Top Five Product Management Books
Many years ago I ran the Education group at ObjectSpace. I had an amazing group of instructors working for me, many of whom have gone on to very successful careers as developers, consultants, and educators. I’m grateful for all that I learned, and continue to learn, from that amazing crew. A few days ago, Craig Larman, a member of that stellar team, sent an email to Rich Mironov and myself asking for some recommendations on the “top 5” books a literate PM should read. That’s a great—and very challenging question—because there are a large number of truly excellent resources on the art and practice of product management. And it is one that is worth answering for the larger community, especially since many product owners are becoming acutely aware of the need to expand their knowledge base to something more than just prioritizing a backlog and answering the development team’s questions on how a feature should work. In this post, I’ll do my best to answer that question, with the full awareness that this list of likely missing some classics that you think are critical.
Free Web Information
Before starting with books, though, let’s review some of the terrific free resources available on the web.
- http://www.enthiosys.com: Our web site has a treasure trove of articles and templates relating to product management.
- http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com: Pragmatic Marketing, the leading provider of training services to Product Managers, and an Enthiosys partner, has another treasure trove of information related to product management.
- blogs: Check out our blogroll for some of our favorite authors on the topic of product management.
Books
Most of the books I’m going to recommend are timeless books that focus on the strong conceptual foundations, strategic thinking, and critical concepts and principles that every great product manager needs for success. In other words, I’m not going to advocate books on writing better requirements. Sure, that’s important, but what’s more important is understanding where your productis situated on the technology adoption lifecycle curve, whether or not a proposed feature is part of your expected or augmented products, and the importance of market segmentation. With that in mind, and NOT listed in any priority order, here are some books that I’ve kept on my shelf for years and years. I assume that you’ll always strive to purchase the latest edition of any book listed.
Essential Books: The TOP 5
- Marketing High Technology by Davidow
- The Marketing Imagination by Levitt
- The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing by Nagle
- Winning at New Products by Cooper
- Product Management by Lehmann and Winer
Books that I strongly recommend:
- Customer-Centric Product Definition by Mello
- Inspired by Cagan
- Software Product Management Essentials by Dver
- Beyond Selling Value by Shonka and Kosch
- Innovation Games by Hohmann
- The Art of Product Management by Mironov
- Developing Products in Half the Time by Smith and Reinertsen
- Crossing the Chasm by Moore
- The Macintosh Way by Kawasaki
There you have it—a short a simple list of books that a literate PM should have on their bookshelf. What do you have on yours?
Reader additions
- Adam Bullied recommends The Product Manager’s Desk Reference by Haines. Yup!
May 20th, 2009 at 20 May 2009
Not much overlap with my list, which is more startup-focused and creative-thinking-oriented—http://www.cindyalvarez.com/roundups/10-books-product-manager
and some more interesting books at Jeff Lash’s resources page: http://www.goodproductmanager.com/resources
May 20th, 2009 at 20 May 2009
I highly recommend having “The Product Manager’s Desk Reference” on your shelf as well. You’ll never read it cover to cover, but its a great resource to pick up when you’re tackling a specific issue and want to …...”reference” it. Duh! I found the chapter on Product Strategy especially thorough.
May 21st, 2009 at 21 May 2009
I am surprise (no not really) that you left Tuned In off the list.
– Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs by Phil Myers, Craig Stull, David Meerman Scott
May 21st, 2009 at 21 May 2009
I find your list of books extremely one sided and biased. If you truly want to provide a list of books and/ or resources helpful to the Product Management field then be open to all of them – that includes your competition. The Product Managers Desk Reference by Steven Haines is not only one of the most excellent books I’ve found, but it is deserving of being at the top of your list! There are numerous other sites where people have commented the same, so what part did you not read? Leaving The Product Managers Desk Reference off of your list does NOTHING to support product managers doing the job and looking for all the resources they can find, but is obviously an attempt to create some business for yourself. I will be sure to make note which companies/websites truly support my profession. Rest assured you won’t make my list!
May 21st, 2009 at 21 May 2009
Great list—a few other books I’d recommend:
The Product Manager’s Desk Reference by Haines
The Product Managers Handbook by Gorchels
You mentioned Winning at New Products by Cooper—there’s a number of other great books Cooper has written, most notably Product Leadership
May 24th, 2009 at 24 May 2009
Thanks, everyone, for the excellent additions. I must admit that I have not yet read Steven Haines book. I’ve now ordered it and am looking forward reading it. The other books referenced above were just some omissions on my part. I love Tuned In and have found value in Gorchels book. It really is hard to list just the top five!