The Story of a Little Project: ChoiceChest

Back in 2006, I went to visit a friend who had a humongous DVD collection.

He was a super kind guy & would often let others borrow from it. That day he was struggling to recall who he had lent out a few of his movies to & how long it had been.

I suggested developing a little Java application for him that would help him manage his collection. He loved the idea.

With no proper specs in mind - just a few scribbles on a notepad - I began coding up a little project called "ChoiceChest". It took me a month to develop.

After I designed the core user flows, I thought of adding a few bells & whistles. I'd call up my friend and we'd geek out on other features to add like auto-reminders and borrow history of each of his friends.

When he started using it, he was ecstatic. He was finally able to follow up with friends on borrowed DVDs.

My only regret it is that he & I lost the source code over the years as we moved from place to place.

I often get asked if there are side projects to learn Product Management.

My advice: Don't wait for one to fall in your lap.

Talk to your network. Find a problem they're struggling with & see how tech can solve it. Learn how to code or partner with a dev to build something. It's an amazing way to get into the shoes of a PM.