Updated: August 3, 2023 - 9 min read
Why are Product Management books important? When Product was first developing as a field, the only way to learn was side-by-side with another professional. They would tell you the secrets of the trade, and you would learn through doing.
All Product Managers have to learn through doing, but they don't have to make ALL of the mistakes that early Product Managers did. There's so much information out there! Take advantage of it to get a head start with knowledge thought leaders and practitioners in the Product industry.
Here is a list of the best books on Product Management, by topic:
Hiring and interview process
Product fundamentals and thought leadership
Product frameworks
Leadership
Product-adjacent skills
Navigate the topics with the table of contents at the top of this page, and happy reading!
Hiring and interview process
1. Hired: How to Get a Product Management Job
Land your next job with ease, by learning from the best of the best.
It is not often easy to understand the dynamics of career transitioning and job searching in the product sphere. This dedicated guide makes sure to provide information about the most common and uncommon transitions; getting a job in particular tech companies; and providing direct interview advice. It is all backed by the wise experiences of Product Managers who have worked for companies like Google, Airbnb, Facebook, Apple or Amazon.
2. Cracking the PM Interview
For hopeful Product Managers looking for their next role
Cracking the PM Interview is the #1 interview prep book for aspiring product managers. Learn how the ambiguously-named Product Manager role varies between companies, what experiences you need, how to make your existing experience translate, what a great Product Manager resumé and cover letter looks like, and then how to master the Product Manager interview questions
PS - Co-author Jackie Bavaro did a podcast with us on their follow-up book, Cracking the PM Career. Check it out!
3. Decode and Conquer
Understand the toughest Product Manager interview questions
Lewis Lin gives an industry insider’s perspective on how to conquer the most difficult Product Manager interview questions. Covering frameworks for tackling product design and metrics questions, the biggest mistakes, and answers to the top Product Manager interview questions.
4. The Product Manager Interview: 167 Actual Questions and Answers
For practicing for the Product Manager interview
Another one from Lewis Lin, who does a great job of continuously updating this book with a comprehensive list of questions from real Product Management interviews. Bonus: Lewis Lin's Interview Community is a great place to find community and practice product management interviews with other product jobs seekers.
PS - You can also find a comprehensive list of Product Manager interview questions here!
Product fundamentals and thought leadership
5. The Product Book
An all-encompassing guide for Product Managers at any levels
Subtitled “How to Become a Great Product Manager”, this book by Josh Anon (former Pixar Product Manager) and Carlos González de Villaumbrosia (Product School CEO) is all about the Product Manager life. With practical examples supported by theoretical innovation (rather than the opposite, which is the usual!), The Product Book will help you take your first steps in product. For experienced Product Managers, it will help them review the essential concepts in the discipline.
6. Ship It: Silicon Valley Product Managers Reveal All
All the best-kept secrets from Silicon Valley
Even the best Product Managers cannot work through instinct alone. You’re not psychic. You need to gather data. You need to systematically understand your users. And you need to learn how to effectively communicate this understanding to your team, so they are inspired to share your vision and stay on track. Inside ‘Ship It’ you will find specific advice and general wisdom about Product Management.
7. Product Analytics Economy
Drive revenue growth through data
Delivering an exceptional digital experience is the only way to earn trust and drive revenue growth. In this book, learn the fundamentals of Product Analytics, discover how to implement Product-Led Growth, and uncover how YouTube is preparing to onboard its next billion users.
8. Swipe to Unlock
A primer on technology and business strategy
A guide which enables anyone to understand the core concepts of tech and the business strategy behind it. This is perfect for Product Managers, who live at the intersection of technology and business, to understand how one affects the other.
Customer-centric thinking
9. The Mom Test
Get more learning and sales out of your customer conversations
People won't give you an honest evaluation of your business or product idea is good if you don't know which questions to ask. Like a mother to her child, customers are likely to say that an idea or experience is wonderful even if they secretly are harboring a pain point. This book guides you to real answers and feedback.
10. Product Mindset: How to Get Inside Your Customer’s Mind
Because the best Product Manager is a customer-obsessed Product Manager
To build products that people love, you need to understand the conditions of their lives, and the intricacies of their state of mind. Learn drive sustainable growth through obsessing over your customer – lower cost of customer acquisition, and increase retention, and drive revenue.
11. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
Nir Eyal gives us a practical guide to building better products
Eyal’s aim with this book, was to create the guide he wished he’d had at the start of his career in Product. The Hook Model helps companies to encourage customer behavior without aggressive (and expensive) marketing campaigns. This comprehensive guide explains how to create products that become your customer’s habit, always bringing them back for more.
12. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Understanding motivation, both your customers’ and your own
Described as provocative and persuasive, this book by Daniel H. Pink deep dives into the concept of motivation. Dividing motivation into three parts – autonomy, mastery, and purpose – Pink succinctly tackles things like job satisfaction, and our desire to do good in the world. Not only will this be insightful in terms of our own personal motivations, but also for better understanding our users.
Product frameworks
13. Measure What Matters
The Objectives and Key Results (OKR) framework broken down
Learn how a simple goal setting technique called OKRs can keep your product aligned with business goals. This framework helped tech giants attain explosive growth, and has helped countless other products achieve success.
14. Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
How to come up with innovative solutions through an intensive design sprint
Learn the secrets to the five-day process used by three partners at Google Ventures to move from prototype to decision. Sound impossible? You’ll have to pick up this book and find out for yourself…
15. The Lean Product Playbook
Every contemporary Product Manager's go-to guide
The Lean Product Playbook provides specific, step-by-step guidance on how to apply Lean Startup ideas. The author, Dan Olsen, is a seasoned tech-consultant and he has developed an actionable model for product-market fit. It consists of a 6-step process that explains how to rapidly iterate based on customer feedback, illustrated with real-world examples.
16. When Coffee & Kale Compete
See the Jobs To Be Done framework in a whole new light, and get better at building products people love
You might think you know everything about Jobs To Be Done, but Alan Klement’s insights will help you look at then in a whole new way. The aim of this book is to ultimately help you build products that people want to buy, reduce waste within your organization, and help your company stay competitive. And the best part? It’s even free! There’s no excuse not to check it out!
Leadership
17. Dare to Lead
“A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential.”
Brené Brown is one of the most influential speakers on leadership around. In this book, she talks about how leaders become strong, take risks, and lead with courage. If you find yourself wanting to build on your soft skills like communication, this is the book for you. A wonderfully profound read, equipping you with bravery you can take into the boardroom, and out into your everyday life.
18. The Making of a Manager
“I learned then one of my first lessons of management—the best outcomes come from inspiring people to action, not telling them what to do.”
Sometimes Product Managers focus too much on the Product part and less on the Management part. That’s where Julie Zhuo’s book comes in. Julie Zhuo spent over 11 years as a VP of Product Design at Facebook, and is widely considered to be a product design leader. In this bestseller, she reveals her tactics for being the best manager possible, and getting the most our of your teams. Learn how to lead, and how to inspire.
Product-adjacent skills: design and marketing
19. Well Designed
Up your Product Design knowledge and become a better Product Manager
You don’t need to be an artist, but as someone who builds products which need to be designed… You should know at least a bit about design! In this book, Jon Kolko explains how to determine product-market fit, identify behavioral insights, sketch a product strategy, and polish product details.
20. This is Marketing
Once you build your product, you need to let potential users know about it!
Product Managers are expected to work across many functions, and it's worthwhile for them to dip their toes in marketing. In this book, marketing expert Seth Godin unpacks how marketing is integral to every part of a business.
Even more Product Management resources
Hungry for more? After reading most of these books, you will be a Product Management master. However, it is possible that you might want more. There are some things you can do to increase your Product Management knowledge:
Join our Slack and Facebook communities to learn about the latest in the product world.
Check out PM Library, an online repository of books for product people.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel to watch the latest talks from our events.
Join us at one of our Product Management events.
Updated: August 3, 2023