The Ultimate (Tried and Tested) Product Managers’ Resource Guide

By: Sindhu Keshava Murthy

Constant learning is probably the only way to stay at the top of your Product game in addition to practicing it daily. This guide compiles a list of popular resources across several categories that many product managers, including myself, use to stay abreast of functional trends and best practices. I’ve also included a Bonus Section for Interview Prep resources for aspiring Product Managers at the end. Enjoy and let us know in the comments if we missed your favorite resource on this list.

The following resources are good places to go to when you’re looking to learn about different product management terminology, definitions and practices.

Blogs

1. Silicon Valley Product Group — insights Blog
2. Theresa Torres Product Talk
3. Mind The Product — Product Skills
4. Product Plan Blog
5. Aha Product Management Guide
6. Product Board Blog
7. Strategyzer Blog

Videos

1. Mind The Product Videos — Start Here

Books

1. The Product Manager’s Desk Reference by Steven Haiens
2. Product Management’s Sacred Seven by Parth, Neel and Aditya
3. Mastering Product Management: A Step-by-Step Guide by Kevin Brannan

Newsletters

1. Strategyzer — Innovation & Strategy Newsletter

Plus, all the blogs mentioned above have access to sign up for Newsletters so don’t forget to sign up with them.

Resources for On the Job Motivation

If you’re looking for inspiration or motivation on how best to solve your product problems at work, then look no further than this list below.

Blogs

1. Nir Eyal’s Consumer Psychology Articles
2. Aha Product Blog
3. Product Management HQ
4. Product School Blog
5. Discover Innovative Products on Product Hunt

Videos

1. Intercom — Product & Design Videos

Books

1. Inspired: How to Create Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan
2. The Design of Everyday Things by Donald A. Norman
3. The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton M Christensen
4. Good to Great by Jim Collins
5. The Mythical Man Month by Frederick P Brooks Jr
6. Badass: Making Users Awesome by Kathy Sierra
7. Product Leadership by Martin Eriksson, Nate Walkingshaw, and Richard Banfield
8. Roadmaps Relaunched by C. Todd Lombardo, Bruce McCarthy, Evan Ryan, Michael Connors
9. Hooked by Nir Eyal
10. Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value by Melissa Perri

Newsletters

1. Bringing the Donuts by Ken Norton

Podcasts

These podcasts can be streamed through popular channels such as Apple, Spotify, Stitcher and the like.

1. Jake & Jonathan — Jake and Jonathan (formally Product Breakfast Club) is a behind the scenes look at how some of the best companies in the world design their products.
2. Ideate Podcast -A podcast about the user experience of items we use every day. Hosted by The Smyth Group design team
3. Masters of Product Management — Get your dose of PM insights with Sequent Learning Networks in just 15 quick minutes.
4. This is Product Management — “This is Product Management” interviews the brightest minds across the numerous disciplines that fuel modern product teams. Episodes span from arts to science, tactics to strategies, confessions to professions.
5. 100 Product Managers — The show interviews one hundred active product managers — from startups to enterprise and everything in between all from one great city every season.

Resources for Community Support

Staying connected with peers in the Product field is a great way to exchange ideas and gain unexpected mentorship that is a sure shot way of helping you shine at your workplace.

1. Products By Women ;-)
2. Product Coalition
3. Reddit PM
4. Product Management HQ Slack Community
5. Product School Slack Community
6. Product Hunt Discussion Threads

Bonus: Interview Prep

Product Management interviews are some of the toughest to crack because of the wide variety of questions that can be asked and most of all of which require you to come up with ideas on the spot. But there’s no worry, because practice does make perfect and here are some resources to learn and practice interviewing for Product roles.

1. Product Management HQ Interview Prep Blog
2. Decode and Conquer by Lewis C Lin
3. Cracking the PM Interview by Gayle Laakmann McDowell and Jackie Bavaro
4. PM Interview Workbook (retitled: The Product Manager Interview) by Lewis C. Lin
5. Zapupp Mock Interview Practice with Peers
6. Products By Women Study Circle
7. roduct Management Exercises

Sindhu is an engineer, designer and MBA passionate about analyzing and improving the customer journey. She has worked with both growth stage as well as enterprise firms in the Retail, Telecom and Public sectors to bring innovative products to market and reimagine business solutions. Most recently, Sindhu was part of the AI product launch at Five9 that is redefining the next generation of contact center tools. Sindhu also enjoys writing, mood photography, and traveling.

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