5min books review #9
Marty Cagan with Chris Jones: Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products
Value for money
7/10
Ebook or Bookshelf?
This deserves a place on your bookshelf.
Year, Price, Pages, Cover design
2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; EUR 26,99; 416 pages (The content itself 395 pages; Acknowledgements 2 pages, About the Authors 2 pages; Index 16 pages); Hardcover
Cover design by Paul McCarthy, Author photos by Jill Warburton, Top-quality paper, the exquisite reading experience
5 sentences about the book
Compendium of knowledge and “how to’s” that should stand on the desk (not the shelf!), at every product people/line managers fingertips. At the same time it’s a very frustrating reading, but I mean it in a good sense: “The best science fiction of 2020: Like a Utopia, we all are trying to reach but still miles away from being there” (Daniil Lanovyi, Goodreads). Authors the authors touch upon topics such as coaching, staffing, product vision and principles, team topology, product strategy, team objectives and company transformation.
What did I learn?
- Product strategy. The way Cagan/Jones explain product strategy is stunning and a must-read for every product manager. Focus, Insight, Action are three pillars that set product strategy in place. Authors describe their meaning very well — it’s very useful to change your daily approach.
- Coaching. Lissa Adkins put coaching in the centre of attention in working with agile teams ten years ago, but this book was written for the specific role of an Agile Coach. Cagan/Jones put coaching in the very centre of line management as such and so re-define the role and purpose of people management/line management. Coaching is not secondary, it is not a spare time activity anymore, but “It is the most important responsibility of every people manager to develop the skill of their people”. Cagan/Jones provide steps, tools and essential guidance on how should coaching look like in modern 21. century company.
- The Written Narrative. It’s a completely new tool for me — I really didn’t hear about it before! I wrote the written narrative about my current product(s) then and I have to admit that it is bloody hard work. You have to slow down. It teaches you humility and simplicity. It is like looking in the mirror: every buzzword is visible like a gas oil stain on the snow. Soon it will help you to identify gaps so you are able to prepare a checklist for your next learning and homework.
- Imposter Syndrome. I’ve had discussions about imposter syndrome with my colleagues but only Cagan/Jones told me what it really means and how to approach it. The written narrative is the perfect tool to overcome imposter syndrome.
What was missing?
I would like to emphasize that these are very minor issues:
- Case study. I didn’t understand what’s the purpose of this chapter. Maybe it is my fault that I lost focus at the end of the book, maybe the authors insufficiently explained the context. Simply, I didn’t get it and I missed the punch line.
- Transformed/Loved. These are the next SVPG books written by Lea Kickmann and Martina Lauchengco that will be published soon. Although I understand the sense of making marketing teasers in Empowered I had a feeling that it is unnecessary.
Favorite quotes
“If you’re running a process like SAFe, then this is, unfortunately, you, and truthfully, I have no idea why you would want to read this book since what I describe here is polar opposite both philosophically and practically” 10
“When an organization has 20, 30 or even 50 “high-priority” objectives, initiatives, or projects all going on at once, we have the same problem, only much worse […] If the leaders are not willing or able to make these choices, then the product strategy is doomed from the start” 250
“In every single case I know of, including every instance where I was able to contribute to the product strategy myself, this never happens without real preparation.
You might have an epiphany in the shower, but that’s only after you’ve spent hours studying your data, your customer, the enabling technologies, and your industry” 252
“Hopefully, this is obvious at this point in the book, but a strong tech-powered product company would no sooner outsource their engineers than they would outsource their CEO” 390
Check out also this review of EMPOWERED by Hannes Rössler
