The best 3 books for current and aspiring Product Managers

Reading Time: 6 minutes

We all love a list. Top songs, movies, takeaways, holiday destinations — we consume several lists daily. We’re numerical creatures, and I’ve come across a tonne (or ton, for my US readers) of lists of the best product content out there — whether it’s video, audio or the written word, there’s already a list for it.

However, the challenge with many of these is that they can be overwhelming. There might be people out there that can consume 50 recommendations and then follow through on all of them, but if there are, they’re the few.

I’ve decided to write a series of posts covering my top recommendations across podcasts, books, blogs, newsletters and even Miro templates.

Books

In this post, let’s talk about books. Famous ones include The Bible, Don Quixote, The Mr Men series and Selfish by Kim Kardashian (this last book is, unfortunately, real).

Some very quick maths to explain why I felt the need to create this post.

If a non-fiction book is roughly 300 pages, it takes an average reader just over 5 hours to read. That means you’ll need over 200 hours to read all the books on this list by Paweł Łubiarz, and 300 hours to get through this one by David Pereira. 

Then there’s the mental drain of trying to absorb so much information, the impact that may have on your reading speed and the diminishing returns you get as you read more and more similar, overlapping content.

I’m not criticising the lists or the authors — there are some brilliant books on both of them and I respect the time and effort it must have taken them to curate this list, and they’ve even categorised them to try and make them digestible. For some of you, this might be what you’re after, which is why I’ve put the links above.

For most people, though,  there are too many recommendations, and it leads to cognitive overload. 

This post is for those of you that don’t have the time or the inclination for that kind of undertaking. You’ve got other things to do — like look after the kids, go to the gym, tend to your plants or you just want to spend more time doing nothing.

Whether you’re an aspiring PM or already working as one, these will help you on the path to becoming an expert. In fact, regardless of your seniority, if you haven’t read these, I implore you to do so.

Along with these books, the authors are worth a follow. So here you go – the 3 best books for product managers.

Inspired – Marty Cagan

Inspired was originally released in 2008, with a second edition released a decade later, and is written by Marty Cagan.

I’m not the only person to claim that this is the number 1 for product managers; with good reason. It’s hard to summarise because it covers the full spectrum of product management, and that’s exactly why you should read it.

At its core, it’s about how product managers and teams (developers and designers) can build products that deliver on the users’ needs. Which, really, is what product management is all about. Ergo, this book is about how to be a great product manager.

Inspired is the best book to give you an overview of the why, what and how of product management

Marty provides a practical framework for building successful products, covering:

Plus plenty more, but I don’t want to regurgitate the whole book, so grab yourself a copy via the link below.

INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love – 2nd Edition – Silicon Valley Product Group
How do today’s most successful tech companies-Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla-define, design and develop the…www.svpg.com

Start with Why – Simon Sinek

Start with Why was released in 2009 and is written by Simon Sinek.

I’ve been a big fan of Simon’s content (both long and short form) for a while and his debut book remains his best, in my opinion.

Unlike Cagan’s Inspired, it’s easy to describe this book in one sentence. Start with Why takes you through why adopting a purpose-driven approach will lead to better products, happier customers and greater financial success.

Start with Why has clear rhetoric — that purpose-driven individuals and organisations and more successful, and more fulfilled

If you’re a more junior Product Manager you may not be explicitly responsible for strategy, but that only makes reading content like this more important. 

Before you know it you’ll go from being a head-down, delivery-focused producer manager to a product leader that’s required to think wider, further and lead other people. Get ahead of the game and read this book.

Start with Why
Start with Why shows that the leaders who’ve had the greatest influence in the world all think, act, and communicate…simonsinek.com

Hooked – Nir Eyal

Hooked was originally released in 2013 and is written by Nir Eyal, with input from Ryan Hoover.

Where Empowered focuses on product management and Start with Why focuses on strategy, Hooked focuses on the Customer Experience.

The book is enlightening on human psychology and a treasure trove of information on various mental models and mind patterns. 

Hooked takes you deep into the users’ minds to understand how to build habit-forming products

Nir and Ryan will give you an understanding of:

• The difference between painkiller and vitamin products

• The ‘Habit Zone’

• Triggers (external and internal)

• Actions (driven by motivation, ability and triggers)

• Reward and the importance of variability

• Investment and how user effort impacts product success

The same applies here as to ‘Inspired’ — I don’t want to give it all away, so you’ll have to give the book a read.

The ‘Hook Model’ will give you an understanding, backed by data, of what drives the motivation of users and is something I still consider when defining new products or features.

Nir is super active on LinkedIn, so if you have any questions about the book, there’s a good chance he’ll get back to you if you reach out.

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of…www.nirandfar.com

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That’s it. There are the best 3 books to put you on the path to becoming an expert product manager. If you enjoyed it, claps and follows are much appreciated and I’d love to know what you think in the comments!

Happy reading! 📚

If you enjoyed this post, why not check out my list of top 3 podcasts to listen to?

The Best 3 Podcasts to Become an Expert Product Manager

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