Book Recommendations

In a world where numbers and data are vital to telling any compelling story, this book does an excellent job of presenting a variety of different methods to help you share statistics and numerical data much more effectively. And it's packed with examples as well.

A must-read for anyone under the age of 30 *and* anyone else who doesn't feel like they've done enough to prepare for future economic security. Simple, straightforward, actionable...this is a great book.

Another Product Manager "must read" by Marty Cagan. This book tackles the principles necessary to move your company to the Product Operating Model - "about consistently creating technology-powered solutions that your customers love, yet work for your business." This is an incredibly insightful book showing the way to Product Management done right.

For most important subjects, there is one or maybe two books that rise to the top and become the "standard". For strategy, this is that book. Originally published in 2011 and reprinted several times since, this book is a must read for anyone in Product Management because to effectively articulate and define a good product strategy requires a very good understanding of what a good strategy looks like and what a bad strategy looks like. Highly recommended.

The only other role as misunderstood in today’s modern business as Product Manager, is Product Marketing Manager. This book succeeds in clearing all of that up. Similar to the other two books from Silicon Valley Product Group (both reviewed here), this book is clear, very well structured (which makes it a great reference book also), and will help anyone struggling to understand - or struggling to get others in their org to understand - the value and role of Product Marketing.

Disclaimer: I'm a HUGE Scott Galloway fan and really appreciate his wisdom, his ideas, and his overall media style. Having said that, this book is a great "picture book" (it's mostly charts) that highlights some of the most important and concerning trends in the US today.

THE book that every product manager should read early in their career...and re-read every few years or so. The second edition is significantly changed from the first edition, so if you've only read the first edition, go and read the second edition now.

A great book about how to operationalize truly continuous discovery (e.g, weekly customer interviews).

Everything you need to know about recruiting, developing, and leading successful Product Managers.

Another must-read about why empowered product teams (product manager, UX, and engineer) consistently outperform feature-based product management teams.

A structured (if at times, academic) book about developing and validating a product strategy and creating and managing product roadmaps.

The Google Ventures method of rapid prototyping. This book is a step-by-step approach to delivering concrete results in just one week. Idealized a bit, but an inspiring read nonetheless.