Yes, I Love You: A Product Manager's Devotion to His Construction Customers

In this interview, we had the pleasure of speaking with Mark Schwartz, a Senior Product Manager for Viewpoint's Spectrum ERP software. With over 20 years in construction software, Mark specializes in sales, engineering, and product management. Based in Seattle, he focuses on meeting immediate business needs and ensuring software stability.

Will Johnson: Thanks for chatting with me, Mark. Why don’t you start by sharing how you got into construction software?

Mark Schwartz: Always happy to chat with you, Will! Before getting into construction software, I was in a partnership with my brother-in-law owning t-shirt stores in the Seattle area. We used Macintosh computers and software to create custom shirts. Despite finding retail management boring, my fascination with software prompted me to develop our point-of-sale and back-end system using FileMaker. It generated purchase orders and did the cash registering and reporting, it was pretty sophisticated for the time. I enjoyed the hell out of building it.

So, recognizing my passion for software, I started sending letters to software firms here in Seattle just looking for someone to talk to about me breaking in and to show them what I had built. I was as naive as you can be, which is embarrassing to say when you're as old as I am.

I finally got a response back from Curt Westberg, who was the sales manager over at Dexter and Cheney. And Curt said, they didn’t have any room on the product side, but if I’d like to be a salesman, they’d love to have me. I eagerly accepted, recognizing it as my foot in the door. However, the software, which at the time had an old interface presented significant sales challenges, compounded by the daunting task of cold-calling prospects on the East Coast. It was rough!

Eventually, I was given an opportunity to switch to a sales engineer role. And I did that for several years, but I knew I wanted to get to the product side. I always thought (naively) once I got to the product side I would fix all the bullshit I had to put up with when I was a sales guy. And then they had a position opened up and I applied, and they accepted me. And here we are.

WJ: Wow, what a journey! What do you like most about working in software?

MS: I like the idea of making things work better. And sometimes people don’t know better until they experience it. It's like when you're hiking, and you take off your boot, and there's this tiny rock inside. You didn't even notice it was there, but once it's gone, everything feels so much better. So it’s really rewarding to build something that helps people in that way.

WJ: In your opinion, what makes for good construction technology?

MS: Good construction software starts with people who fundamentally understand the customer. So, if you ask accountants to build project management software, they're going to do their best, but they're always going to interpret it like an accountant. And if you go to project managers and ask them to build accounting software, they're not going to make the accountants happy.

It has to be easy enough that your team can be productive with it sooner rather than later, yet robust and sophisticated enough that it can support the business as it grows. Can it handle the transaction volumes, handle the user volumes, and can handle changes that you might make further down that road.

WJ: How do you manage to build software that meets the needs of all of the different users, especially in complex systems like ERP with added project management components? You have accountants, project managers, and executives, each with different requirements. As a product owner, how do you navigate this challenge?

MS: You come to the realization that one product won't do it all. For instance, at Trimble, accountants are the primary users of our ERPs. It's built by accountants. It's for accountants. They all get it. Everyone's happy. Our project management software designed specifically for project managers.  They think differently than accountants and get upset when they are forced to use an accounting package.

Now, where the connections come is the fun part. And that's the part that's got to be handled delicately. For instance, accountants don't generally require insights into RFIs or submittals, but they do need visibility into change management, which impacts financial records. 

Consider the intricacies of integrating project management and accounting software, each with its own database. This requires meticulous handling to ensure changes in one system accurately reflect in the other, and that the work flows aren’t negatively impacted. That kind of integration is tough to do. Those are the kinds of challenges that we face.

WJ: One key lesson I've learned is that adoption is paramount. No matter how much you invest in software, its success hinges on consistent user engagement. Without widespread and regular usage, you won't achieve the desired results or ROI. For a new CFO implementing Spectrum across their company with both office and field users, what advice would you give them for maximizing ROI and making the adoption attainable?

MS: First, have a clear idea of why you're buying the software to begin with. Define your goals and focus on achieving them to ensure a successful implementation. The second piece is to familiarize yourself with the operating philosophy and processes of the system. Understanding the design philosophy of your software crucial for effective utilization. Then, spend the money on training and make sure your people are involved. And be sure to set aside some money so that periodically you can get more additional training.

Start with the basics and gradually expand functionalities. In an ERP package, you're paying your bills, you're paying your people, you're sending out invoices, and hopefully you're getting some job reports out of there. Do those four things and get comfortable with them, then you can build upon that and move forward from there.

For the guys in the field, any software you give them is usually an imposition on what they're doing now. They typically don't want to change. You're going to have to find someone in the field who is willing to embrace the software and advocate for its benefits. Start simple and only add complexity as you need it.

WJ: Over your career, what has changed in contech?

MS: Well, certainly the move to the cloud is a big one. I started in 2003, and this may surprise you, but in 2003, I thought things were pretty modern. Back then we sold perpetual licenses and you paid for support, now that’s gone away. Now you buy a SaaS is the model on which things are sold, so I think those are two big ones.

And then, of course, we’re just on the cusp of what AI can bring. We're working over on our side of the fence on AI assistance. I don't think AI is going to replace a project manager, but wouldn't it be nice if the AI could gather up the reports for the project manager and point out the trouble spots? I’m looking forward to that.

WJ: What do you think the future holds for construction technology?

MS: I think this whole AI thing is going to knock everyone's socks off. Certainly from the data analysis side. Just imagine, if your company has been operating for over a decade, AI could enable you to look into every project completed over the years, compare them to your current projects, and look at ways to improve. It’s definitely on the not-too-distant horizon.

WJ: That would be valuable information. Although I often wonder, as we get more and more instantaneous data, are we setting ourselves up to just have paralysis by analysis? At what point does it become too much data and we're constantly spinning our wheels, looking at numbers to the point where it becomes a net negative effect?

MS: Well, that goes back to my original point, simplicity is key.

WJ: What’s your goal in your current role?

MS: My goal is to develop software that's so compelling that the sales guys become order-takers rather than sales guys. I am optimistic about the future. It truly is exciting to see the opportunities in front of us and what we're going to be able to provide our customers.

Our customers, not explicitly but fundamentally, are asking us, “Do you love me?  Do you understand what I go through every day?”  It’s our task to understand their problems and frustrations and work to solve them. When we're doing our job well, we make their lives easier, simpler, more awesome. So that's my goal.

Mark spent his childhood in southern California and is a graduate of UC Berkeley.  He has had a checkered past, holding positions in corporate communications, sales, product development, marketing, and product management.  He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his family where he spends most of his time staying out of the rain.