Product Manager Books

Elevate Your Product Management Skills with the Top 20 Must-Read Books

Product managers strive to create products that customers love. But it takes world-class skills in strategy, design, analytics, and leadership to make this happen. We've curated the most highly recommended, must-read books from today's leading product experts.

Browse the top books right now and start reading today!

Beginner product managers
Inspired by Marty Cagan Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Customer Focus: Prioritize solving real customer problems and delivering value by deeply understanding their needs and experiences.
  • Cross-Functional Empowerment: Build collaborative, empowered teams with diverse skills that share ownership and work together to make informed decisions.
  • Iterative Development: Embrace continuous learning, experimentation, and adaptation based on user feedback to drive product innovation and success.
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Embracing iterative development and validated learning to build products that address real customer needs.
  • Build MVPs to collect real user feedback
  • Use build-measure-learn loops to iterate quickly
Escaping the Build Trap by Melissa Perri Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Recognizing the need to focus on delivering value and outcomes rather than just building features.
  • Strategies for breaking free from the cycle of building without clear goals or user validation.
  • Understanding the role of effective product management in driving innovation and business growth.
Interviewing for a product management role
Cracking the PM Interview by Gayle Laakmann McDowell Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Frameworks for analytical, technical, and behavioral questions
  • Tips for structuring your PM interview answers
  • Strategies for effectively communicating your product management experience and problem-solving abilities.
Decode and Conquer by Lewis C. Lin Get it here
Key takeaways
  • In-depth insights into approaching various types of product management interview questions.
  • Structured approach to analyzing product cases
  • Strategies for standing out as a candidate by showcasing your product management knowledge and skills.
The Product Manager Interview by Lewis C. Lin Get it here
Key takeaways
  • A comprehensive collection of actual product management interview questions and sample answers.
  • Learn to communicate stories clearly and concisely
  • Insights into the critical thinking and problem-solving skills expected of product management candidates.
Experienced product managers to further level up your skills
Swipe to Unlock by Neel Mehta, Aditya Agashe, and Parth Detroja Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Drive structure and rigor into unstructured cases
  • Improve product sense through case walkthroughs
  • Gaining insights into how technology trends and innovations shape modern products and businesses.
Radical Focus by Christina Wodtke Get it here
Key takeaways
  • The power of using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) to drive focus and alignment within teams.
  • Focus teams on key results, not just activity
  • Techniques for translating high-level objectives into actionable steps that contribute to overall success.
User Story Mapping by Jeff Patton Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Understanding the process of visualizing user journeys and creating effective user story maps.
  • Break down your product into user stories.
  • Identify gaps and opportunities in customer journey
Product management strategy
Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Identifying the difference between meaningful, effective strategies and generic, ineffective plans.
  • Assess strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
  • Execute your strategy effectively.
Value Proposition Design by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Understand what makes your product valuable to customers.
  • Techniques for validating and testing value propositions to ensure they address real customer needs.
  • Communicate your value proposition to customers.
Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Understand the different stages of the product adoption lifecycle.
  • Strategies for addressing the different needs and behaviors of various customer segments.
  • Successfully cross the chasm between early adopters and the mainstream market.
Product marketing
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Understand the psychology of habit formation.
  • The "Hook Model" framework, which consists of Trigger, Action, Variable Reward, and Investment.
  • Create products that people can't stop using.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Understand principles of reciprocation, liking, authority, and unity
  • Influence product adoption through scarcity and social proof
  • Motivate users through consistency and commitment
Contagious by Jonah Berger Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Factors that contribute to the virality and sharing of ideas, products, and messages.
  • The STEPPS framework (Social Currency, Triggers, Emotion, Public, Practical Value, Stories) for creating contagious content.
  • Strategies for designing marketing campaigns that naturally spread through word of mouth.
Cross-functional books
Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Design products that are easy to use and understand.
  • Strive for simplicity in navigation and layout
  • Optimize web usability through customer feedback
The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Understand the principles of good design.
  • Principles of designing products that are intuitive, usable, and consider human cognitive abilities.
  • The role of affordances, feedback, and mapping in creating effective and user-friendly designs.
Lean Analytics by Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Understand the importance of data and analytics in product management.
  • Focus on leading indicators over lagging vanity metrics
  • Instrument products to get qualitative and quantitative insights
The Pragmatic Programmer by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Learn the principles of good software engineering.
  • Techniques for approaching problem-solving, debugging, and managing complexity in programming.
  • Master tools to improve coding efficiency
The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford Get it here
Key takeaways
  • Insights into IT operations, DevOps practices, and the challenges of delivering software efficiently.
  • Apply systems thinking to see bottlenecks and dependencies
  • Manage constraint and leverage flow to optimize output