Which Product Development Books Should You Read Now?
If you want to advance in the field of product development, understanding and forming a solid business strategy is crucial. Additionally, mastering product strategy will help you craft adaptive roadmaps and drive product direction. Here are our book recommendations to level up your process and strategy.
Resources about product development and product management
There are many books and other resources about product development available. It might be overwhelming to look through all the information and decide which book is relevant to current market needs and is worth dedicating your time to. This article provides practical advice to help you navigate through the best options. Additionally, we include real world examples to illustrate key concepts and strategies.
We got you covered! We asked our product owners, engineers, and business developers which books on product development they recommend.
1. The Product Mindset: Succeed in the Digital Economy by Changing the Way Your Organization Thinks
Authors: David H. DeWolf, Jessica S. Hall
The Product Mindset approaches product development with a new direction. It emphasizes the importance of having a solid business strategy to navigate challenges and achieve lasting success. The authors provide tools to innovate your company’s methodologies, reframe its culture, and help you succeed in the digital marketplace.
Book Extract:
“Organizations that focus solely on projects and outputs miss the opportunity to deliver long-term value. Instead, by adopting a product mindset, businesses can align their efforts with the end-user’s needs, enabling them to continuously deliver value.”
Why This Book is a Must-Read: This book is essential for understanding how to shift from a project-focused approach to a product-focused mindset. With practical examples and clear strategies, it guides you in transforming your organisation to better navigate the digital economy and achieve sustained success. It is an invaluable resource for anyone aspiring to become a successful product manager.
A very simple, easy-to-read book about how to thrive away from the project mindset, which is referred to as an IT-mindset here, and how to adapt to the product mindset. Lots of real-life examples through simple stories.
Terry, Product Owner
2. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Authors: Blake Masters, Peter Thiel
Zero to One presents a new way of thinking about innovation; it teaches you to ask the questions that lead you to find value in unexpected places. It explores the idea of moving away from competing ruthlessly in today’s marketplace, focusing on the future, and crafting a more unique approach to product development. Eric Ries’ methodology emphasizes rapid experimentation and customer feedback and is designed to create radically successful businesses.
Book Extract:
“Every moment in business happens only once. The next Bill Gates will not build an operating system. The next Larry Page or Sergey Brin won’t make a search engine. If you are copying these guys, you aren’t learning from them.”
Why This Book is a Must-Read: “Zero to One” challenges conventional thinking and inspires innovation. It encourages product developers to look beyond current trends and consider unique approaches to building future products, making it a must-read for those seeking to foster groundbreaking innovation in their work. The book also provides real-world examples that illustrate the practical application of its concepts, helping readers understand how integrated elements like marketing, design, and manufacturing come together to create effective product solutions.
This book sets you in the right direction to foster innovation in your product ideas and development. It allows you to take a step back from your current processes and rethink the approach you have towards building new or upgrading the existing products.
Piruza, Chief Innovation Officer
3. The Lean Startup
Authors: Eric Ries
The book features lessons learned from lean manufacturing and relies on rapid experimentation and counterintuitive practices that shorten product development cycles. It emphasizes the importance of a minimum viable product. The lean startup gives you the tools to shift product directions more flexible and agilely.
Book Extract:
“The goal of a startup is to figure out the right thing to build—the thing customers want and will pay for—as quickly as possible. The Lean Startup method teaches you how to drive a startup—how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere—and grow a business with maximum acceleration.”
Why This Book is a Must-Read: “The Lean Startup” is foundational for anyone involved in product development. It introduces lean manufacturing principles to the startup world, helping you iterate quickly and effectively, reduce waste, and ultimately build products that truly resonate with customers.
This book is very commonly known and referenced among product builders. It is a must-read if you’re involved in product development. The ‘Lean Product Playbook’ also offers a systematic approach to creating successful products through the Lean Product Process, focusing on MVPs and rapid customer feedback to achieve product-market fit and drive innovation.
Terry, Product Owner
4. Innovation as Usual: How to Help Your People Bring Great Ideas to Life
Authors: Paddy Miller, Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg
In short, this book guides you through the principles of allowing innovation to happen systemically and sustainably. It also serves as a coherent framework for answering critical business questions in a condensed timeframe.
Book Extract:
“Innovation is not a matter of luck or happenstance. It’s about creating a fertile environment where ideas can be systematically cultivated, developed, and executed.”
Why This Book is a Must-Read: This book provides a practical framework for embedding innovation into your organization’s daily operations. It’s invaluable for leaders who want to sustain innovation and ensure their teams continuously contribute to the company’s growth and success. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of having a clear product strategy to guide effective roadmapping, stakeholder alignment, and overall product management success.
A great book that encourages the reader to think outside existing frames. It provides tools to encourage and recognize innovation. And as a senior innovator, it will teach you how not to kill others’ innovative ideas.
Terry, Product Owner
5. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
Author: Nir Eyal
The book gives you great insight into ways to develop products that users need and are willing to come back to again and again. Hooked features examples from the biggest players in the digital market as Instagram, Facebook, Google, Pinterest, and many more.
Book Extract:
“Companies that succeed in building habit-forming products start by identifying their users’ internal triggers. They create a feeling of craving, leading to repeated engagement.”
Why This Book is a Must-Read: “Hooked” is crucial for anyone aiming to develop products that capture and retain user attention. By understanding the psychology behind user habits, you can design products that meet user needs and become an integral part of their lives.
Hooked helps you rethink how the user engages with your product and service. It gives many valuable insights into the design and development of one of the most successful existing products. It is a must-read if you want to be more conscious of your product development process. This book especially benefits any product manager looking to enhance their strategic thinking and skills.
Piruza, Chief Innovation Officer
6. Winning at New Products: Creating Value Through Innovation
Author: Robert G. Cooper
The book outlines strategies for making stable business decisions throughout successful product development from idea generation to launch.
Book Extract:
“Success in product development is not about working harder or longer. It’s about working smarter, making quick decisions, and killing bad ideas fast.”
Why This Book is a Must-Read: Robert Cooper’s methodical approach to product development helps you navigate the entire product lifecycle efficiently. It’s a must-read for professionals looking to enhance decision-making processes and successfully bring valuable products to market. Successful product managers will find this book particularly useful for aligning product vision with strategic goals and creating effective roadmaps.
A very methodical book by a very methodical Canadian professor. It teaches you how to kill bad product ideas fast and without hesitation. And much more.
Terry, Product Owner
7. Measure What Matters: OKRs: The Simple Idea that Drives 10x Growth
Author: John E. Doerr
Measure What Matters is about using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a revolutionary approach to goal-setting, to make tough business choices. Leveraging rapid customer feedback is also crucial for effectively iterating and innovating products. The book features examples of growth from Intel, Google, Amazon, and Uber.
Book Extract:
“OKRs are not a silver bullet, but when implemented correctly, they can help you focus on what truly matters, drive alignment and engagement, and foster a culture of transparency and accountability.”
Why This Book is a Must-Read: “Measure What Matters” introduces OKRs, a powerful tool for setting and achieving ambitious goals. It’s essential for product developers and leaders who want to ensure their teams stay focused, aligned, and motivated while driving significant growth. The insights and practical guidance provided are particularly valuable for tech companies, helping them align new products with customer needs and elevate the effectiveness of product management.
Measure What Matters is structured logically and gives a great overview of the topic. Because of its comfortable design, it can be quickly reviewed, which is what I often like to do.
Tanel, Data Scientist
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