There are so many great books, blogs, resources on product management, interview prep, career as a whole. The following are just a handful of the many resources that have contributed to my personal and professional growth.
Books
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Everyone should read this book and PMs should read this book more than once. This book contains practical tips that add immense value both personally and professionally.
- INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love: This is a great book on Product Management and should be required reading for every product manager. If you’re new to or interested in product management, you need to read this book!!
- Cracking the PM Career: From the same authors of Cracking the PM Interview, this book provides the skills, frameworks, and tools needed to become a great product manager. In addition, I was interviewed in the book to discuss how Hardware Product Management differs for Software Product Management
- Escaping the build trap: Fantastic book that discusses the danger of feature factory product teams. Instead, product teams should be outcome-based and deliver real value to their customers as well as the business.
- Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers: A classic that discusses how to launch products that gain the initial traction they need to eventually reach the majority and avoid the chasm between the early adopters and early majority.
- The Product Manager’s Desk Reference: This book is loaded with templates and is an excellent reference book for new and experienced product managers.
- The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail (Management of Innovation and Change): Some of the examples are quite dated but the principles and core lessons are still valid in today’s tech world. Highly recommended reading on innovation and groundbreaking product development.
- High Output Management: While this book is geared towards people managers, there are definitely lots of tactics that product managers can apply given that our roles often involve leading without authority.
- Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs: Great analysis with practical examples on paying attention to customers and understanding their needs.
- Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It: You don’t get what you don’t ask for! This book made me realize that many things in life are negotiable and it provided me with tips on salary negotiations amongst others. Another great book on negotiations is Getting to Yes.
- Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World: This is a great book on team dynamics and will arm you with some techniques to work better with your team.
- Expect to Win: 10 Proven Strategies for Thriving in the Workplace: Throughout my career, I’ve been told that I’m either too quiet or too aggressive. Reading this book provided me with tactics that have helped me successfully direct the course of my career thus far.
- How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from Your Next Raise, Promotion, or Job: This book changed my approach to work and taught me the importance of delegating tasks. It also emphasized the importance of adaptability as I rose up the ranks – What got me there, won’t keep me there.
- Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days: Go from Idea to Minimum Lovable Product in a few days with the framework outlined in this book.
- Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals: This book has been extremely beneficial to someone like me as I sometimes struggle with palatable ways to present complex data.
- Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works: A great read on business strategy and how to apply it.
Blogs
- https://stratechery.com/ – worth paying for
- lennysnewsletter.com – worth paying for
- https://askgib.substack.com/
- https://www.kennorton.com/
- https://www.sachinrekhi.com/
- https://www.productlessons.xyz/
- https://blackboxofpm.com/
- https://www.mindtheproduct.com/
Podcasts
- The Product Experience
- https://www.100productmanagers.com/
- https://www.thisisproductmanagement.com/
- http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/
- https://stratechery.com/category/podcasts/
- https://mastersofscale.com/
Interview Resources
- https://stellarpeers.com/
- https://thepminterview.com/
- https://www.productalliance.com/
- https://www.tryexponent.com/
- Decode and Conquer: Answers to Product Management Interviews
- Cracking the PM Interview: How to Land a Product Manager Job in Technology
This list is not exhaustive by any means and is only a sliver of the resources out there on personal and professional development.
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Disclaimer: I may earn a small commission for links to the books listed on this page. Your purchase helps support my work in bringing you tactical information about product management as well as keeping my content free of charge to readers like you. Please know that I only recommend what I’ve personally used and stand behind.
