Top 12 Product Management Books
Product management books are essential when learning your craft. Where to begin though? There are a lot of books out there, so which ones should an aspiring Product manager read? We’ve got just the list for you:
1. Inspired
This is a must-read book for anybody interested in knowing what it takes to succeed in product management. Written by Silicon Valley Product Valley founder Marty Cagan, Inspired exposes you to what it takes to design and develop products that customers love.
The book articulates the fundamentals ofo Product. It guides you on how to identify products that are worth working on and striking a balance between stakeholder demands, among other things needed to build great products. In this work, you get a chance to learn from Cagan’s own working experience.
2. Hooked
Authored by Nir Eyal, this book is another that is aimed at teaching you how to build better products by creating engagement hooks that keep a user coming back. If you need tips on how to build a product that won’t require you to spend a lot on ongoing advertising and marketing, this is for you. Hooked is the product of Eyal’s working experience and contains things he wished he knew when starting his career. It shows the importance of psychology when dealing with customers.
3. The Lean Startup
If you’ve ever heard the term “minimal viable product”, this is the book that started it all. This book by Eric Ries introduces Lean methodology and the idea of empirical, evidence-driven product development and iteration.
The Lean Startup is a guide on building a business that pays attention to the customer and provides real value. Forget the name; it is not only useful for startups but also enterprises. It is a handy guide on how to learn and iterate rapidly.
4. Four Steps to the Epiphany
This book from Steve Blank, is an essential read for modern Product Management. Steve Blank was the professor of Eric Reis who introduced the Lead Startup, and really the Godfather of Lean methology as it was popularized in Silicon Valley.
The Four Steps to the Epiphany zeroes in on Customer Development, one of three major steps in the Lean startup. It teaches about how to determine the right product for your market. The book touches on customer discovery, validation, creation and building, key steps in customer development.
5. Don’t Make Me Think
This wittily-titled book by Steve Krug is intended for anyone interested in web usability. First published in 2000, Don’t Make Me Think is a bestseller in the User Experience & Web Usability category on Amazon. It is a favorite of developers and designers.
The book emphasizes the importance of users being able to complete desired tasks as easily as possible when using websites and software. It discusses key things to know about web usability with key points and examples.
6. Value Proposition Design
Creating great products is critical for product managers but it is not an easy thing to do. The trap is building something that doesn’t connect with market interest or demand. This book provides a number of tips and strategies for navigating those challenges and ensuring product-market fit from, starting with validation of the value proposition for the user (what problem you’re solving). It is a terrific read for anyone thinking at a more strategic level about the products they build.
7. The Lean Product Playbook
Written by Dan Olsen, The Lean Product Playbook is yet another book aimed at helping you create products that customers will fall in love with. It has been described as “the missing manual on how to apply Lean Startup principles.” The guide provides an actionable framework that can be used to ensure a good product-market fit. It shows you how to deliver better value with the aid of minimum viable products (MVPs).
8. Product Roadmaps Relaunched
The product roadmap is a highly critical document for the work of product managers and teams. This book, co-authored by “Product Fanatic” C. Todd Lombardo, is a handy guide on to get it right.
Product Roadmaps Relaunched highlights the significance of a product roadmap as well as its relationship to the product strategy and communication. More importantly, it addresses how to create an effective strategic document in the face of uncertainty. It teaches how to align stakeholders with the roadmap and prioritize efficiently. The book does a really nice job of laying out not just what a good roadmap looks like, but the process of prioritization and planning, that leads to an effective roadmap.
9. Product Leadership
Product managers don’t just manage products; they also must manage people. This book, which was co-written by Martin Eriksson, Richard Banfield, and Nate Walkingshaw, is a guide on how to succeed at these. It teaches what it takes to build successful teams and deliver winning products.
Product Leadership is a very comprehensive manual on what product leadership should be in the rapidly-changing technology world that we live in. Learn best approaches and strategies for working with your team and stakeholders, including customers.
10. Cracking the PM Interview
As the name suggests, this book by Gayle McDowell and Jackie Bavaro is a bestseller for people interested in the product manager position. The authors’ tips and experiences are impressive and spell out the critical skills necessary to pass a Product management interview with a top tech company such as Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and others who put their candidates through a rigorous test as part of the interview process.
If you have an interview coming up with a FAANG company, this is a must-read book.
11. Agile Product Management with Scrum
This is a product of Roman Pichler’s extensive coaching experience, in the product space. The book is a useful guide on how product owners can build winning solutions with Scrum. It helps you to understand the difference between typical product management and Scrum product ownership.
Pichler goes into detail on a variety of agile product management practices, including product discovery and minimal marketable products (MMPs). You will learn how to surmount common obstacles in Scrum, among other things.
12. Crossing the Chasm
Looking for a guide on how to market your product successfully? Geoffrey A. Moore’s Crossing the Chasm should interest you.
This one is a classic. The book, which was first published in 1991, teaches introduces a few techniques for figuring out the right time to enter a market and how to sell products to mainstream customers. It covers the process of bringing a product to the market and crossing the “chasm” between early adopters and mainstream early majority in the adoption life cycle.
Summary
While there is a plethora of books to read, these are the staples that most Product Managers will agree you need to read. So start with these and establish a solid understanding of the key concepts and techniques of Product Management. With that solid foundation under your feet, you’ll be well-prepated for the next steps in your career.
