23 Product Management Books PMs Must Read in 2023
Which product management books do you have on your shelf (or Kindle)? Are you not sure what to add to it?
Our guide introduces 23 must-reads, from timeless classics to hot-off-the-press publications that are creating waves in the market.
Whether you’re a seasoned product management pro or just starting out on this thrilling journey, we’re pretty sure you’ll discover a book or two that will help you boost your product management game.
Let’s get right to it!
TL;DR
- Continuous Discovery Habits is a guide for Teresa Torres’ discovery framework.
- Escaping the Build Trap promotes outcome-driven product management to deliver real value to customers.
- Inspired offers valuable lessons and strategies for building successful products.
- The Lean Product Playbook is a comprehensive guide to lean product development.
- Hooked delivers insights into the psychology of user habits and engagement to design captivating products.
- Sprint presents a practical and efficient approach to problem-solving and innovation, empowering SaaS teams to test and validate ideas quickly.
- The Lean Startup provides principles for continuous innovation and validated learning in the fast-paced and disruptive SaaS space.
- Product Rantz is an amusing read on ‘how to lose users and alienate your customers.’
- Empowered is a guide to creating extraordinary products by empowering teams and individuals.
- Build delivers practical advice on creating valuable products, challenging conventional wisdom, and encouraging new perspectives.
- The Jobs To Be Done Playbook and When Coffee & Kale Compete are guides to the JTBD framework.
- Measure What Matters offers tips on how to implement OKRs to drive performance and innovation.
- The Insights Driven Product Manager is a comprehensive guide for leveraging data and insights in product management.
- The North Star Playbook introduces the North Star framework.
- My Product Management Toolkit is a collection of tools and techniques for excelling in product management.
- Product Analytics for Dummies is a beginner-friendly guide to leveraging product analytics for data-driven decision-making.
- Hired: How to Get a Product Management Job is a valuable resource for aspiring product managers navigating the job search process.
- Launch: The Roadmap to Product Management Success is a guide on how to carry out successful product launches.
- Crossing the Chasm introduces strategies for successfully bringing innovative products to the mainstream market.
- Outcomes Over Output emphasizes customer behavior as the key metric for business success.
- Thinking in Bets is a fresh perspective on decision-making in uncertain environments.
- Product Leadership presents insights on effective product leadership and team-building.
All-time classic books to sharpen your product management skills
Let’s start with the classics. If you haven’t read these yet, this is the place to start your exploration of the product management literature.
- Continuous Discovery Habits by Teresa Torres introduces a powerful framework that promotes an iterative approach to product discovery, which is essential for product and startup success. Buy here.
- Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value by Melissa Perri helps SaaS product managers avoid the pitfalls of focusing solely on feature development. Buy here.
- Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan, a PM guru and the founder of the Silicon Valley Product Group, is a must-read for SaaS product managers seeking to create products that resonate with customers. Buy here.
- The Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen offers a comprehensive guide to lean product development. Buy here.
- Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal explores the psychology behind user habits and engagement. Buy here.
- Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp introduces a framework for quickly testing and validating ideas to achieve product-market fit in less time. Buy here.
- The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries is a foundational read introducing principles of continuous innovation and validated learning in the SaaS space. Buy here.
The best product management books to read in 2023
Now that you’ve read the classics and are able to recite the key passages without hesitation when woken up in the middle of the night, it’s time to look at a few slightly less-known yet equally valuable reads.
Let’s check them out!
8. Product Rantz
Author: Tiana He, Emilia Korczynska & Kelli Truelove, B2B marketing rockstars from Userpilot, a product adoption platform.
Reviews: n/a
Book overview: Product Rantz is a light-hearted and immensely entertaining read based on 150 newsletters written by Emilia Korczynska, the Head of Marketing at Userpilot.
What you’ll learn?
- Worst (and best) product practices.
- How to avoid alienating and losing your customers.
- What not to do in user experience and PLG.
Where to buy it? Amazon
9. Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products
Author: Marty Cagan & Chris Jones
Reviews: Amazon 4.6/5, Goodreads 4.32/5
Book overview: Empowered is a guide to creating extraordinary products by empowering teams and individuals. The authors share their experiences and insights from working with some of the world’s most successful companies, providing practical advice for product managers and leaders.
What you’ll learn?
- How to build a culture of innovation and empowered product teams.
- A guide on how to develop a strong product strategy and vision.
- Tips for scaling product organizations without sacrificing quality.
Where to buy it? Amazon
10. Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
Author: Tony Fadell
Reviews: Amazon 4.7/5, Goodreads 4.35/5
Book overview: Build offers practical advice on how to create valuable products. The book provides an unorthodox approach to product development – challenging conventional wisdom and encouraging readers to think differently about the process.
What you’ll learn?
- Techniques for identifying and validating product ideas.
- How to create a lean product development process.
- Benefits of embracing a growth mindset for continuous improvement.
Where to buy it? Amazon
11. The Jobs To Be Done Playbook: Align Your Markets, Organization, and Strategy Around Customer Needs
Author: Jim Kalbach & Michael Schrage
Reviews: Amazon 4.5/5, Goodreads 4.13/5
Book overview: The Jobs To Be Done Playbook is a comprehensive guide to understanding and applying the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework in product development. The book provides practical tools and techniques for aligning products with customer needs.
What you’ll learn?
- The basics of the JTBD framework.
- How to identify and prioritize customer needs.
- Tools for creating products and services that solve real problems.
- How to ensure alignment between your organization and strategy around customer needs.
Where to buy it? Amazon
12. Measure What Matters
Author: John Doerr
Reviews: Amazon 4.5/5, Goodreads 3.99/5
Book overview: Measure What Matters is a guide to implementing Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) in your organization. The book provides real-world examples from successful companies that have adopted the OKR framework, as well as practical advice on implementing OKRs to drive performance and innovation.
What you’ll learn?
- The basics of the OKR framework.
- How to set meaningful objectives and key results.
- Techniques for tracking and measuring progress towards OKRs.
Where to buy it? Amazon
13. The Insights-Driven Product Manager
Author: Corinna Stukan
Reviews: n/a
Book overview: The Insights Driven Product Manager is a comprehensive guide for product teams seeking to leverage essential metrics and data-driven insights for better decision-making.
What you’ll learn?
- How to avoid metrics overload and focus on the key metrics only.
- How to create a holistic view combining business and product metrics.
- Different applications of qualitative and quantitative data.
- How to communicate your insights with your internal and external stakeholders.
Where to buy it? Insight’s Driven PM
14. The North Star Playbook
Author: John Cutler
Reviews: Goodreads 4.03/5
Book overview: The North Star Playbook provides a practical guide to implementing the North Star Framework, a product management approach focused on aligning teams around a single, customer-centric metric that drives value and growth.
What you’ll learn?
- How to define and implement a North Star Metric for your product.
- Techniques for aligning teams and stakeholders around your metric.
- Strategies for incorporating the North Star Metric into your product management process.
Where to buy it? Amplitude (Free)
15. My Product Management Toolkit
Author: Marc Abraham
Reviews: Amazon 4.3/5, Goodreads 4.14/5
Book overview: This book presents a comprehensive collection of tools, techniques, and best practices for product managers to develop and refine their skills. It covers various aspects of product management, from ideation to product launch and growth.
What you’ll learn?
- Strategies for successful customer research and validation.
- Best practices for product road mapping and prioritization.
- Techniques for managing stakeholders and cross-functional teams.
Where to buy it? Amazon
16. Product Analytics for Dummies
Author: Brittany Fuller & Anastasia Fullerton
Reviews: Goodreads 3.5/5
Book overview: Product Analytics for Dummies is a beginner-friendly guide to using analytics in product management. It covers the basics of data analysis, key product metrics, and best practices for using analytics to improve product performance and customer satisfaction.
What you’ll learn?
- The fundamentals of product analytics and data-driven decision-making.
- Key metrics and KPIs for measuring product performance.
- Strategies for setting up an effective analytics infrastructure.
- Best practices for using data to inform product decisions.
Where to buy it? Amplitude
17. Hired: How to Get a Product Management Job
Author: Product School
Reviews: Goodreads 4.21/5
Book overview: Hired is a comprehensive guide for aspiring product managers looking to land their first job in the field.
What you’ll learn?
- How to create a compelling product management resume/CV
- Tips for acing the product management interview process
- Strategies for evaluating and negotiating job offers
- A 30-60-90-day plan
Where to buy it? Product School (Free)
18. Launch: The Roadmap to Product Management Success
Author: Product School
Reviews: Goodreads 4.18/5
Book overview: Launch is a blend of practical advice, case studies, and interviews with successful product managers from leading tech companies.
What you’ll learn?
- Key principles and best practices in product management.
- Frameworks for product discovery, development, and launch.
- Strategies for stakeholder management, roadmap creation, and team leadership.
Where to buy it? Product School (Free)
19. Crossing the Chasm
Author: Geoffrey A. Moore
Reviews: Amazon 4.6/5, Goodreads 4.01/5
Book overview: Crossing the Chasm explores the challenges of bringing innovative products to mainstream markets.
What you’ll learn?
- The Technology Adoption Lifecycle and the five stages of market adoption
- Strategies for crossing the chasm between early adopters and early technology adoption majority.
Where to buy it? Amazon
20. When Coffee & Kale Compete
Author: Alan Klement
Reviews: Amazon 4.5/5, Goodreads: 4.07/5
Book overview: When Coffee & Kale Compete is a thought-provoking guide to understanding customer behavior and creating products that people love.
What you’ll learn?
- The Jobs to Be Done framework and its applications in product management.
- How to identify customer needs and the jobs they’re trying to get done.
- Strategies to create products that address customers’ true motivations.
- How to analyze the competition and make target customers notice your product.
Where to buy it? Amazon
21. Outcomes Over Output
Author: Joshua Seiden
Reviews: Amazon 4.6/5, Goodreads 4.35/5
Book overview: Outcomes Over Output argues that customer behavior is the most important metric for business success and provides a framework for shifting the focus from output to outcomes.
What you’ll learn?
- The difference between outputs and outcomes and why it matters.
- How to measure success through customer behavior.
Where to buy it? Amazon
22. Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts
Author: Annie Duke
Reviews: Amazon 4.3/5, Goodreads 3.83/5
Book overview: Thinking in Bets teaches readers how to make better decisions by embracing uncertainty and learning from the decision-making processes of professional poker players.
What you’ll learn?
- How to make data-driven decisions in uncertain environments.
- Techniques for assessing and managing risk.
Where to buy it? Amazon
23. Product Leadership: How Top Product Managers Launch Awesome Products and Build Successful Teams
Author: Richard Banfield, Martin Eriksson & Nate Walkingshaw
Reviews: Amazon 4.2/5, Goodreads 3.65/5
Book overview: Product Leadership is a collection of insights and advice from top product managers in the industry – covering everything from product strategy and execution to team building and leadership.
What you’ll learn?
- Best practices in product strategy, development, and execution.
- How to build and lead high-performing product teams.
- Insights from successful product leaders in various industries.
Where to buy it? Amazon
Conclusion
The 23 product management books in our roundup provide invaluable insights and guidance for product managers at every stage of their careers.
They cover a wide range of topics on pretty much every aspect of the product management process and allow product professionals to keep their knowledge current.
If you want to see how Userpilot helps product managers make data-driven decisions and drive product adoption, book the demo!
