14 books to help you grow as a Product Manager 📚
"When in doubt, simplify"
The role of Product Managers is multidimensional, requiring a blend of technical, strategic, and interpersonal skills. Whether you're an aspiring PM or a seasoned professional, continuous learning is key to staying ahead.
Here are 14 of my favorite books:
"Inspired: How To Create Tech Products Customers Love" by Marty Cagan
Marty Cagan shares invaluable insights into product management gleaned from his years of experience at Silicon Valley companies like Netscape and eBay. This book provides practical advice on product strategy, design, and development, offering a blueprint for creating successful products.
Winning products come from the deep understanding of the user’s needs combined with an equally deep understanding of what’s just now possible.
"Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" by Nir Eyal
Nir Eyal delves into the psychology behind what makes products addictive and how to design experiences that keep users coming back for more. Understanding these principles is essential for any PM looking to create products that resonate deeply with their target audience.
Habit-forming products often start as nice-to-haves (vitamins) but once the habit is formed, they become must-haves (painkillers).
"The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses" by Eric Ries
Eric Ries introduces the concept of the lean startup methodology, which emphasizes rapid experimentation, validated learning, and iterative development. This book is a must-read for PMs seeking to build products efficiently and effectively in a fast-paced environment.
When in doubt, simplify.
"Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days" by Jake Knapp
In "Sprint," Jake Knapp outlines a practical framework for conducting design sprints—a five-day process for answering critical business questions through prototyping and testing ideas with customers. Product Managers can leverage this approach to accelerate innovation and make informed decisions.
Great innovation is built on existing ideas, repurposed with vision.
"User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product" by Jeff Patton
Jeff Patton introduces the concept of user story mapping as a powerful tool for visualizing the user's journey and prioritizing product features. This book offers practical guidance on how to create effective user story maps that align with customer needs and business goals.
It all seems important. But then we step back and think about the specific people who will use our product, and what they’ll need to accomplish to be successful. We distill that into a sentence or two. Then we carve away everything we don’t need, and we’re shocked at how small our viable solution really is. It’s magic.
"Product Leadership: How Top Product Managers Launch Awesome Products and Build Successful Teams" by Richard Banfield, Martin Eriksson, and Nate Walkingshaw
This book explores the role of product leadership and how to build high-performing product teams. Drawing on insights from experienced product leaders, it covers topics such as product strategy, vision, execution, and team dynamics.
What is common in high-performance teams is that they are cross-functional, collocated, and autonomous.
"The Design of Everyday Things" by Don Norman
Don Norman explores the principles of good design and how they apply to everyday objects and experiences. While not explicitly about product management, this book offers valuable lessons on usability, user experience, and the importance of empathizing with the end user.
Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible.
"Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers" by Geoffrey A. Moore
Geoffrey A. Moore introduces the concept of the technology adoption lifecycle and how to navigate the challenges of crossing the chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Product Managers can learn valuable strategies for marketing and selling innovative products in this seminal work.
Entering the mainstream market is an act of burglary, of breaking and entering, of deception, often even of stealth.
"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman
Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize-winning (Economic Sciences) psychologist, explores the two systems of thought that drive human decision-making: intuitive, fast thinking, and deliberate, slow thinking. Understanding these cognitive biases and heuristics can help Product Managers design products that resonate with users' mental models.
A simple rule can help: before an issue is discussed, all members of the committee should be asked to write a very brief summary of their position. This procedure makes good use of the value of the diversity of knowledge and opinion in the group. The standard practice of open discussion gives too much weight to the opinions of those who speak early and assertively, causing others to line up behind them.
"The Lean Product Playbook: How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback" by Dan Olsen
Dan Olsen provides a step-by-step guide to applying lean startup principles to product management, emphasizing the importance of iterating quickly and validating ideas with real customers. This playbook is a valuable resource for PMs looking to build successful products from the ground up.
The main reason products fail is because they don't meet customer needs in a way that is better than other alternatives.
"Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High" by Kerry Patterson
Effective communication is essential for PMs, especially when navigating complex stakeholder relationships and addressing challenging issues. "Crucial Conversations" offers practical tools and techniques for having productive discussions and resolving conflicts constructively.
There are four common ways of making decisions: command, consult, vote, and consensus. These four options represent increasing degrees of involvement.
"Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster" by Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz
Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz explore how to use data effectively to drive product decisions and achieve startup success. This book provides actionable insights on measuring key metrics, identifying valuable experiments, and iterating based on customer feedback.
Instincts are experiments. Data is proof.
"Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity" by Kim Scott
Kim Scott shares her insights on how to be a great leader by offering honest feedback with compassion and empathy. As a Product Manager, cultivating a culture of radical candor can foster open communication, trust, and collaboration within your team.
Sometimes, the greatest gift you can give your team is to let them go home.
"The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail" by Clayton M. Christensen
Clayton M. Christensen explores why successful companies often fail to innovate in the face of disruptive technologies. This classic work challenges conventional wisdom and offers valuable lessons for PMs on how to navigate disruptive change and sustain long-term growth.
To succeed consistently, good managers need to be skilled not just in choosing, training, and motivating the right people for the right job, but in choosing, building, and preparing the right organization for the job as well.
