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Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love (Silicon Valley Product Group) Spiral-bound – December 4, 2017
- Print length367 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherGeneric
- Publication dateDecember 4, 2017
- Reading age18 years and up
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Get to know this book
What's it about?
This book is about how to structure and staff a vibrant and successful product organization, and how to discover and deliver technology products that your customers will love.Popular highlight
To summarize, these are the four critical contributions you need to bring to your team: deep knowledge (1) of your customer, (2) of the data, (3) of your business and its stakeholders, and (4) of your market and industry.8,974 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
Risks are tackled up front, rather than at the end.7,943 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
Products are defined and designed collaboratively, rather than sequentially.7,005 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
It doesn't matter how good your engineering team is if they are not given something worthwhile to build.6,739 Kindle readers highlighted thisPopular highlight
Will the user buy this (or choose to use it)? Can the user figure out how to use this? Can our engineers build this? Can our stakeholders support this?6,488 Kindle readers highlighted this
Product details
- ASIN : B0CT3XB14D
- Publisher : Generic (December 4, 2017)
- Language : English
- Spiral-bound : 367 pages
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Best Sellers Rank: #993,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Before founding the Silicon Valley Product Group to pursue his interests in helping others create successful products through his writing, speaking, advising and coaching, Marty Cagan served as an executive responsible for defining and building products for some of the most successful companies in the world, including Hewlett-Packard, Netscape Communications, and eBay.
During his career, Marty has personally performed and managed most of the roles of a modern technology product organization, including product management, software development, product marketing, user experience design, software testing, engineering management, and general management.
As part of his work with SVPG, Marty is an invited speaker at major conferences and top companies across the globe. Marty is the author of INSPIRED: How To Create Tech Products Customers Love, co-author of EMPOWERED: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products, and co-author of TRANSFORMED: Moving To The Product Operating Model
Customer reviews
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Unfortunately, the structure and motivational techniques of the book aren’t fantastic. Opening chapters, intertwined topics, and opaque examples make it difficult to understand how an idea or technique relates to the thesis. I was never completely lost while reading, but I did have to re-read chapters once in a while to understand what the argument of the chapter was, or to make sure I digested the conclusions.
It also would have been nice to have examples of interactions with poor performing product teams along with the great product teams.
Maybe find a PDF or something if you plan on highlighting, although this is a pricey book at $20 for the hardcover, the paper it is like newspaper. If you plan on highlighting avoid this as it bleeds through.
5-stars for content
2-stars for physical paper
It is the best articulation of how to be successful in product management and how to create successful products that I have ever read. It is impossible not to run into into insights about challenges you are having or have had as a product manager when reading it. (This can be a little creepy, how does he know about all these mistakes I have made, is he a psychic?)
Do you want to get a job as a product manager? Read and re-read Marty’s book and steal at least a few of his insights for the interview - you’ll sound like a genius.
Some of the topics that resonated for me (I’m sure there will be different ones for you):
-Product management is distinct from other essential roles: design, engineering, product marketing, and project management (Chapter 1).
-Two inconvenient truths that often cause failed product efforts are: at least half our ideas are just not going to work (customers ultimately won’t use it - which is why you need customer validation early in the process) and it takes several iterations to implement an idea so that it delivers the necessary business value (Chapter 6).
-The three overarching product development principles from Lean and Agile which help you create successful products are (Chapter 7)
-Risks should be tackled up front, rather than at the end.
-Products should be defined and designed collaboratively, rather than sequentially.
-Its is all about solving problems, not implementing features.
-You need a team of missionaries, not mercenaries to create the smallest possible product that meets the needs of a specific market of customers (Chapter 8,9).
-A product manager must bring four critical contributions to their team (Chapter 10):
Deep knowledge
1) of your customer
2) of the data
3) of your business and its stakeholders
4) of your market and industry
-Product managers (PMs) need product designers - not just to help make your product beautiful - but to discover the right product (Chapter 11).
-Typical product roadmaps are the root cause of most waste and failed efforts in product organizations (Chapter 22). It is all too easy to institute processes that govern how you produce products that can bring innovation to a grinding halt. You need to try to wean your organization off of typical product roadmaps by focusing on business outcomes, providing stakeholders visibility so that they know you are working on important items, and by eventually making high-integrity commitments when critical delivery dates are needed (Chapter 60). Part of this is managing stakeholders which includes engaging them early in the product discovery process ideally with high-fidelity prototypes (Chapter 61).
-Products should start with a product vision in which the product team falls in love with the problem, not the solution (Chapter 25).
- Strong product teams work to meet the dual and simultaneous objectives of rapid learning and discovery while building stable and solid releases in delivery. Product discovery is used to address critical risks: (Chapter 33)
-Will the customer buy this, or choose to use it? (value risk)
-Can the user figure out how to use it? (usability risk)
-Can we build it? (feasibility risk)
-Does the solution work for our business? (business viability risk)
- PMs can’t rely on customers (or executives or stakeholders) to tell us what to build: customer doesn’t know what’s possible, and with technology products, none of us know what we really want until we actually see it (Chapter 33).
- While Amazon has a culture of “write the press release first”, Marty suggests PM should write a “happy customer letter first." Imagine a letter sent to the CEO from a very happy and impressed customer which explains why he or she is so happy and grateful for the new product or redesign. The customer describes how it was changed or improved his or her life. The letter also includes an imagined congratulatory response from the CEO to the product team explaining how this has helped the business (Chapter 36).
- Product managers need to consider the role of analytics and qualitative and quantitative value testing techniques (Chapter 54).
- What it really means for a PM to be the CEO of Product is testing business viability: listening to Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Finance, Legal, BD, Security, etc. before building the product (Chapter 56).
-Establishing a strong product culture requires (Chapters 66-67)
-Innovation culture: compelling product visions, strong product managers, empowered business and customer savvy teams product teams often in discovery
-Execution culture: urgency, high-integrity commitments, accountability, collaboration, results orientation, recognition, strong delivery management, frequent release cycles
(and it is hard to do both)
Top reviews from other countries
The book is an easy read with lots of valuable advice. Cagan is a big fan of spelling out lists, which makes it easy to follow. The book covers the four product risks: usability risk, value risk, feasibility risk, and business viability risk. It also covers the importance of tackling risks upfront, instead of at the end, and defining products and their overall brand.
While the book may not be for complete newcomers to tech or to product, it is ideal for someone with three months to thirty years of experience working in some capacity with a product team. The book is not filled with examples or stories from the trenches of product management, but it still doesn’t feel too theoretical or “fluffy”.
Overall, "Inspired" is a valuable resource for anyone looking to create tech products that customers love. It is a must-read for product managers, designers, and engineers who want to build great products that solve real problems.
Recommendation: I highly recommend "Inspired" to anyone who wants to learn more about product management and how to create products that customers love. It is a valuable resource that provides practical advice and insights that can be applied to any product development process.
It's all about building inspiring product and that requires inspired teams. That is what the book is all about. Easy to do? Read the book and see for yourself.