In the early 2010's, I was the anonymous author of the Cranky Product Manager blog (formerly at http://crankypm.com). This was one of the first product management blogs and was recognized by many as being the number one blog on software product management during its heyday.

The tagline was "The Ugly Side of Software Product Management." At the time, most of the other blogs on the software business were a wee bit condescending and lectured the reader. They also completely lacked humor.

So I deliberately set out to make my blog as funny and readable as I could, which -- because I was raised Boston and our sense of humor is more sarcastic and cynical -- meant that it came out cranky and snarky.

As Cranky Product Manager alter-ego, I wrote about the tragic-funny situations that were extremely common for product managers to experience and find frustrating. Because I worked with so many software companies as a PM consultant, I developed a good feel for what was "common" and not, and I only posted about situations and dysfunctions that I knew affected many companies. (I NEVER posted about anything specific to a particular employer or client because then it wouldn't be FUNNY or relatable to my audience).

However, by 2014, I could not keep up the "cranky" attitude that had propelled the blog to success. I found it draining to adopt a snarky persona when my real life was actually quite happy and fulfilling (although very, very busy). For a year or two I posted very sporadically, hoping that writing inspiration would strike again. Alas, it never did, so I decided to shut the blog down for good in 2015.

I've transferred the best articles from crankypm.com to this site, blog.sueraisty.com. You can find them in the archives.

The old "About the Cranky Product Manager" introduction:

The Cranky Product Manager is a fictional product management professional at a fictional enterprise software vendor named DysfunctoSoft. These are her fictional stories.

The Cranky PM has been officially in product management for many years, but before that spent time in the trenches as a developer and in product management & strategy consulting. All told, she's worked for many tech companies, ranging from itty-bitty startups to huge behemoths.

The Cranky Product Manager's personality flaws and character failings include a passion for sodium-encrusted food, snarkiness, abject parallel parking skills, bluntness, and a lack of tolerance for those who are intolerant.

The Cranky Product Manager has decided to fulfill her lifelong ambition of one day referring to herself in the third person. This blog is the product of this misguided goal, when combined with a lust for fame, the antithetical desire for anonymity, and quiet outrage in the face hypocricy.