10 Best Product Management Books for Beginners
Some of the best books on product management that every aspiring and beginner product manager should read
If you are an aspiring product manager or someone in the initial few years of your product management career and want to improve your knowledge of the field and looking for the best books to read, then you have come to the right place.
In this article, I am going to list 10 books you should read that will help you break into product management and also thrive in this highly rewarding and thrilling ride.
10 Must-Read Books for Beginner Product Managers
These are some of the best books for beginner product managers. These books will help fill the gaps in your understanding of the field and will help you pick up a few essential skills to grow in your career. Some of the first few books in this list are specifically aimed at PM interview preparation and the rest of them help you kickstart your PM career with confidence and gusto. I have also added the links to purchase these books online at the cheapest available rates in India.
1. Decode and Conquer
Decode and Conquer by Lewis C. Lin has an excellent reputation when it comes to preparing for product interviews. This book gives a superb introduction to some product management philosophies, interview approaches and problem solving frameworks. Might feel a little old but definitely still the single most important resource for product interview preparation.
2. Cracking the PM Interview
This book touches on pretty much everything when it comes to preparing for PM interviews. Contains many strategies and actionable insights and really throws light into different aspects of PM interview prep. Can be highly effective when coupled with Decode and Conquer.
3. Tech Simplified
Best resource for PMs from non-tech backgrounds to understand the basics of technology. Not a necessary read for people from computer science or engineering backgrounds.
4. Case in Point 10: Complete Case Interview Preparation
This is quite a challenging read but helps immensely with case interviews. This is a top consulting resource rather than a product management read and takes us through a number of sophisticated case studies and when used well, helps immensely in sharpening our problem solving skills.
4. Swipe to Unlock
This book enables anyone to understand the core concepts of tech and the business strategy that enables success in the tech industry or to even simply be an informed digital citizen, by giving an inside peek into the technologies we use everyday.
5. Cracking the PM Career
This is a comprehensive read outlining every dimension of PM career from the authors of Cracking the PM Interview. Pick this up once you have cleared that daunting PM interview. This book is successful in clearing some of the ambiguity around the PM role and tells us how PMs can focus on the right areas to attain success.
6. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
This is all about mastering the art of building habit-forming products. This book is an introduction to the four step Hook Model that companies use to build customer habits. Must read book on user experience based on behavioural psychology.
7. Design of Everyday Things
This is the number one book on how to build good, usable designs. Teaches the fundamentals of good design.
8. Inspired: How to Create Products Customers Love
This book is primarily an exploration of how product management fits in with other functions like engineering, design, project management and product marketing. This is an enlightening read on structuring vibrant product organisations and building products that customers love.
9. Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments
This is a guidebook on how managers can make better decisions, create better customer experiences and generate huge financial returns through controlled experiments. This book discusses the “experiment with everything” approach that has given dynamic organisations a considerable competitive advantage over the years. Truly essential read for data-driven product managers.
10. Dare to Lead
It’s a well-known and an obviously true statement that PMs lead by influence and not authority. Without doubt, those who are adept at doing this makes the most effective product managers. This book talks about the brand of courageous leadership displayed by remarkable PMs and also teaches how to build effective communication skills which is also the cornerstone of impactful leadership.
This is the second among a series of articles by Adithya Sailesh, aimed at consolidating the product management knowledge that I gained from my structured and otherwise learning journey and successful career switch from software development to product management that started over a year ago. The primary goal of this series is to help aspiring/beginner product managers by comprehensively covering all the essential fundamentals, making this leap a lot easier and fruitful.
