Product Management

This page collects links to blog posts, articles and books about product management.

Companion pages listed to the right and also in the nav bar above cover resources and insights related to lean startup logic/methodsUX designbusiness developmentmarketing; and sales, among other topics.

Educators designing courses to train product managers may wish to review the syllabus for the Harvard Business School MBA elective, Product Management 101, in which students learn the basics of the tech PM role by designing and supervising development of a software app.

Product Management: Overview

  • Dan Olsen's book, The Lean Product Playbook, describes how lean startup management practices can be applied at each stage of the product development process
  • Chris Vander Mey's book, Shipping Greatness, provides practical guidance on the PM's role at each stage of the product life cycle
  • Marty Cagan of Silicon Valley Product Group's Inspired (2nd edition) is a comprehensive guide to the product manager role; the SVPG blog extends the book's insights, as does the book Empowered by Cagan and Jones
  • Flybridge Capital's Jeff Bussgang, NextView Venture's Rob Go and I have published an HBS course note on the product management function (sorry, this costs $7 at HBS Publishing online store; current HBS MBAs can get copy thru Baker Library)
  • The podcast This Is Product Management features product professionals discussing the PM role and product development processes
  • David Barrett, founder/CEO of Expensify, on "Why products suck" and how to improve them; Cagan on the same topic
  • Cagan on the difference between old and new school product management
  • Stefan Rossler compiles a list of 47 videos about product management
  • Yilun Zhang's Hitchhiker's Guide to Product Management provides an introduction to all aspects of the PM role, with recommended readings by topic
Product Managers: Role and Required Skills/Mindset
Product Management Processes: Overview
Specifying Product Requirements
    Feature Prioritization
    Design Critiques/Product Demos
    Product Evolution
    Product Management: Relationship with Project Management
    Product Management: Relationship with Sales/Marketing/Growth Teams
    Product Management: Relationship With Engineering
    Agile Software Development
    Agile vs. Waterfall Methods
    Outsourced/Offshore Product Development
    Refactoring/Rewriting Code/Technical Debt
    Mobile Development
    PM Recruiting and Career Issues