. Another add-in is planned for Outlook. All this is crafted using the architecture shown below (see diagram).

Mingle can run anywhere on your network or on the Internet. Mingle.NET is an open source library written in C# that provides convenient programmatic APIs for client application software. We’re doing clients ourselves for Visual Studio and Microsoft Office. Your application could be a desktop program or a web app.

My Visual Studio desktop is Southern California using a Mingle system in the San Francisco Bay Area working with team mates in the United Kingdom. The interoperability and productivity are amazing.

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I recently discovered an interested fact. Studies show that we perceive ourselves to be 20% more attractive than we actually are.

This was one of a handful of fascinating studies described by Robert Trivers during an RSA talk about his latest book Deceit and Self-Deception: Fooling Yourself the Better to Fool Others

Trivers has spent the last few years studying the peculiar phenomena of self-deception. The basic premise of his book (which I plan to read asap) is the hypothesis that deceit and self-deception are linked. From an evolutionary perspective, it is logical that we can better convince others of our superior status, strength, attractiveness etc. if we believe them to be true. I won’t attempt to outline the arguments, you would be better off reading the book or listening to the audio of the RSA event.

Let’s assume that the hypothesis, “We deceive ourselves to better deceive others” is true. What does that mean for Product Managers?

Most Product Managers are the biggest champion of their product. I don’t know of a Product Manager who would work on a product they didn’t believe in. That belief needs to be infectious for your product to grow. Colleagues, customers, friends, strangers should all be left with a great impression of your product after speaking to you.

But what if, we are fooling ourselves? What if we view our products as 20% more appealing than our customers do? All that confidence is great when pitching a product or when writing convincing copy, but does it help us build products that people want to use? Are we biologically predisposed to seek out vanity metrics relating our products? How do we deal with this potential misperception?

My gut reaction is to be even more driven to back up my vision with facts.  To always strive for a good balance of quantitative and qualitative data about my product. Make sure I make a habit of getting out of the building.

From now on I will try to always challenge myself whenever I big up my product to myself, especially when it seems automatic.

I could of course be wrong. Maybe truly believing your own hype makes the difference between success and mediocrity?