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Ask HN: Good resources to become a better Product Manager?
I’m trying to improve my skills as a PM to better work with my team, customers, and help define the best features, goals, and products to help my company grow.
Given that Product Management is a little bit more nebulous in terms of specific skill sets, I’m looking for great books, blogs, videos, or courses that will help me become a better PM, not just for myself, but for my team.
What help you become a better PM?
How did you take your skills to the next level?
- coopreme 6y agoLearn the technical stuff you are avoiding. ideas are cheap, execution is hard. Understanding the depth of the problem your team faces will make you a better project manager, increase their happiness by knowing they’re working for someone with technical depth, and ultimately make you more valuable and harder to replace than just another product owner/scrum master. I get at least 10x more resumes for PM/PO that those with engineering skills. Guess what we don’t need more of...
- bwh2 6y agoSpecifically to your question of defining the best features, goals, and products, I recommend these books: * 20 YC Lessons * Outcomes Over Output (a lightweight version of The Lean Startup) * Strategy Rules * How Google Works Here's the rest of my Product Manager book reviews: https://www.briansnotes.io/audience/product-manager/ https://www.briansnotes.io/audience/product-manager/
- joegahona 6y agoMarty Cagan and Dan Olsen’s work helped me the most. You can find tons of their videos on Youtube, or get their books. I listen to Cagan’s books when I walk my dog.
- Jugurtha 6y agoRecycling some replies. More context on https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26182988 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26182988: Pick and choose: - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19924100 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19924100 (understanding codebases, etc.) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26591067 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26591067 (testing pipelines, scaffolding, issue templates) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22873103 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22873103 (making the most out of meetings, leveraging your presence) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22827841 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22827841 (product development) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20356222 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20356222 (giving a damn) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25008223 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25008223 (If I disappear, what will happen) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24972611 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24972611 (about consulting and clients, but you can abstract that as "stakeholders", and understanding the problem your "client", who can be your manager, has.) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24209518 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24209518 (on taking notes. When you're told something, or receive a remark, make sure to make a note and learn from it whether it's a mistake, or a colleague showing you something useful, or a task you must accomplish.. don't be told things twice or worse. Be on the ball and reliable). - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24503365 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24503365 (product, architecture, and impact on the team) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22860716 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22860716 (onboarding new hires to a codebase, what if it were you, improve code) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22710623 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22710623 (being efficient learning from video, hacks. Subsequent reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22723586 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22723586) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21598632 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21598632 (communication with the team, and subsequent reply: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21614372 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21614372) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21427886 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21427886 (template for taking minutes of meetings to dispatch to the team. Notes are in GitHub/GitLab so the team can access them, especially if they haven't attended). - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24177646 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24177646 (communication, alignment) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21808439 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21808439 (useful things for the team and product that add leverage) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20323660 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20323660 (more meeting notes. Reply to a person who had trouble talking in corporate meetings) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22715971 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22715971 (management involvement as a spectrum) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25922120 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25922120 (researching topics) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26147502 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26147502 (keeping up with a firehose of information) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26123017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26123017 (fractal communication: communication that can penetrate several layers of management and be relevant to people with different profiles and skillsets) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26179539 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26179539 (remote work, use existing tooling and build our own. Jitsi videos, record everything, give access to everyone so they can reference them and go back to them, meetings once a week or two weeks to align)
- akg_67 6y agoA list of books I posted in another thread: * Start with Steve Blank’s The Startup Manual or Four Step to Epiphany. Other books: * Dan Olsen, The Lean Product Playbook * Mart Cagan, Inspired * Ryan Singer, Shape Up * Jake Knapp, Sprint * Jeff Patton, User Story Mapping * Stephen Wunker, Costovation Also checkout /r/productmanagement subreddit.