Product Management Books
This page lists all of my favorite books I’d recommend to any product manager. Each of these books made me a better PM. Many made me a better human being as well.
How I use books to improve myself:
Read a book to find new mental models & inspiring anecdotes
Change certain aspects of my behavior accordingly
Ask people around me for feedback and iterate
Repeat
For each book on this page, you’ll find:
A few words on why I’d recommend it to you.
A summary of the book’s main ideas in case you want to know more.
Most of the books I read don’t make it to this list. I only invest the time to summarize books which had a real impact on me.
I update this page regularly. Feel free to bookmark it and return to it later.
All the books in one view (tap to enlarge):
You’ll find a few words and a summary for all the books on the rest of this page.
1. Product operations
You’d be surprised by how many PMs don’t even know basic concepts such as the difference between discovery and delivery. Don’t be that person. To master the basics of product operations, read these two incredible books:
Inspired by Marty Cagan (368 pages) from the Silicon Valley Product Group. It will teach you:
Responsibilities of the product manager
Inconvenient truths about product
Continuous discovery and delivery
Principles for effective product discovery
Discovery techniques
Product vision & strategy
… and more: read the summary
Shape Up by Ryan Singer (176 pages) from Basecamp. You’ll learn:
The process of “shaping” work
Using “appetite” instead of estimations
The “pitch” format
The “betting table” for prioritization
How to cut scope
… and more: read the summary
2. Customer needs
To be a successful PM, you need to master the art of understanding and articulating customer needs. Read these two books in order:
Badass: Making Users Awesome by Kathy Sierra (294 pages). It will teach you the most essential truth in product management: users don’t want your product, they want to improve their lives. My book summary will give you a first overview.
The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick (136 pages). How do you gather customer needs? You talk to people. Sounds easy, but it’s surprisingly hard to do well. You fall prey to your confirmation bias, make bad decisions, and waste a lot of time and money. The Mom Test is the playbook you need to master customer interviews. Start with my actionable book summary (coming soon!), and then go buy the book.
Once you’ve covered these basics, I’d recommend one additional book to go deeper into what “customer value” actually means: When Coffee and Kale Compete by Alan Klement (227 pages). It covers:
The definition of “jobs to be done” that I personally subscribe to
How JTBD changes how we think & talk about products
How to express/communicate a JTBD
How JTBD changes how we view competition
The 4 forces that shape customer demand
Tangible case studies of companies applying the JTBD method
Summary here.
3. Leadership
Great PMs are also great leaders. There are amazing books out there that will help you take your leadership abilities to the next level.
First, you need to learn what “ownership” really means. Mediocre PMs say, “it’s not my job.” Great PMs never say this. They know that real ownership means you’re responsible for everything that impacts your mission. They know that there are no bad teams, only bad leaders. There’s a fantastic book written by two Navy Seals which brings this philosophy to life with tangible examples: Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink & Leaf Babin (384 pages). It will teach you:
Your responsibility as a leader
Extreme ownership
Why discipline = freedom
How to lead others
How to execute well
… and more: read the summary
If you enjoyed Extreme Ownership, you’ll also enjoy The Dichotomy of Leadership (320 pages) by the same authors. It brings valuable nuance to the teachings of Extreme Ownership and ends up being a powerful manual for becoming a better leader.
Second, the best leaders show vulnerability. Vulnerability means strength, not weakness. To become a better leader who’s comfortable with being vulnerable, I highly recommend reading Daring Greatly by Brené Brown (320 pages). I’m working on improving this myself, and this book has been eye-opening for me. Summary coming soon.
Third, I believe you can learn a lot about leadership by studying other people’s and organization’s approaches to leadership. Some of my favorites:
It’s Your Ship by Captain D. Michael Abrashoff (240 pages). A well-written book about a strong leader of the US Navy.
Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg & Alan Eagle (240 pages) from Google. A book about Bill Campbell, the legendary executive coach in Silicon Valley. A short read, it will give you a glimpse into the leadership philosophy of a coach who influenced a whole generation of technology leaders. Summary here.
And finally, if you’re more of a “frameworks” person like me, I enjoyed reading Mastering Leadership by Robert Anderson & William Adams (384 pages). It has a very interesting approach to breaking leadership down into its core components:
The four universal promises of leadership
Reactive vs. creative leadership
… and more: Summary here.
4. Feedback, trust, persuasion, influence
Product management means leading by influence, as opposed to leading with authority. It’s not an easy way to operate, and you’ll need several key skills to succeed.
First, feedback. You need to master both giving and receiving feedback effectively. My favorite guide for this is Radical Candor by Google’s Kim Scott (336 pages). It’s also a great gift idea for your team or colleagues, as it will naturally spark feedback conversations with them. Summary here.
Second, trust. Win people’s trust, and you’ll thrive. Lose it, and you’ll have to look for another job. To gain a deeper understand of what “trust” actually means and how much it’s been affecting your collaboration with others (without you realizing it), I highly recommend you this little-known gem of a book: The Thin Book of Trust by Charles Feltman (68 pages). Summary here.
Third, persuasion. To learn how to deal with people, be convincing, and encourage people to change for the better without creating resentment, read the classic How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie (288 pages). It’s one of these books that you read once and then can always come back to over the years. Summary here.
Fourth, influence. In his book Influence (336 pages), Robert Cialdini identified 6 universal principles which motivate people to say “yes.” Once you learn about these principles, you’ll be able to leverage what you learn to bring about positive change around you. Summary coming soon.
Fifth, charisma. “Charisma is a learnable skill. Its three components are presence, power and warmth.” If this sounds as new to you as it did to me before I read this book: check out The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane (272 pages). You’ll learn how to become a more charismatic leader and develop your self-awareness. Summary coming soon.
Sixth, helping others. Did you ever share advice with someone, they politely thanked you, and then never changed their behavior accordingly? Yep, same here. I became curious to understand what I was doing wrong, and found an intriguing answer: I hadn’t mastered the skill of helping others effectively. The book Helping by Edgar Schein (192 pages) explores common mistakes — I learned a lot about what I was doing wrong — and provides actionable advice to improve your skills as a helper. Summary here.
5. Communication
All great PMs are master communicators. There are incredible books to help you become a better thinker, writer, negotiator, and presenter.
First, before you can communicate clearly, you need to think clearly. Read The Pyramid Principle by Barbara Minto (177 pages) from McKinsey. You’ll learn how to construct your arguments in a convincing way. If you’re like me, applying the principles in this book will take a lot of work and practice, and it will be hugely worth it. Summary here.
Second, writing. My two favorite books for becoming a better writer are:
Writing Without Bullshit: Boost Your Career by Saying What You Mean by Josh Bernoff (304 pages). I noticed a huge improvement in my writing after reading this book, simply because the author managed to change several misconceptions in my thinking. Highly recommended. Summary coming soon.
Writing That Works by Kenneth Roman & Joel Raphaelson (193 pages) from Ogilvy. A short and useful book to teach you how to choose the right words to get what you want. Summary here.
Third, negotiating. Whenever two people have a different opinion and need to reach an agreement, it’s a negotiation. You’ll realize that as a product manager, a large part of your day-to-day is negotiating with others: feature requests, decision making, strategy — negotiations are everywhere. My three favorite books about negotiating are:
Getting Past No by William Ury (208 pages) from Harvard. A concise book by a master negotiator that will teach you negotiation basics like the BATNA and “building a golden bridge.” Summary coming soon.
The Power of a Positive No by William Ury (272 pages) from Harvard. An easy-to-use and memorable guide for mastering the all-important art of saying No. Summary coming soon.
Crucial Conversations by Patterson, Greeny, McMillan & Switzler (272 pages). Whenever you add a lot of emotion to a negotiation, you have what the authors call a “crucial conversation.” The book provides useful techniques to navigate conflict and keep calm even when tensions rise. Summary coming soon.
Fourth, presenting. As a PM, you’ll find yourself presenting in front of audiences all the time, be it at kick-off meetings, all hands, or conferences. My two all-time favorite books on the topic are:
Resonate by Nancy Duarte (272 pages). Gives you the principles & tools that will take your presentations to the next level. The later you read this book, the more you will regret all the missed opportunities to improve your presentations. Summary here.
TED Talks by Chris Anderson (288 pages), the head of TED. This book and “Resonate” complement each other well, and I recommend you read them together. The topics are the same: how to create awesome presentations and win over your audience. Summary here.
6. Strategy
The more senior you are, the more you’ll be expected to be an effective strategist. It’s a tricky skill to pick up, because most people around us suck at strategy: they don’t even know what strategy really means. Especially if you don’t have direct access to top strategic thinkers in your company, books are an amazing way to boost your strategy skills.
First, start with THE absolute must-read on strategy: Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt (336 pages). It will empower you to discern real strategy from the usual fluff. It will make you a better strategist by giving you actionable tips you can follow. Summary here.
Next, I’d recommend Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy by Harvard’s Joan Magretta (256 pages). It’s a well-written overview of the ideas of one of the most prolific strategic thinkers in the business world. It personally helped me a lot to make abstract ideas about strategy more concrete. Summary coming soon.
If you want to go further, I’d recommend two additional books about strategy:
7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy by Hamilton Helmer (210 pages). Provides real-world examples grounded in decades of experience as a strategy advisor, investor, and Stanford University professor. The book will help you build a set of mental models to think through strategy. Summary coming soon.
Playing to Win by A.G. Lafley & Roger Martin (272 pages). Introduces a useful framework from Procter & Gamble to help you make strategic decisions. Summary coming soon.
7. Decision making
Engineers create (or remove) code. Designers create designs. Product managers create decisions and systems for decision making.
Great PMs are masters of decision making. They know when to move fast, and when to slow down. They make everyone around them better decision makers. They are right a lot.
My favorite books about decision making:
Principles by Ray Dalio (592 pages). A masterclass in decision making (and many other topics). As Francis Bacon said: “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Principles is to be chewed and digested. There’s a lot of wisdom in this book, so take your time and enjoy the read. Summary here.
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (499 pages). Every adult should read this book. You’ll realize (i) how biased we all are, in everything we do, all the time; and (ii) how to recognize biases to better manage them. It’s a dense read, but worth it. Summary coming soon.
8. Productivity
Product management is an intense craft. To succeed, you’ll need to be hyper productive. These are the books that helped me the most.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (464 pages). This book contains countless techniques to improve yourself. It will make you think and give you lots of new things to try. Summary here.
The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy (208 pages). This book drives home a simple message: your behavior compounds over time. Consistency is key. I’ve applied it to topics like exercise, establishing a reading habit, doing tasks I don’t enjoy at work, and the results have been amazing. Summary here.
The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal (288 pages). How self-control works, why it matters, and what you can do to get more of it. Summary coming soon.
9. Empowering product development teams
You need to learn how to collaborate well with product development teams. Every team is unique, but there are universal principles you can learn which will guide you to success.
Books that will teach you about team dynamics and how to set up teams for success:
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni (229 pages). Teaches how to pinpoint and articulate what’s going wrong in a team. Gives you actionable advice and techniques to improve the situation. This applies to any team: development teams, teams of PMs, executive teams. Summary here.
Learning Agile by Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene (420 pages). The “agile” world is full of bullshitters and scam artists. It’s a shame, because the underlying ideas are worth gold. I read this book very early in my career, and it helped me a lot. It taught me to be fluent in concepts that are often thrown around without deep understanding (lean, scrum, xp, …). It helped me internalize the principles that underpin the workflows of most modern makers: limit work in progress, start small and iterate, focus on people over processes, and many more. No summary available.
Books that will teach you actionable techniques you can use with your team:
User Story Mapping by Jeff Patton (324 pages). Whenever you start to work on a new initiative, you’ll need to scope and slice the work. This book will teach you how, using “user story mapping.” I’ve used this technique (in many different variations) in every single initiative I’ve kicked off. No summary available.
Sprint by Jake Knapp (288 pages). Explains the “Google Design Sprint” methodology in detail and with insightful examples. Even if you might never run an actual design sprint, all the small techniques are still super useful. I learned a lot: crazy 8 sketches, prototyping, lightning demos, how might we’s, stakeholders presentations, and more. No summary available.
10. Managing and hiring people
As you grow in your PM career, you’ll start managing people. You’ll need to learn how to hire people for your team.
How to be a great manager (I prefer the word “coach”):
Coaching for Performance by Sir John Whitmore (240 pages). This book made me understand what coaching really means. Internalize the principles in this book, practise, and get feedback, and you will become a decent coach pretty quickly. Super powerful. Summary coming soon.
How to become better at hiring people for your team:
Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street (208 pages). An in-depth guide to hiring: scorecards, sourcing, interviewing, convincing candidates, common mistakes, and how to set up your team for hiring success. The book is short and well-written. Summary coming soon.
After you finish “Who,” I recommend Hiring Success: How Visionary CEOs Compete for the Best Talent by Jerome Ternynck (264 pages). It’s not as good as “Who” and covers similar topics, but it helped me add more depth to what I learned from “Who.” Summary coming soon.
11. Managing your PM career
I’d recommend two books to supercharge your PM career.
To take a regular step back and adopt a long-term perspective on your career: The Long View by Brian Fetherstonhaugh (246 pages) from Ogilvy. Contains some of the best career advice I ever received. Here are two short spoilers: (1) Careers last a surprisingly long time. Take the number 69 and deduct your current age. That is the number of years you have left until early retirement. (2) You will acquire 85-90% of your personal wealth after your 40th birthday. An individual’s personal wealth tends to peak at about age 65, and their personal wealth at age 40 is only about 10-15% of that amount. This book puts things into perspective. Summary here.
To master the art of interviewing for PM positions: Cracking the PM Interview by Google’s Gayle Laakmann McDowell and Asana’s Jackie Bavaro. This book is well written and complete. It contains everything you need to know to nail PM interviews (if you have the necessary skills in the first place). It’s a mystery to me how PMs apply for positions and haven’t read this book as preparation. Summary coming soon.
12. Company stories, biographies
And finally, I love reading the stories behind successful people, products and companies. Whenever I read a well-written biography or company story, I leave with tons of new ideas and inspiration for my own work.
I constantly invest time in reading this type of book, and would advise you to do the same.
These are my favorites (in no particular order):
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (656 pages). An incredible biography of one of the most influential people in tech and design. Beyond a fascinating look at Steve Jobs’s personality, you’ll learn Apple’s and Pixar’s origin stories. Summary coming soon. My main learnings:
Build an eye for design.
Pursue your passions, the dots will connect in the end.
Think big, and think different.
Don’t be an asshole.
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone (576 pages). An insightful chronicle of Jeff Bezos and Amazon up until 2013. Summary coming soon. My main learnings:
Think big, and think long-term.
Great execution is essential.
Platforms rule.
Seek clarity in communication & write more.
Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon by Colin Bryar & Bill Carr (304 pages). Lots of actionable insights into the Amazon operating model. The book also tells the story of popular products like Prime and Kindle. Summary coming soon. My main learnings:
How to use PR/FAQs (press releases)
How to leverage single-threaded leadership
How to define input metrics & run regular business reviews.
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight (400 pages). Well written and funny at times. Summary coming soon. My main learnings:
Be your customer’s biggest champion.
Hire experts.
Travel the world.
Don’t outsource your core.
Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull (368 pages). Tells the story of Pixar. The book is also a masterclass in leadership. Summary coming soon. My main learnings:
Trust your people and give them freedom & ownership.
Build psychological safety and encourage candid feedback.
A good story is everything.