On Quora, someone asked “What are some must-read books for product managers“? My answer is reproduced below, and is currently the leading answer on the topic, having been up-voted 10 times.
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For product managers working on high tech products and early technologies, the following are absolute must-reads:
- Crossing the Chasm, by Geoffrey Moore
- Inside the Tornado, by Geoffrey Moore
- Four Steps to the Epiphany, by Steven Blank
The following are not “absolute must-reads” but are very worthwhile:
- The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries
- Innovation Games, by Luke Hohmann
- Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan
- Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur
- The Product Manager’s Desktop Reference, by Steven Haines
- The Art of Product Management, by Rich Mironov
- Dealing with Darwin, by Geoffrey Moore
I’ve read (or attempted to read) about every book on the market with the words “Product Management” or “Product Manager” in the title, and I would only recommend the ones listed above for high-tech product managers.
Many of the other books on Product Management are either 1) too broad, covering the gamut of banking products, consumer goods, automobiles, as well as high tech, 2) poorly written, or 3) perfectly fine and covering the same topics as the books I already listed, but not not as well.
I’d also recommend reading the essay “Good Product Manager / Bad Product Manager” by Ben Horowitz and David Weiden (yes, THAT Ben Horowitz. He wrote this piece over a decade ago when he was a Director of Product Manager at Netscape).
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