On My Shelf with Victor Delgado— Co-Founder of North (Barcelona)
About
Founder at North, a digital product studio from Barcelona. Previously working on API-related products at 3scale. Now I help companies of all sorts, industry leaders and fast-growing startups, build high-impact products. Creating successful products is all about reducing to a core experience that delivers value in a simple, fun and useful way. I think big but obsess over the details.
On my shelf
Influence
The Psychology of Persuasion
by Robert Cialdini
My opinion
Almost everything in the fields of user experience and conversion rate optimization traces back to one of the six principles of persuasion described in this book: reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority and scarcity. While reading it you will identify strategies in use in the top consumer products today. Techniques come and go but principles of human behaviour don’t change. Spend your learning time wisely.
336 pages, Harper Business 2006
Inspired (2nd edition)
How to create tech products customers love
by Marty Cagan
My opinion
The usual suspect in any list of product management books and for a good reason. If you can only pick a book to learn what a PM really does, this is the one. It teaches a structured approach to frame problems, shape solutions and a wide toolkit to validate: * value: will people buy this and switch from what they are using? * usability: will they understand how to use it? * feasibility: can it be built given the time and resources we have? * business viability: how will this impact our bottom line?
368 pages, John Wiley & Sons 2018
Monetizing Innovation
How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price
by Madhavan Ramanujam & Georg Tacke
My opinion
If you build revenue-generating products, pricing can be what makes or breaks its success. Yet it is often treated as an afterthought. The most successful innovators start by understanding their customers' needs and developing products around what they are willing to pay to address those needs. This book will ease your transition into this new mindset while teaching several useful techniques to measure customers’ willingness to pay.
256 pages, Wiley 2016
Case in Point
Complete Case Interview Preparation
by Marc P. Cosentino
My opinion
Those with a consulting background like me will surely remember this book. Classic strategy consulting interview preparation material. The business analysis frameworks presented here are solid and easy to grasp. As a PM they will help you quickly frame any business situation and identify the key value creation levers.
229 pages, Burgee Press 2018
Designing Products People Love
How Great Designers Create Successful Products
by Scott Hurff
My opinion
Hands down the best introduction to modern product design. It packs a ton of practical advice on research, design methodology and meeting techniques extracted from interviews with some of today’s top designers. Some very actionable tips here, such as the UI-stack, that you will want to start applying right away.
324 pages, O’Reilly Media 2016
The PM Library series “On my shelf” features Product Leaders from all over the world who are passionate about reading and sharing with the community. If you want to join the movement and share your reading list with others send us a message or fill out the following form. Let’s get better together 📚.
