great product managers never stop learning. That’s why we scoured our shelves to make a list of the best product management books we could find to share!
Technology is always changing, as are customer habits. to maintain an advantage, you must adapt quickly and strategically. Fortunately, there are plenty of stellar books out there perfect for product managers who want to learn everything from user-centric design principles to advancing their careers.
You are reading: Best product management books
Below is a list of some of the best product management books that span nearly two decades of thought.
These top-rated afternoon books will help you think outside the box.
- The Lean Product Playbook
- Inspired: How to Build Tech Products Customers Love
- The Product Playbook: How to Become a Great Manager of product
- the lean start-up
- crossing the abyss
- escaping the construction trap
- how difficult things are difficult
- sprint: solve problems big time and test new ideas in just five days
- hooked: how to create products that generate habits
- when coffee and kale compete
note: there are no affiliate links below. these are unbiased opinions from our own team of product managers and our community. if you want to buy a book, we recommend that you use the bookstore to support a local bookstore.
the lean product playbook
author: dan olsen
When the Lean Startup movement began, it took the PMing world by storm. Everyone decided they wanted to implement Lean product principles.
But despite great interest and enthusiasm, many companies struggle to apply them in practice. The Lean Product Playbook is the perfect and practical step-by-step guide to help both startups and large companies optimize lean techniques.
You can find it on just about the best list and pm pros shelves everywhere. First, it teaches you why most new products fail. products fail because they don’t fully meet customer needs.
This failure can be due to poor design, improper execution, or both.
Either way, the problem boils down to the absence of the all-important “product-market fit.” The book then explains how to achieve this adjustment through six easy-to-understand, repeatable lessons.
comes complete with product roadmaps and real-world examples to intuitively illustrate how to build and iterate on products that score highly in your target markets.
inspired: how to create technology products that customers love
author: marty cagan
Inspired is another titan in the realm of best books on product management.
The author, Marty Cagan, is a leading authority with a well-rounded track record.
He founded the silicon valley product group specifically to help other product managers. this book is a distillation of these efforts. If you are looking for a technology specific degree, this is the one to go for.
cagan has worked for some of the biggest tech giants to date and uses several of them as case studies.
The book introduces you to the fundamental problems of technology product development and strategies to address them. it does so with real-world examples from google, tesla, netflix, amazon, and others. What do these giants do that sets them apart from most tech companies? listen to customer feedback!
focus on answering four key questions for each product.
- Will our audience buy this product?
- Will our audience know how to use it?
- Is it possible to build something like this?
- Will stakeholders be on board?
Discover how to find out if your product is a good fit in the product market or if it’s time to go back to the drawing board.
This book will inspire product managers to create extraordinary products that customers will love.
The Silicon Valley Product Group also has its own Recommended Reading List for Product Leaders, in addition to its own books.
the product book: how to become a great product manager
authors: josh anon and carlos gonzález de villaumbrosia
Whether you are new to the job or a mid-career professional looking to boost your skills and firm up your fundamentals, The Product Book is a classic every product manager should read.
covers the a-z basics of everything related to being a product manager and leading a great product team. Written by a former CEO of Pixar PM and Product School, this book works like a master class. . shows you how to create and launch amazing products.
It’s not just a product management book; is a product management interview book.
trains you to build better teams, cooperate effectively with other departments, and wow your audience during job interviews.
The authors of the book built on the pre-existing curriculum of the renowned product school. it’s packed with how-to lessons, expert advice, and best practice tips.
answers the question “what does a product manager do?” any pm who is not a student of this text is doing himself a disservice.
Like the lean product playbook, the product playbook isn’t afraid to get into the details.
the lean start-up
author: eric ries
The Lean Startup is a cornerstone product management book for startups. Even if you work for a large business, it still contains valuable insights that you could apply to your work. Sometimes credited with starting a revolution in product development, this text is a modern manual specifically designed to assist today’s entrepreneurs/founders/startup CEOs.
provides a comprehensive treatment of creating, planning and scaling start-ups. and product management is at the heart of it all. the book emphasizes and guides you to discover what customers really want, not just what you think they want.
This focus on customer truth will help focus any product development strategy and give you the best chance of success. Like others that appear on lists of the best product management books, Lean Startup follows the stories of famous startups, their founders, and how they became successful.
By exploring the missteps and innovations of the leaders who came before, any product manager who reads this book will master the arts of scaling effectively and iterating quickly.
crossing the abyss
author: geoffrey a. mooring
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In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore outlines an illuminating framework for understanding how products go from ideation to becoming commonplace.
It starts with the early adopters, that is, those who are willing to take the risk of trying the products.
After the early adopters, product managers want to reach the “early majority.”
after that, your market can only expand further in the hands of the “late majority” and “laggards”. the problem is that the early majority crowd is skeptical and waits for a product to be tried and true before taking a chance.
Bridging that gap (between early adopters and the majority) is one of the biggest challenges product managers face.
This gap is the “chasm” referred to in the book’s title. it is the difference between good products and successful products.
It is sometimes difficult to determine the suitability of the product in the market when you are in the middle of the abyss. but crossing the abyss seeks to advise pms on all the ways they can manage this transition. In addition, the text pays special attention to disruption. educates readers on how they can repeatedly disrupt markets with new products and multiple iterations of existing products.
Although Moore wrote it before the digital revolution, Crossing the Chasm still contains much timeless and indispensable wisdom. is a product management book that we always have on hand.
escaping the creation trap: how effective product management creates real value
author: melissa perri
Escaping the Build Trap is another fantastic work that hammers home the need for customer-centric company cultures.
According to author Melissa Perri, many modern companies and product managers are at risk of falling into what she calls the “construction trap.”
It is a situation where, because producers put so much emphasis on production, they lose sight of whether the product continues to meet customer needs and create value.
Sometimes companies waste an enormous amount of time and resources trying to polish product details. in reality, they should be listening to their target customers.
And sadly, many businesses fail because their strategy never changes.Instead, Perri argues, PMS and others should focus primarily on results.
this helps to keep the product always in the right direction. it reduces wasted time and energy and forces you to understand how the product fits in the market.
This prominent message should make product managers around the world pay attention.
There’s a reason escaping the build trap shows up again and again in user recommendations.
also highlights key concepts that come up frequently in interviews with product managers.
the hard of the hard things: building a business when there are no easy answers
author: ben horowitz
If you are looking for a pragmatic book that pulls no punches about the nitty-gritty, everyday workings of product management, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is it.
The Author Ben Horowitz is one of Silicon Valley’s most experienced and respected entrepreneurs. his writing is packed with practical wisdom about building and running a product startup. As the title suggests, this book doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of starting a business, which is significant because we only hear it romanticized.
ben horowitz’s dry sense of humor shines through as he imparts all the lessons learned from his extensive experience managing, overseeing, and growing technology companies.
In essence, this book will help you run a lean business. is an honest look at the realities of building and growing a business.
This book is essential reading for anyone building a startup. Not only is it packed with information, it’s also an engaging and fun read!
sprint: Solve big problems and test new ideas in just five days
author: jake knapp
Need to get things moving quickly?
sprint offers a compelling model for tackling big problems, questions, or ideas and quickly navigating decision-making processes.
Jake Knapp collaborated with two other Google Ventures partners to create this five-day sprint method.
They have already proven it over 100 times while addressing the needs of businesses in fields as varied as healthcare, e-commerce, finance, technology and more. Typically, when an entrepreneur comes across a great question or new idea, the path from point A to point B is rarely such a straight line.
Meetings, discussions, knowing where to put your effort or even how to get started can be time consuming and keep you running in circles.
The 5-Day Sprint helps anyone, from startups to large corporations, get past the indecision phase and make progress happen, fast!
hooked: how to create products that create habits
author: nir eyal
We all understand on some level that certain technologies and products capitalize on human psychology by design.
They activate our brain’s pleasure centers and keep us coming back for more.
Habit-forming products do a lot of the work of selling themselves.
But how exactly these products work is a mystery even to some product managers!
See Also: Old Books On-line, The Words of an eBay Bookseller
Why do some products grip our senses to the point of addiction, while others we throw away? Nir Eyal lifts the veil on this question by revealing a four-step process that many companies subtly employ when designing products.
In hooked, you’ll learn the steps you can take to create products that consumers naturally love.
leverage human nature to amplify your work.
free: when coffee & kale competition
author: alan klement
The to-do framework is ubiquitous. is customer focused.
What work is the customer trying to do that your product solves? simple.
klement re-examines the jtbd framework, albeit in a whole new light. he explains that clients don’t just have specific jobs or needs that drive them.
Ultimately, customers are part of larger systems and their decisions reflect this. customers want to progress in whatever system they’re a part of.
The best thing about coffee and kale is that it’s free! klement’s insights will help you sell more products and feel more satisfied in your role as project manager.
bonus: the making of a manager: what to do when everyone’s looking at you
author: julie zhuo
Creating habit-forming products is as much about being a strategic thinker as it is about being a great manager.
Julie Zhuo’s Training of a Manager is a field guide to management.
zhuo does a great job of simplifying all the parts of being a manager. from awkward conversations with team members to strategizing for growth.
calms you down when you feel like you have no idea what you’re doing.
management heavyweights, including the co-founders of lyft and twitter, turn to zhuo for management wisdom.
you can buy the making of a manager directly from the author’s website.
bonus: unscramble pm’s race
authors: jackie bavaro and gayle laakmann mcdowell
this one gets an honorable mention. A product manager’s career can be long and winding.
deciphering pm’s career goes a step further than sharing anecdotes of people who made the transition to career.
Instead, this book feels more like a practical guide to learning about framing and interview responses. tells stories of real interviewees and how they reacted under pressure.
Jens-fabian goetzmann, product manager, said on linkedin that cracking the pm run is a complete toolbox of methods and practical advice.
If you’re currently applying for product management positions, this one is worth a look.
bonus: gtihub product management open list
There’s a wonderful GitHub repo that covers some of the more senior books on product management.
If you’re already familiar with product development and are looking for more help with strategy and planning, this is the list for you.
The list is well maintained and also contains a list of some other valuable pm resources.
other great book lists
Every great manager leads a little differently. That’s why we don’t think our book list should be the last place you stop on your reading journey!
The people below know a thing or two about creating great products. we’ve included some links to your personal afternoon book lists to help you gain a new perspective.
- eric h kim (chief product officer, mount sinai health) – best books for product managers
- jes-fabian goetzmann (head of product, chief revenue officer) – a reading list for aspiring product managers
- jackie bavaro (author of cracking the pm interview) – the 10 books that Every Product Manager Should Read
- Noon Hacker: Going from Zero to One: Must Read Books to Create New Product Businesses
summary
What do all these books for product managers have in common? everyone is customer focused.
Tech customers are not a monolith. each person has a unique story to tell.
When building a product team to solve problems, it’s important to be a good listener.
If you’re interviewing for a job, you’ll probably hear some of these concepts in your product manager’s interview questions too!
We hope that our favorite resources will fill your head with practical advice and new ideas that you can implement.
preparation for the interview with the product manager
Do you want to become a product manager or improve your career? check out all of exponent’s product management courses and resources:
💬 Check out the most frequently asked sample interview questions.
📖 read our company-specific product manager interview guides
most popular interview guides
- google product manager interview guide
- facebook product manager interview guide
- twitter product manager interview guide
- interview guide for amazon product manager
👯♂️ Practice your behavioral and leadership skills with our mock interview practice tool.
👨🎓 take our complete product management interview course.
See Also: The Best Venture Capital Books Every VC Should Read