On My Shelf with Seb Saboune — Head of Product for Founders Factory (London, UK)
About me
I help founders build the right thing in the right way as Head of Product for Founders Factory. We have created a proprietary product coaching framework to increase people’s product thinking and ensure they build successful startups. I’ve written about product thinking for Mind The Product, and spoken about product thinking on several podcasts, meetups and the Product Management Festival.
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On my shelf
Escaping the Build Trap
How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value
by Melissa Perri
My opinion
There are a lot of product books out there, but nothing is as practical as Escaping the Build Trap. By addressing a problem we all fear: getting stuck in a vicious cycle of not knowing if the work you are doing is having an impact, Melissa gives us excellent best-practices to get out of that cycle and into a better product development process using real life examples.
200 pages, O’Reilly Media 2018
Thinking Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman
My opinion
One of my all-time favourite books that I recommend to everyone who is starting out in product. Why? Because it tackles the fundamentals of product development, the people we build products for and how to think about building the right product for them. Kahneman explains how our brains make decisions using both psychological and economical methods that can be used in any product practice.
499 pages, Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2013
Never Split the Difference
Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
by Chris Voss
My opinion
This is the latest non-fiction book I’ve read and it was recommended to me by a dear friend who is an expert in sales and partnerships. I asked him what would be the one book that he would suggest shapes the way he works? And he sent me this Chris Voss’ book about negotiation techniques. This book gave me insight into how to re-think the way I approach stakeholder management, team building and gave me, yet another reason to think that product and sales should always work closely together.
288 pages, Harper Business 2016
Grit
The Power of Passion and Perseverance
by Angela Duckworth
My opinion
Resilience is one of the most underrated traits in a great product person. We talk a lot about being visionary and talented, but the best product people I know have one thing in common, they always learn, improve and keep going no matter the hurdle. Angela’s book describes why grit is the common denominator behind successful people with a lot of real world examples from sports to business. I suggest all product people read this to know that whatever you are doing, you are doing it right as long as you keep up the resilience and keep going. Be gritty!
368 pages, Scribner 2018
Our series “On my shelf” features product people from all over the world who are passionate about reading and sharing their best book recommendations with the community. If you want to join the movement and share your reading list with others send us a message. Let’s get better together 📚.
