- Walks through key PM skills to be developing & various career path options
- Includes Q&A from various PM leaders on how to get into the discipline
- Written by two well-respected women PM leaders
How about something for prepping for PM interviews?
How about something with real-world PM case studies?
- It's very concrete: a well-defined exercise using a simple visual artifact
- It's guide-oriented: "here are the steps", "try this", "don't do that", etc.
- It has a healthy product-not-PM-centric tone: this is something teams need to do.
I'd like to learn about how to navigate a career in PM
I'd just like a high-level book with a mix of PM topics
- Describes the symptoms of an organization that lacks effective PM
- Walks through the process of improving said organization
- Touches on Product, Design, and Engineering problems
- Describes concrete skills & techniques for learning necessary skills
How about some other PM options?
How about more of the UX side of PM?
- Run by Lenny, of Lenny's newsletter & AirBnB PM fame
- Three week cohort for ~$1K with live instruction
- Is brand new, so your mileage may vary
How about something similar, but more established?
How about something cheaper / less intense?
Are you looking for osmosis ( 📖 / 🎧 ) or action ( 🏋️♀️ )?
Books, Newsletters, Podcasts, Tweets...
Courses, Conferences, & Communities...
- Seminal work on UX thinking
- Uses common everyday things like doors to explain concepts
- A lot of fun to read!
I'd like to understand the underlying psychology at play
I'd like something at the intersection of brand / product / UX
Are you looking for core PM principles, or related topics like strategy / management?
I'm more interested in learning / doing product management.
I'm more interested in organizational strategy & people management.
- Great storytelling on the history and creation of great businesses
- A mix of product, marketing, investing, etc.
- In startups, PM roles are much closer to "general business" types of problems
How about something about current biz <=> tech happenings?
- Rotating set of PM leaders, each bringing a different perspective
- 20-30 min segments => less likely to zone out while listening
How about something more general about biz <=> tech?
How about something more general about UX / design?
- Hosted by Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway, two prominent business thought leaders
- Covers the intersection of business, technology, and politics
- Leverages a "pull no punches" style that some will love and some will hate
- Product management is about building artifacts that serve customer needs
- This podcast is all about the hidden design decisions, stories, and more about everyday "products"
- You'll develop some design / product sense, and learn a lot about the objects around you
- Dive deep on one of the least appreciated parts of PM - product discovery.
- Work with well-respected leaders on the topic, Teresa Torres and Hope Gurion
- ~$500 for content & hands-on practice / coaching
How about something for convincing my company to do this?
- Learn from Marty Cagan, and other amazing PM coaches
- Useful to get grounded training & advice with a short time committment
- Workshop options for "product management", "product marketing", & "product leadership",
- Pricey @ ~$2K, but well reviewed by attendees (maybe get your boss to pay for it 😃)
How about something less..."Silicon Valley"?
What about something focused on Product leadership?
- A specialization type course, meaning that there's a bit more depth than a usual Coursera course.
- Includes "learning by doing" via a project, peer feedback on assignments, etc.
- ~$80/mo and ~3-6 months @ 3hrs/week
How about something cheaper / less work?
How about more of a workshop / coaching format?
- Created by Melissa Perri, PM thought leader
- Cohort-based and requires an application
- Includes access to a PM leadership community
- Pragmatic Institute is known for high quality topic about agile topics
- This is an especially great option for helping folks learn about PM within an enterprise setting
- It's a bit pricy at ~$1200, but comes well reviewedd
- Has been around for 5 years, a lifetime in PM years.
- Generally taught by PMs at the big tech companies - which has pros & cons
- At $4K for a full course (or $1K for smaller ones), it's pricier than other options.
- Similar in breadth to the Coursera course, just less deep / interactive
- Extremely well reviewed, and good overviews of many PM topics
- Cheaper at a one time $109 (vs. $79/mo for multiple months)
- Slack community that seems to have the most engaging content & conversations
- Lots of fireside chats, community polls, job postings, etc.
- Access is via Lenny's Newsletter (which has great content, but means ~$15/mo).
- Their events are the "big dance" for PM speakers
- Steady source of great content
- A large Slack community of PMs worldwide
How about a community that's a bit more "Startup" oriented?
How about a community that's more "content producer" oriented?
- Solid mix of "go at your own pace" content + community + live conversations will be the right format for most people.
- Run by Melissa Perri, author of the highly recommended "Escaping the Build Trap" guide to PM book
- At ~$1K, if offers more tangible value than cheaper Coursera/Udemy courses, but is cheaper than other "more intensive" PM course options
How about something where I'm predominantly learning via live instruction?
How about something less expensive?
- Fun & light-hearted take on the "biz news" newsletter
- More biz focused than tech (though tech is a key part of most biz these days)
- Free & semi-weekly
- In depth articles about the latest news in the tech industry
- Original-source reporting & analysis that can't be found elsewhere
- A major focus on big-tech (if that's of interest to you)
- Pricy (~$40/mo) but for folks who crave deep industry knowledge, it's worth it
- Cast of great UX thinkers with clear headed view of the role of UX
- Regular, high quality content
- Their mascot is a polar bear.
- Weekly thought-provoking analysis of the state of business & tech
- An impressive level of depth on the subjects he covers
- Paid option (~$12/mo) for more frequent content & community features
Those articles look long... how about something lighter / more fun?
Inject tech industry news straight into my veins.
- Hard to beat a newsletter name involving donuts
- Years' worth of great PM articles, many from well before the current PM craze
- Just recently started writing again after a hiatus
- Really interesting paid ($400/yr) membership model where you get access to an audience to share your PM podcasts/articles/etc.
- Free access to good content + cheap ($10/yr) access to a large Slack community
- An aggregation of articles from a large community of PMs
- Many of the articles are "How to" oriented
- Yyou can find thoughts from less well known PMs
- Marketing focused, but in a user-centric / product relevant way
- An unbelievable amount of creative output over the years
- Consistently thought-provoking content
How about something more news/analysis focused?
What about something that goes deeper on a specific topic?
- By Marty Cagan (revered product leader) & a small set of other extremely experienced PMs
- Many of the articles exude wisdom and experience
- It's free!
I'm digging the wisdom - what else you got along those lines?
Maybe something from newer perspectives in the PM space?
- Consistent bi-weekly content that focuses on key "How to..." questions of PM
- Combines big PM background (Google/Tesla/etc.) with more personal tone
- Great way to support women in product management!
What are some other PM-focused newsletters?
How about relevant but non-PM focused newsletters?
- Is a fantastic weekly newsletter on a variety of PM topics
- The content is approachable to varying PM levels
- There are great "State of PM" survey results on tools / approaches / etc.
- An important note: some content is paid (inc. Slack community access)
- Another important note: it has nothing to do with "Of Mice and Men"
"Lenny"? How about a different PM newsletter?
Who has time to read - where are the podcast suggestions?
- It is imperative that PMs and UX thinkers understand how humans make decisions (unfortunately, humans don't so so in rational ways...)
- Daniel Kahneman is a founding father of the discipline and this book is his "Best of" material
- This book has lots of good examples, but it's quite dense.
How about similar concepts, but not so dense?
How about a deep dive on a single concept within this space?
- As you better understand behavioral pscyhology, you realize that humans struggle with decision making
- This book makes the case that by reducing the number of options, you can improve outcomes for both sellers & buyers
- Behavioral pscyhology is the study of how humans make decisions
- This book takes that research and creates an actional framework for using it to build effective UX
- With great power comes great responsibility - this book has a bit of a "dark arts" feel to it
How about something more academic?
How about something more oriented towards public policy?
- Foundational book on the practice of using behavioral pscyhology principles to affect behavior
- This is particularly relevant to those in public policy, given that the term "nudge" is now being considered at that level
- Both authors are well-respected academics (Thaler recently won the Nobel Prize in Economics)
- A classic in the behavioral pscyhology space by a respected academic
- Uses fun examples to explain how humans are both irrational and predictable at the same time
- Understanding the irrationality of humans is a surprisingly important PM skill :)
- Subtitled "The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life", this book will make challenge assumptions, inspire creativity, and more.
- Creating an amazing experience is such an important, yet nebulous, concept and this book helps make it more concrete and actionable.
- In depth explanations of technology trends, popular case studies, and more amazing context for PMs
- Explores questions like "How does Google search work?" and "How did WeChat become China's official app?"
- An indepensible tool for PM thinking, and fun to learn from!
- Product management interviews often involve questions / assignments that look for a "product mindset".
- This book outlines the types of questions asked & how to frame your thinking to showcase your PM skills.
- Although it's a tad outdated with its examples, it's still quite useful, especially for new PMs.
- Amazing overview of general strategy thinking
- Aggregated from the research by thought leader, Michael Porter
- Get ready to beat your friends at Poker :)
Let's go deeper on strategic thinking
Less strategy, more storytelling.
- Storytelling is an underappreciated skill for PMs
- It's not a skill that is usually teached, either in school or work settings
- This book does a great job of providing actionable advice and examples
How about storytelling...with pictures?
Storytelling is great - but my writing skills need work...
- Good drawings & diagrams are amazingly helpful at building consensus
- This book describes a concrete methodology for which types of drawings in different scenarios
- As you'd expect, it's full of great drawings so is an enjoyable read.
- Mental models are a crucial part of PM & general strategic thinking
- This book outlines lots of different techniques for different sitations
- At times, the content is shallow and/or cheesy, but all in all, a great reference
- The clearest guide for how to go from "being managed" to team lead to people manager, all the way up to executive.
- Although the focus is on technical management, most of the advice still rings true for PMs
- One of my most gifted books to up and coming technologists
How about something a bit more fun 🧞?
How about something a bit more classic 🏛️?
- The story of, and lessons learned at, one of the most prolificly creative organizations on Earth
- Relive the stories you know and love, while learning about how they were created
- Get inspired by the ideas & tips for recreating some of the same magic in your org
- Feels the most cohesive for improving PM within an org
- Has a ton of concrete exercises & tips
- Authors have experience across many types of product orgs
How about something deeper on strategy?
How about something deeper on people management?
General overview, or deeper dive on a topic?
Help me get a general lay of the land.
I have a good general PM sense, but I'd like to go deeper.
Are you pumped & ready to take a course?
Yes - let's do this thing!
Not quite yet - how about a conference or community first?
- John wins Twitter for his unbelievable mix of creativity & output
- Many of his tweets are drawings, diagrams, and/or thought-provoking stuff
- He is a PM advocate at Amplitude, so lots of great stuff at intersection of PM & Data
How about someone more focused on customer research?
How about someone more focused on prioritization & execution?
Are you the "Learn from a book" type, or the "Give me the steady stream of newsletter / podcast" type?
My apartment smells of rich mahogany.
Do people still read books?
I dig the Twitter option. Who else to follow?
Twitter, really? How about a good book or podcast?