So You Want to be a Product Manager?

When asked about Product Management and the role of a Product Manager, here are some resources that I share that have been beneficial to me:

Start Here:

1. Behind Every Great Product — Silicon Valley Product Group
2. What does a product manager do? — by Brent Tworetzky.
3. How to write a good PRD (Product Requirements Document) — Silicon Valley Product Group (Note: the author of this, Marty Kagan (Silicon Valley Product Group) has since written: “Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love” another great place to start and also discusses the place (or lack of it) of the PRD today — but I find this article helpful in framing the role and a PRDs still a helpful document in the process of creating products.
4. Marketing Malpractice: The Cause and Cure — Christensen et al, Harvard Business Review (About the Jobs to Be Done concept, a key to good product thinking)
5. Start with Why

Recommended Books:

• Do the Work — Steven Pressfield (Helps you with the philosophy behind what inhibits us from sticking to it when it gets tough, also a great way to think about the big picture of your product called the “foolscap method”).
• Made to Stick — The Heath Brothers (good for helping you pitch and sell your ideas)
• User Story Mapping — Patton et al (Tactical way to think about building products as an individual or a team).
• Hooked — Nir Eyal (A model for building habit forming products (YouVersion Bible App is one of the case studies).
• Competing Against Luck — A full Treatment by Christensen et al, on Jobs Theory / Jobs to be Done Theory.

Other Resources:

1. 50 Articles and Books to help you become a great product manager — Noah Weiss on Medium.
2. 10 Week Part-time Course with General Assembly on Product Management
3. One way (also done at Google) how big tech companies groom their future product leaders. The Rotational Product Manager Program. The rotational concept is something we’ve built into Mentry Apprenticeship Program.
4. Aha! An Product Roadmap Tool growing in popularity — 200k customers at time of writing.
5. Thrv product management software, the first based on Jobs to be Done — connecting your roadmap to the customer job.
6. Maybe you just landed a job as a Product Manager? Here is what to do in your first 30 days — also from Aha!
7. Product Launch Checklist.
8. Book: “Launch” by Jeff Walker.
9. Various resources from Product School including possible interview questions, Google product job preparation, their list of product resources, the ultimate list of interview questions, and their blog.
10. Very practical breakdown of Product Manager skills by seniority level.