Top 10 Product Management Books (2021)

Introduction

What is product management? The basic introduction to product management is that It is an organizational function which deals with planning and development including pricing strategy. It is basically starting to end of the marketing function with all stages of the product cycle. This is managing the product lifecycle which integrates business systems along with people and data. The product manager is responsible for start to end management of the product cycle. The role of product management or product marketing is to maximize revenues, sales, and profits. He is often responsible for market analysis, defining features and functions as well as looking after the production and management of the product. 

1. List of PM Books

1. List of Product Management Books

Now, we know by now what is product management, what does a product manager do, let’s have a look at what the product managers gain knowledge from certain platforms i.e. what are the best product manager books to read and which can be referred for the latest updates and product management tactics. The following are the best books on product management which can be referred to well. 

1. Free

This book is one of the best books for product managers which can be referred to. It is written by Chris Anderson, editor in chief, WIRED. This book helps us to look deep into the product management concept of lengthy objectives and also look choose the pricing of our products smartly. This book is an eye-opener and helps dig deep into the latest trends as the new era where most of the products and services are free, can we really afford to stick with old parameters of making the customers available for paying them.

It shares one of the best concepts of a freemium model for promoting the products. How does a company gamble on providing free products to the customers by charging them indirectly? This process attracts the customer and finally charges them additional functionality. Even after providing free function, few or even 5% of customers are ready to pay for the advanced features, they are in much profit. 

2. Do the Work

 This book is considered one of the top product management books written by Steven Pressfield. This book advises on the creative undertaking which also shares the process of how to release the new product in the market. This book shares research on various aspects that can be considered or can share crucial information on product management. This book is also known as “The Resistance”. This book is a great check for product managers, in case you are stuck in any kind of research or looking for more data. This shares the value of building a roadmap, presenting stakeholders, etc. It shares mind-blowing strategies as well. 

3. Beautiful Evidence

 The most important aspect of product management is designed. The perfect design features on the product management scope are stated in detail in this book. This is considered as one of the products management best books. Many product managers have great insights on design, and how a good design works, however, this book features great concepts for creating beautiful design structure to create better products.

The most beautifully created design concepts created in the book written by Edward Tufte. This book not only features the great concepts of product management but also various historical illustrations and ancient paintings of creatures which depicts great ideas for product management and how to grow business with the help of these illustrations. This is one of the essential readings for various people. 

4. Crossing the Charm

 Considered as one of the traditional books on product management, this book focuses on developing products for small business groups and make it a mass-market success. The book is quite a quarter-century old which depicts the trends of product development back then, however, is quite effective in depicting the latest trends. It gives a great explanation of how successful the product can be with these market trends along with the latest style and strategies. 

5. Hooked

For quite a while, this book has been known as one of the excellent choices among product managers. This is one of the best books for product managers can have concerning the behavioral design system. This illustrates the concept of the design system with real-world examples on various social media platforms. This is the best book related to sticky products which gives a brief understanding of the newer vision of product management. 

6. The Art of product management

 This book depicts developing an effective product roadmap, equipping support teams and properly implementing an agile system, etc. This is considered one of the best books about product management in the technology industry. The principle is broad enough in context to the product management field. 

7. Measure what matters

Effectively created by Doerr helping the entrepreneurs building an effective product management campaign for around years. He has been a longed champion of OKR also known as objective and key results. He shares his immense experience and knowledge with the help of this book. It set achieving bold and ambitious goals for great and good companies. It is highly effective for entrepreneurs across the world. It depicts various kinds of approach to management which every product manager finds very effective in day to day life. It gives a perfect example of real-world scenarios for building better products. 

8. Completer and Utter failure

 This is book depicts the failures and success in the field of product management and is one of the inspiring concepts with regards to the ic failure of individuals and businesses. The scenarios stated in the book refer to the possibilities that how can the product fail. It gives a fair glimpse of how big entrepreneurs have failed with the product management concept and how they learned from their failures. This small book gives you a fair idea of how to succeed in your failures. 

9. Escaping the Build Trap

This is one of the famous books to be referred to as product management. One of the best product management books 2020 creates valuable information on focusing on output instead of outcomes. It focuses on the needs and desires of the customers. It introduces high-level ideas and concepts along with principles with instructive examples. It states that the product manager should not be forced to choose users or meetings, business goals should be focused on with an adaptable framework to achieve both. 

10. Product Leadership

 It depicts the creative difference between product management and product leadership. It creates an effective idea of product management with a broader mindset rather than a typical job function. It creates a different concept about the job function of the product manager which depicts why to work and not how to work. This can be uncomfortable advice for product managers which makes you understand the serious strategies who are looking to make a career in the product management field.

Conclusion

These are the list of product and brand management books that are famous among product managers or those who are looking to make a career in this field.

Interested to learn all about Product Management from the best minds in the industry? Check out our Product Management Certification. This 6-month-long program takes place online through live instructor-led sessions. It is the only program in India that offers the ‘Bring Your Own Product (BYOP)’ feature so that learners can build their product idea into a full-blown product, and go through an entire Product Development lifecycle. Not only this, but this is the only program in India with a curriculum that conforms to the 5i Framework. Post completion, learners receive a joint certification from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore, and Jigsaw Academy. 

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