I will admit I don’t read enough. I find it hard to focus on stories after spending my work-day reading things rapid-fire. Most of my day is spent reading industry reports, e-mails, Slack messages, product requirements, tweets, etc.
However, ny recent shift towards being a better product manager has lead me to really dig my teeth into some eye-opening books.
I doubt most of these books were intended as “product management” books, but I find myself relating to their concepts in my day-to-day.
“Thinking in new boxes” really helps learning how to ask the right questions. A big part of being a product manager involves asking questions, re-thinking and evaluating your own biases. I also found it useful for helping run brainstorming sessions that are effective.The Sprint Book walks you through running a 5-day sprint – from brainstorming to almost delivering a feature. I found it extremely useful in organizing my product team around user goals rather than technology.A big part of being a product manager is saying “no” to things. I find myself saying “no” a lot, and for the most part I don’t really care if others hate me for it. However, sometimes the way I say “no” can cause more damage. This book, “How to do great work without being an asshole” is actually geared towards designers and those working in creative agencies, but it still has a lot of good information, presented with lots of humour.Value Proposition Design, like The Sprint Book is a very practical book. It walks you and your team through practical excercises and “templates”, putting users first and designing value-driven features.A bit of an older book, “Emotional Design” is a real eye-opener for those who design products, whether for enterprise or for a consumer. Engineers usually dismiss the usability and “visceral” feelings of features. The author helps an engineer like me understand that the “logical” isn’t the only important decision. The first half of the book is excellent, but at some point it gets quite long winded.
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