Best Product Management
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior. "With concrete advice and tales from the product-development trenches, this is a thoughtful discussion of how to create something that users never knew they couldn’t live without." “The most high bandwidth, high octane, and valuable presentation I have ever seen on this subject.”. —Rory Sutherland, Vice-Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather. "Nir's work is an essential crib sheet for any startup looking to understand user psychology.”. —Dave McClure, Founder 500 Startups.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book lays down a model building engagement by having users constantly return to your app. The "variable" part is important - rewards should not always be predictable, encouraging users to repeat the cycle. This could be content (e.g. a book in your Kindle), user entered data (e.g. profile information or linked accounts), reputation (e.g. something to gain a 5 star seller review), or a learned skill (e.g. I wanted something that would get to the crux of the problem and set out a practical framework of how to apply it with examples, without being overly verbose on history and research."
"I don't currently do any product design but the concepts apply at some level to any kind of marketing and could be used (at least in part) for promoting a service business, a tangible product or even just ideas."
"While I enjoyed the book, I would also add that business owners and product managers (could be many other stakeholders) should also spend significant time focusing on their business model and determining who the paying customers are! A focus on a business model does not mean that you need paying customers on day one (the timing will depend on your business model), but you need to have a model that determines your revenue streams and how they will be achieved."
"I'm a product manager at a large tech company and this book breaks down the habit forming process in an excellent and easy to digest manner."
"Good book using real life examples and case studies to back up the lessons learned."
This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides readers with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Donald Miller has helped more than 3,000 businesses clarify their marketing messages so their companies grow.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This was a great book for someone who is completely new to branding."
"Found the story brand processes for external and internal customer empowerment, band on and useful at every level of relationships."
"THE best book I have read in a while!"
"BOOK."
"Miller provides an easy-to-follow format for developing a story for your brand."
"Excellent book - very inspiring, and truly outlines the steps to take to tell your marketing story in a manner people can truly relate to."
"Great ideas for businesses small and large."
"I'm drinking the koolaid."
Learn how the ambiguously-named "PM" (product manager / program manager) role varies across companies, what experience you need, how to make your existing experience translate, what a great PM resume and cover letter look like, and finally, how to master the PM interview questions (estimation questions, behavioral questions, case questions, product questions, technical questions, and the super important "pitch"). Functions of a PM. Top Myths about Product Management. Project Managers and Program Managers Companies How the PM Role Varies. Google. Microsoft. Apple. Facebook. Amazon. Yahoo. Twitter. Startups. Career Advancement Tips and Tricks for Career Advancement. Q & A: Fernando Delgado, Sr. Director, Product Management at Yahoo. Q & A: Ashley Carroll, Senior Director of Product Management, DocuSign. Q & A: Brandon Bray, Principal Group Program Manager, Microsoft. Q & A: Thomas Arend, International Product Lead, Airbnb. Q & A: Johanna Wright, VP at Google. Q & A: Lisa Kostova Ogata, VP of Product at Bright.com. Behavioral Questions Why These Questions Are Asked. Preparation. Follow-Up Questions. Types of Behavioral Questions. Product Questions About the Product Question. Type 1: Designing a Product. Type 2: Improving a Product. Type 3: Favorite Product. Preparation. Tips and Tricks. Sample Questions. Case Questions The Case Question: Consultants vs. PMs. What Interviewers Look For. Useful Frameworks. Product Metrics. Interview Questions. "If you were looking for a comprehensive, well-researched book about how to get a job in product management, look no further than Cracking the PM Interview. --Jason Shah, former Product Manager at Yammer/Microsoft & instructor of How to Get a Job in Product Management.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Great book - Besides giving you frameworks with which to prepare for a PM interview, it's chock full of sage advice on becoming/being a good PM in a digital world."
"i also really liked how the "culture" of each of the larger tech companies and the 'behind the scenes' interview process was laid out."
"This book goes straight to the point, with very useful information and examples to prepare for a product manager position job interview."
"Good handling of interview questions and topics and good advice on preparing "top 5 stories"."
"Good book to brush a range of behavioral and PM question."
"I'm currently in the process of trying to hire a PM, and found this to be a fantastic resource."
"I totally love this book as I am preparing for my first PM job."
"I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book."
Best Lean Management
The missing manual on how to apply Lean Startup to build products that customers love The Lean Product Playbook is a practical guide to building products that customers love. This book was written by entrepreneur and Lean product expert Dan Olsen whose experience spans product management, UX design, coding, analytics, and marketing across a variety of products. Entrepreneurs, executives, product managers, designers, developers, marketers, analysts and anyone who is passionate about building great products will find The Lean Product Playbook an indispensable, hands-on resource. Determine your target customers Identify underserved customer needs Create a winning product strategy Define your minimum viable product (MVP) Design your MVP prototype Test your MVP with customers Iterate rapidly to achieve product-market fit. It also describes how to build your product using Agile development and how to use analytics to optimize your product and business.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Dan Olsen brings a great combination of theory and practical experience to the problem of product management. He's not trying to claim credit for making up a whole new theory; he supplies plenty of concepts of his own, but he's happy to include solid methodologies from other practitioners. The book would be a useful perspective for, say, CPG product managers, but its primary focus is certainly on software."
"Dan's approach utilizes a tactical / how to / real world focus that serves as a great "starter guide" to actually executing a product idea."
"READ this book if you want to learn or increase the required knowledge, skills, and experience of a great product manager."
"Dan's experience and his simple/clear outline have created a must read approach for any high-tech industry leader who wants to understand or lead Product Management practices in their organization."
"Being a Product Manager (non-technical) in a non tech domain (Insurance), I have found the book useful in relating my experiences to a more techie space."
"This is a well-organized and insightful read about the process behind creating lean products as well as how to apply the process."
"Great read for anybody working in Product Management."
"To book brings a lot of insights and real life examples which make it a real "playbook" that you can use with your own products or projects."
Best Technical Project Management
Drawing on the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory, Head First PMP offers you a multi-sensory experience that helps the material stick, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep. Learn PMP's underlying concepts to help you understand the PMBOK principles and pass the certification exam with flying colors Get 100% coverage of the latest principles and certification objectives in The PMBOK Guide, Fifth Edition Make use of a thorough and effective preparation guide with hundreds of practice questions and exam strategies Explore the material through puzzles, games, problems, and exercises that make learning easy and entertaining. Andrew Stellman is a developer, architect, speaker, agile coach, project manager, and expert in building better software.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you have time yo study both Rita's book and Head First I HIGHLY recommend studying both! 2) Buy Rita's book and read as much as you can. 3) Get McGraw-Hill's PMP Certification Mathematics with CD-ROM to help with the math section (take the practice test on the CD-ROM) 1-2 days before the test. Take the first test to see where you are, study study study the knowledge areas where you are weak take exam 2 if you get less than 80 go back to Rita's book! 5) I LOVED Head First PMP but if you don't have time to study everything I would say to buy this book as a companion to Rita's book. This book is a fun read and makes the concepts easier to understand. 6) Make sure your referencing the PMBOK 5 (Most Important). During the exam (make sure your doing good on time before you follow these directions). 1) If you believe in prayer (PRAY) - ummmm you also do not need to tell anyone your taking the test, just in case........ 2) Breathe and relax. 3) Do the first 50 - 75 questions (Take a break, go to the bathroom, get some water, sit in the waiting room, just get away from the test). 4) Go back in do the next 25 - 50 questions (take another break). 5) Keep doing this until you finish. 6) Before you review your questions, take your final break come back review your questions, (I took another break!!!!!"
"Personally, I would recommend attending a class aswell as the test is hard and somewhat pedantic in its questions and answers."
"Very good method for getting information into your head, and sticking."
"I would recommend this book as a supplement to the PMBOK guide when studying for the PMP exam."
"The content is fine but definitely needs some editing."
"Passed my PMP exam on the first try using this as one of my 2 main study guides."
"The information is getting dated but still relevant for the current exam."
"This really does a great job of explaining how to take the PMP exam. My only complaint is that the sample exam questions are numeric; 1,2,3,4."
Best Engineering Project Management
Drawing on the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory, Head First PMP offers you a multi-sensory experience that helps the material stick, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep. Learn PMP's underlying concepts to help you understand the PMBOK principles and pass the certification exam with flying colors Get 100% coverage of the latest principles and certification objectives in The PMBOK Guide, Fifth Edition Make use of a thorough and effective preparation guide with hundreds of practice questions and exam strategies Explore the material through puzzles, games, problems, and exercises that make learning easy and entertaining. Andrew Stellman is a developer, architect, speaker, agile coach, project manager, and expert in building better software.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you have time yo study both Rita's book and Head First I HIGHLY recommend studying both! 2) Buy Rita's book and read as much as you can. 3) Get McGraw-Hill's PMP Certification Mathematics with CD-ROM to help with the math section (take the practice test on the CD-ROM) 1-2 days before the test. Take the first test to see where you are, study study study the knowledge areas where you are weak take exam 2 if you get less than 80 go back to Rita's book! 5) I LOVED Head First PMP but if you don't have time to study everything I would say to buy this book as a companion to Rita's book. This book is a fun read and makes the concepts easier to understand. 6) Make sure your referencing the PMBOK 5 (Most Important). During the exam (make sure your doing good on time before you follow these directions). 1) If you believe in prayer (PRAY) - ummmm you also do not need to tell anyone your taking the test, just in case........ 2) Breathe and relax. 3) Do the first 50 - 75 questions (Take a break, go to the bathroom, get some water, sit in the waiting room, just get away from the test). 4) Go back in do the next 25 - 50 questions (take another break). 5) Keep doing this until you finish. 6) Before you review your questions, take your final break come back review your questions, (I took another break!!!!!"
"Personally, I would recommend attending a class aswell as the test is hard and somewhat pedantic in its questions and answers."
"Very good method for getting information into your head, and sticking."
"I would recommend this book as a supplement to the PMBOK guide when studying for the PMP exam."
"The content is fine but definitely needs some editing."
"Passed my PMP exam on the first try using this as one of my 2 main study guides."
"The information is getting dated but still relevant for the current exam."
"This really does a great job of explaining how to take the PMP exam. My only complaint is that the sample exam questions are numeric; 1,2,3,4."
Best Industrial & Product Design
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior. "With concrete advice and tales from the product-development trenches, this is a thoughtful discussion of how to create something that users never knew they couldn’t live without." “The most high bandwidth, high octane, and valuable presentation I have ever seen on this subject.”. —Rory Sutherland, Vice-Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather. "Nir's work is an essential crib sheet for any startup looking to understand user psychology.”. —Dave McClure, Founder 500 Startups.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book lays down a model building engagement by having users constantly return to your app. The "variable" part is important - rewards should not always be predictable, encouraging users to repeat the cycle. This could be content (e.g. a book in your Kindle), user entered data (e.g. profile information or linked accounts), reputation (e.g. something to gain a 5 star seller review), or a learned skill (e.g. I wanted something that would get to the crux of the problem and set out a practical framework of how to apply it with examples, without being overly verbose on history and research."
"I don't currently do any product design but the concepts apply at some level to any kind of marketing and could be used (at least in part) for promoting a service business, a tangible product or even just ideas."
"While I enjoyed the book, I would also add that business owners and product managers (could be many other stakeholders) should also spend significant time focusing on their business model and determining who the paying customers are! A focus on a business model does not mean that you need paying customers on day one (the timing will depend on your business model), but you need to have a model that determines your revenue streams and how they will be achieved."
"I'm a product manager at a large tech company and this book breaks down the habit forming process in an excellent and easy to digest manner."
"Good book using real life examples and case studies to back up the lessons learned."
Best Marketing
This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides readers with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Donald Miller has helped more than 3,000 businesses clarify their marketing messages so their companies grow.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This was a great book for someone who is completely new to branding."
"Found the story brand processes for external and internal customer empowerment, band on and useful at every level of relationships."
"THE best book I have read in a while!"
"BOOK."
"Miller provides an easy-to-follow format for developing a story for your brand."
"Excellent book - very inspiring, and truly outlines the steps to take to tell your marketing story in a manner people can truly relate to."
"Great ideas for businesses small and large."
"I'm drinking the koolaid."
Best Industrial Design
Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior. "With concrete advice and tales from the product-development trenches, this is a thoughtful discussion of how to create something that users never knew they couldn’t live without." “The most high bandwidth, high octane, and valuable presentation I have ever seen on this subject.”. —Rory Sutherland, Vice-Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather. "Nir's work is an essential crib sheet for any startup looking to understand user psychology.”. —Dave McClure, Founder 500 Startups.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book lays down a model building engagement by having users constantly return to your app. The "variable" part is important - rewards should not always be predictable, encouraging users to repeat the cycle. This could be content (e.g. a book in your Kindle), user entered data (e.g. profile information or linked accounts), reputation (e.g. something to gain a 5 star seller review), or a learned skill (e.g. I wanted something that would get to the crux of the problem and set out a practical framework of how to apply it with examples, without being overly verbose on history and research."
"I don't currently do any product design but the concepts apply at some level to any kind of marketing and could be used (at least in part) for promoting a service business, a tangible product or even just ideas."
"While I enjoyed the book, I would also add that business owners and product managers (could be many other stakeholders) should also spend significant time focusing on their business model and determining who the paying customers are! A focus on a business model does not mean that you need paying customers on day one (the timing will depend on your business model), but you need to have a model that determines your revenue streams and how they will be achieved."
"I'm a product manager at a large tech company and this book breaks down the habit forming process in an excellent and easy to digest manner."
"Good book using real life examples and case studies to back up the lessons learned."
Best Marketing & Sales
Perfect for people in all walks of life, the principles of Influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a driving force for your success. (Journal of Retailing).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The Harvard Business Review article "Harnessing the Science of Persuasion" by Cialdini, from their October 2001 issue....is a good example. You can even get the Six Principles from the books Table Of Contents...save yourself some time. For salespeople to benefit from a sales book, the ideas have to be explained, understood, proven, accepted, and made real."
"The book outlines strategies to get compliance and most are short term salesman driven ideas."
"This book should be required reading in ever public school - once as a Sophomore/Junior and again as a Senior to set the lesson in stone."
"Easy read."
"Interesting - lots of real-world examples to illustrate his points."
"Great read for anyone that want's to better understand the way people think."
"tl;dr: read it, and then read it again and implement all the ideas in your business and life."
"Excellent book that illuminated many of the techniques sales people, propagandists and others have used on me without me even realizing it."
Best Customer Relations
This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides readers with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Donald Miller has helped more than 3,000 businesses clarify their marketing messages so their companies grow.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This was a great book for someone who is completely new to branding."
"Found the story brand processes for external and internal customer empowerment, band on and useful at every level of relationships."
"THE best book I have read in a while!"
"BOOK."
"Miller provides an easy-to-follow format for developing a story for your brand."
"Excellent book - very inspiring, and truly outlines the steps to take to tell your marketing story in a manner people can truly relate to."
"Great ideas for businesses small and large."
"I'm drinking the koolaid."
Best Marketing & Consumer Behavior
Perfect for people in all walks of life, the principles of Influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a driving force for your success. (Journal of Retailing).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The Harvard Business Review article "Harnessing the Science of Persuasion" by Cialdini, from their October 2001 issue....is a good example. You can even get the Six Principles from the books Table Of Contents...save yourself some time. For salespeople to benefit from a sales book, the ideas have to be explained, understood, proven, accepted, and made real."
"The book outlines strategies to get compliance and most are short term salesman driven ideas."
"This book should be required reading in ever public school - once as a Sophomore/Junior and again as a Senior to set the lesson in stone."
"Easy read."
"Interesting - lots of real-world examples to illustrate his points."
"Great read for anyone that want's to better understand the way people think."
"tl;dr: read it, and then read it again and implement all the ideas in your business and life."
"Excellent book that illuminated many of the techniques sales people, propagandists and others have used on me without me even realizing it."
Best Sales & Selling
This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides readers with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Donald Miller has helped more than 3,000 businesses clarify their marketing messages so their companies grow.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This was a great book for someone who is completely new to branding."
"Found the story brand processes for external and internal customer empowerment, band on and useful at every level of relationships."
"THE best book I have read in a while!"
"BOOK."
"Miller provides an easy-to-follow format for developing a story for your brand."
"Excellent book - very inspiring, and truly outlines the steps to take to tell your marketing story in a manner people can truly relate to."
"Great ideas for businesses small and large."
"I'm drinking the koolaid."
Best Strategic Business Planning
How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? The Standards: Using tough benchmarks, Collins and his research team identified a set of elite companies that made the leap to great results and sustained those results for at least fifteen years. The Comparisons: The research team contrasted the good-to-great companies with a carefully selected set of comparison companies that failed to make the leap from good to great. Why did one set of companies become truly great performers while the other set remained only good? At the heart of the findings about these companies' stellar successes is what Collins calls the Hedgehog Concept, a product or service that leads a company to outshine all worldwide competitors, that drives a company's economic engine and that a company is passionate about.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Finally, a book from Jim Collins on Good to Great for Social Sectors which should be read by everybody working in social enterprises and organization, who are not operating as businesses and companies in their field, but who want to contribute their very best in the interest of people's rights and wellbeing around the world."
"Yet the proof is in the results that these level 5 leaders have achieved, for example Fannie Mae's CEO David Maxwell who exemplified these qualities and grew the company 3.8 times the general stock market."
"Good to Great is a marvelous description of what makes companies elevate themselves in the minds of their customers and their other constituencies."
"An interesting read, but I'm not sure his conclusions are sound--info is fairly anecdotal and correlational, not causal."
"Practical - because the Great companies' analysis indicates duplicateable concepts and steps which are universal in any field by aspiring Level 5 leaders. Encouraging - Some of the toughest decisions made by Level 5 leaders are being made by leaders aspiring to attain the Level 5 mentality."
"The book is based on a huge amount of research and has great examples to underpin their conclusions."
"If you work in government, non-profit or higher education, I recommend the companion monograph for the Social Sectors, which helps apply these business-focused concepts in a more meaningful way."
"Just a great, thorough book."