Dec 30, 2018
11 amazing books for Product Managers that came out in 2018
In the tech industry, we may live in challenging times, and there’s no better escape than through a good book. From the second editions from beloved writers to compelling non-fiction stories of our tech world, 2018 has already delivered some excellent reads.
Our selection of the most outstanding product management books this year:
Inspired (2nd edition)
How to create tech products customers love
by Marty Cagan
Why read?
How do today’s most successful tech companies — Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla — design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of people around the world?
368 pages, John Wiley & Sons 2018
Escaping the Build Trap
How effective product management creates value
by Melissa Perri.
Why read?
Melissa Perri’s first book has the potential to become a real classic. In Escaping the Build Trap she focuses on the most common pitfalls Product Managers and companies fall into when releasing feature by feature instead of focusing on the customer’s needs.
In this book, Melissa — CEO of Product Labs and founder of the Product Institute — helps you to identify whether you are caught in the “build trap” and more importantly, gives you practical advice how to escape it. She brings together her year-long experience of building products and deep knowledge of how product-lead organisations work.
200 pages, O’Reilly Media 2018
Atomic habits
An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
by James Clear
Why read?
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving — every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviours that lead to remarkable results.
320 pages, Avery 2018
It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work
by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson
Why read?
Fried and Heinemeier Hansson have returned with a new strategy for the ideal company culture — what they call “the calm company”. It is a direct attack on the chaos, anxiety and stress that plagues millions of workplaces and billions of people working their day jobs.
234 pages, Harper Collins Publ. UK 2018
Make time
How to focus on what matters every day
by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky
Why read?
Productivity experts Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky have created a four-step framework that anyone can use, packed with more than 80 tactics to help you design your day around the things that matter.
304 pages, Bantam Press 2018
A newsletter about making time for what matters, from Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky.
The Growth Handbook
by Intercom
Why read?
Growth isn’t a game of silver bullets or one size fits all solutions. It’s about connecting more people to the value of your product, so they become loyal, long-term, paying customers, who share it with others. The Growth Handbook features industry-tested advice for doing just that.
79 pages, Intercom 2018
Solving Product Design Exercises
Questions & Answers
by Artiom Dashinsky
Why read?
Learn how to solve and present exercises, that top startups use to interview designers for product design and UI/UX roles.
Prediction Machines
The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence
by Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans & Avi Goldfarb
Why read?
Artificial intelligence does the seemingly impossible, magically bringing machines to life — driving cars, trading stocks, and teaching children. But facing the sea change that AI will bring can be paralyzing. How should companies set strategies, governments design policies, and people plan their lives for a world so different from what we know? In the face of such uncertainty, many analysts either cower in fear or predict an impossibly sunny future.
250 pages, Ingram Publisher Services 2018
The Book of Why
The New Science of Cause and Effect
by Judea Pearl & Dana Mackenzie
Why read?
“Correlation is not causation.” This mantra, chanted by scientists for more than a century, has led to a virtual prohibition on causal talk. Today, that taboo is dead. The causal revolution, instigated by Judea Pearl and his colleagues, has cut through a century of confusion and established causality — the study of cause and effect — on a firm scientific basis.
432 pages, Basic Books 2018
The Culture Code
The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups
by Daniel Coyle
Why read?
Coyle unlocks the secrets of highly successful groups and provides tomorrow’s leaders with the tools to build a cohesive, motivated culture.
304 pages, Bantam 2018
More books about team development
More books about leadership
Measure what matters
How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs
by John Doerr & Larry Page
Why read?
Legendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth — and how it can help any organization thrive.
320 pages, Portfolio 2018
#Amazon #Google #Facebook #Netflix #Tesla #Habits #Company #Culture #Focus #TimeManagement #Growth #ProductDesign #Interview #AI #Cause #Effect #Code #OKRs
What was your best Product Management book in 2018? Leave us a comment below.
