We live in a world with more content available in quick Google search than could ever be consumed. Glass half full view on this is its never been easier to learn, and learn quickly! Glass half empty view looks at it differently, saying its never been harder to find resources you can trust. So much out on the world wide web just isn’t worth your time. That’s why when you do find something valuable, I believe it’s worth sharing, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do in this post. Let’s take a look at a few product management blogs I make sure to track, and end by reviewing my favorite product management book.
BLOGS
I want to start with Product Talk. I think this is a great starting point for any product manager, or aspiring product manager at that. Most of the posts are written by Teresa Torres who is a product discovery coach. Basically, that means she kicks you know what at working with customers to develop products that deliver true value. My mindset as a PM is to always be solving a customer’s problem. I find myself relating to so much of what Teresa writes because she approaches product development the same way. One of my favorite posts of hers was essentially about how to go about building a roadmap. She advocates strongly for the engineering team to be a part of this process. They should not only be developing the product, but they should be part of the discovery process as your team decides what to develop. These kind of not-so-standard takes are incredibly valuable, so check it out if interested.
Next up is Ken Norton’s blog called Bring the Donuts. I really resonate with Ken’s outlook on what the PM role should look like. It’s commonly referred to as the CEO of a product, but that sounds too important. Ken believes no task should be beneath the product manager, including bringing the donuts – hence the name. Ken spent years as a PM at Google where he honed his craft. Now, he’s a product manager coach, sharing his knowledge and wisdom with others. What I love about his blog is he often times writes about what it’s really like developing products at some big time companies. He’s able to do this because of the connections he’s created over the years. On the front page of his blog today, you’ll see posts about product management at Slack, Stripe, and Airbnb, along with many more posts that target specific questions a PM may have. It’s well worth a read!
Amplitude is next on the list. This one is a little different than the others in the fact that it doesn’t directly target product managers. Instead, it focuses on data and analytics. Go look at any job posting for a product manager or product owner and under the requirements section, you’ll find a line stating “Must have experience making data-driven decisions”. It’s the way of the world. There’s no better blog to teach you about the latest and greatest data topics than Amplitude. I’ve been able to take some of the information learned from posts on Amplitude and apply them directly to my job, and its made me a better PM. Check it out today!
Last but not least is Marty Cagan’s blog, insights. Marty is the founder of the Silicon Valley Product Group, whose mission is to “share lessons learned and best practices about how to build innovative products customers love.” He’s also the author of my favorite product management book, but I’ll leave that for the next section. Marty’s blog is straight and to the point. He delivers very practical tips on how to develop better products. I wouldn’t dive head first into this blog if you’re not already in a product role, because it isn’t necessarily inspiring, in the same way that a car lover doesn’t love flipping through the manual of their new car. I promise though that if you are in a product management role and you’re needing advice on anything product related, this is the blog to read. You won’t be disappointed.
Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
I mentioned above that Marty wrote my favorite product management book. It’s called Inspired – How to Create Tech Products Customers Love. It’s widely considered the product management bible, and the list of reviewers that praised the book is nearly endless. Marty’s writing style is similar to that of his blog. He doesn’t beat around the bush on any of the topics. In fact, many chapters are only a page long. His goal is to get you the information you need in the shortest amount of time possible. It’s probably worth mentioning that the book isn’t really meant to be read cover to cover in a couple sittings. Instead, it’s a great book to keep on your desk and reference on a day to day basis. Whenever your team is expanding and you have questions about what the ideal team structure is, reference the book. Got questions on how to draw out the best designs for a product? Reference the book. Ever wonder what the best development framework for your team is? Well, you get the idea.
The book is chalk full of answers to questions like these that every PM has at one point or another. It really hones in on how to build a team, how to solve the right problem, processes to build the best product for the identified problem, and how to build and maintain the right culture around your product. I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s a must have on every product managers bookshelf. The insights gleamed will help you and your team create better products, and enjoy the process even more.
I hope this post was helpful and interesting for any of you in the product field, or those looking to get into the product field. Like I said in the beginning, the problem is not a lack of information. It’s eliminating the noise and honing in on the right information. That was my goal with this post. The resources listed above are what have helped boost my PM career more than any others, and I hope they do the same for you!
Blogs referenced in the post
- https://www.bringthedonuts.com/
- https://svpg.com/articles/
- https://amplitude.com/blog
- https://www.producttalk.org/blog/
