An extremely good problem to have

I just ended my one-year expat assignment for my company. I’m back in the US, most likely for good — so long, massive weekend farmer’s markets and cheap healthcare; hello political malaise and smartphone convenience.

While I was in Berlin, my job was very specific to the European market and required a deep embedding into European office culture. A lot of the standard corporate tropes apply — abundant meetings, open office environment, good-and-bad stakeholders to manage — but knowing how to navigate the interpersonal relationships and cultural nuances of an office is best done by immersing oneself in that office. Doing the same job from remote is, in a 8,000+ person company, difficult to sustain.

So now I’m in transition. Still at the same company, but looking for something to take on next as I phase out of my current responsibilities.

This has led to a very interesting phenomenon: a whole lot of teams seem to want me. I have spent roughly 30% of my last week simply meeting new people and learning about other problem spaces going on within the company, to see if they are interesting and impactful for me to take on.

While in many parts of both the US and the larger world people are constantly finding themselves out of work, struggling to make end’s meet, I’m having no less than 6 unique jobs thrown at me (disclaimer: all at the same company) with a crazy amount of enthusiasm.

This is an extremely good problem to have, and something I have weird feelings about.

• I don’t love saying “no” despite having to do this a lot in my job. This is that same problem, but at a meta-level to product management — for the roles I don’t take, it’s: “Sorry, I don’t find your problem interesting enough to take a full-time salaried position to go solve.”
• I’ve underestimated how many interesting product management problems there are at a Big E-Commerce Company. It calls into question why I spent over 3 years in largely the same space — doing different things, in different markets (and spending a full year living in a different market). But could I have been even happier by looking for these opportunities earlier on? Why aren’t some departments more proactive about showcasing their problems & solutions to attract people?
• How firm of a decision do I really _need_ to make? If I pick a role that I like on paper and end up disliking, how easy is it to recall these same opportunities I’m currently being presented with?
• Consider the bargaining-chip aspects of my position. If so many people want me, can I make them fight for me? How much of _that_ am I willing to push for, as opposed to simply being happy in my next position?

I realize these are extremely first-world questions to be asking. I am in an amazing position. But decisions are hard. And while it’s probably all going to be fine regardless of which path I take, I desperately want it all to be fine.

Originally published at tonedeafcolorblind.com on August 26, 2018.