Simply put, this book gets to the heart of Product Management today. Melissa tackles this head on. She does so succinctly and effortlessly.
First, Melissa sets the table with one of the most common problems facing folks in corporate America today: The "Build Trap" (output over outcomes). This is something the broader corporate world faces, not just firms operating in the of digital space.
From there she moves to covering Product Management as a leading role in firms. She covers the bad, the great, and offers some thoughts on career paths. What I specifically appreciated was highlighting the fact that a great product manager does not have to have a large staff or even a staff at all. A great Product Manager influences, questions, experiments, and even questions the analysis of results.
Melissa gives a nice overview of how one connects Product Vision through to execution and how Product Management helps lead this. In many organizations, we find PMOs or tech leaders dividing up these into "phases" or assigning them to silos. Melissa dispenses with that and leaves the ownership where it belongs: a Product Management organization that helps lead the teams in the right direction (that direction being the customer).
She follows this up with some tips for how to approach Problem and Solutions exploration. Her thoughts and examples on using a Product Kata (adapted from Mike Rother's work) is helpful and can easily help focus a team on how to get to effective solutions more crisply.
Finally, her overview of what a good Product Management Organization looks like cuts to the chase. It's a very solid overview of what "good" looks like. It's not a nirvana state to never be attained, but a realistic view into where companies can get to.
As a practicing Agilist, I appreciated this book since it is not an encyclopedia of Product Management, but rather it is a great overview of it. No author can solve your problem with their pre-baked solution. However, Melissa does not try to do that in her book. She provides a framework and mindset that helps people to consider ways to solve their own problems. This book is one that I can readily hand out to help start conversations, spark discussions, and paint a picture of where we need to go. Also it will help to align my fellow coaches, tech leaders, and product leaders AWAY from the Build Trap and towards real value delivery.
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From the brand
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Sharing the knowledge of experts
O'Reilly's mission is to change the world by sharing the knowledge of innovators. For over 40 years, we've inspired companies and individuals to do new things (and do them better) by providing the skills and understanding that are necessary for success.
Our customers are hungry to build the innovations that propel the world forward. And we help them do just that.
From the Publisher
About This Book
This book is for every product person. It’s for the senior in college who wants to be a product manager but doesn’t quite understand the full landscape of the job. It’s for the first-time product manager who was thrown into the fray and is looking for guidance. It’s for the product manager, just promoted to VP, who needs a guide to set up their organization so that it scales successfully. It’s for the leaders of large organizations who are looking to obtain that competitive advantage.
The version of Escaping the Build Trap you are about to read is the fourth rewrite of this book in three years. It is a culmination of what I have learned about how roles, strategy, process, and organizational dynamics affect the value that a company can deliver.
This book is a guide to getting out of the build trap with great product management. We look at what it means to become and be a product-led organization, which involves four key components:
- Creating a product manager role with the right responsibilities and structure
- Enabling those product managers with a strategy that promotes good decision making
- Understanding the process of determining what product to build, through experimentation and optimization
- Supporting everyone with the right organizational policies, culture, and rewards to allow product management to thrive
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Reviews with images
Decent intro to a product-centric development mindset
This is an easy read for anyone interested in going from a “project” to “product” mindset.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2019
Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2019
Good discussion of the challenges facing project oriented companies moving to customers and services
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2019Top reviews from other countries
InsiemeVuoto
Creare vero valore attraverso un'efficace Product Management
Reviewed in Italy on June 27, 2023
Amazon Customer
right book for product managers
Reviewed in India on August 1, 2022NE
Great for anyone working in product (software) mgt
Reviewed in France on March 10, 2021
Jeff
Exceptionally practical, with lots of first-hand experience
Reviewed in Canada on September 4, 2019
Paulo Peres
Para você que é Product Owner ou Product Manager
Reviewed in Brazil on December 29, 2018