Books, Books, Books — The Product at Heart 2023 PM Library
With the help of our sponsor Metro Digital and our friends from PMLibrary, we’ve been able to present you with all these books in our little library corner at the conference. Every book comes with a recommendation from someone from the product community; in other words, highly recommended.
We hope you like it, flip through many of these great books, and maybe even take some home after the raffle! Wishing you luck.
AI 2041
Ten Visions for Our FutureKai Fu-Lee, Chen Qiufan
Making predictions about the future of AI is not for the faint of heart. This inspired collaboration between a pioneering technologist and a visionary writer of science fiction offers bold and urgent insights into how these technologies may impact our lives.
Recommended by: Yann LeCun, winner of the Turing Award; chief AI scientist, Facebook
Build
An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth MakingTony Fadell
Based on hard-won, real-life lessons as an entrepreneur, Tony Fadell’s Build delivers priceless advice for any young person who wants to build something great or change the world for the better. I wish I had this book when I was twenty-one.
Recommended by: Ben Horowitz, founding partner of Andreessen Horowitz
Continuous Discovery Habits
Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business ValueTeresa Torres
Teresa has mastered the art of helping product teams adopt a continuous cadence to their discovery work. Reading this book is like having her by your side, guiding your work, helping you find success, while developing your expertise.
Recommended by: Hope Gurion, Product Leader & Team Coach, Fearless Product
Creativity, Inc
Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True InspirationEd Catmull, Amy Wallace
This book is a joy from the first page to the last. I think I learned so much by reading about the life of Ed Catmull and how he founded and led Pixar. I find it really interesting how close making a movie and building a digital product in the end are and how the so-called “brain-trust” meeting can be adapted for the digital space to build better products.
Recommended by: Alexander Hipp, Co-founder PM Library and Beyond
Design for a Better World
Meaningful, Sustainable, Humanity CenteredDon Norman
Recommended by: Karin Schoefegger, Product Management Advisor
Do Improvise
Less Push. More Pause. Better ResultsRobert Poynton
Poynton is one of the most important voices in improv education today. This clear and well written book is a must read for anyone interested in enhanced creativity.
Recommended by: Pam Hansson, Emerita, Stanford University
Ethical Machines
Your Concise Guide to Totally Unbiased, Transparent, and Respectful AIReid Blackman
Recommended by: Karin Schoefegger, Product Management Advisor
Farther, Faster, and Far Less Drama
How to Reduce Stress and Make Extraordinary Progress Wherever You LeadJanice Fraser, Jason Fraser
I met Janice and Jason at the beginning of my product design career . . . They taught me how co-creation trumps selling ideas, that the best ideas emerge when we amplify the quieter voices in the room, and that leading with less ego leads to far greater impact. Farther, Faster, and Far Less Drama
Recommended by: Leslie Yang, Senior Design Manager at Lyft
Figure it out
Getting from Information to UnderstandingStephen P Anderson and Karl Fast
A rich and actionable toolkit for sharpening thinking and extending capabilities for understanding and reasoning.
Recommended by: Eva-Lotta Lamm, designer and visual thinker
Good Arguments
How Debate Teaches Us to Listen and Be HeardBo Seo
The rare book that has the potential to make you smarter—and everyone around you wiser.
Recommended by: Adam Grant
High Growth Handbook
Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 PeopleElad Gil
Elad jam-packs every useful lesson about building and scaling companies into a single, digestible book. My only gripe is that he didn’t write this when we were in the early days of Box, as it would have saved my ass countless times.
Recommended by: Aaron Levie, cofounder and CEO of Box
How Minds Change
The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and PersuasionDavid McRaney
This is a must-read manual for anyone interested in the seemingly impossible task of changing people’s minds. Discover the science behind how we form beliefs, attitudes, and values, and the surprisingly simple way our views can shift.
Recommended by: Logan Ury, author of How To Not Die Alone
How Minds Change Human Compatible
Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of ControlStuart Russell
This is the most important book I have read in quite some time. It lucidly explains how the coming age of artificial super-intelligence threatens human control. Crucially, it also introduces a novel solution and a reason for hope.
Recommended by: Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Nobel Prize and author of Thinking, Fast and Slow
Meeting Design
For Managers, Makers, and EveryoneKevin M. Hoffman
Most meetings suck. They suck time, energy, and enthusiasm out of the room. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Kevin teaches us a range of simple techniques for turning meetings from productivity sinks into productivity accelerators. Want to leave your next meeting feeling supercharged and ready to go? Then this book is for you.
Recommended by: Andy Budd, owner and director of Clearleft
No rules rules
Netflix and the Culture of ReinventionReed Hastings, Erin Meyer
I had the privilege of learning from Reed personally and studying the Netflix culture. The insights in this book are invaluable to anyone trying to create and sustain organizational culture.
Recommended by: Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft
Non-Bullshit Innovation
Radical Ideas from the Worlds Smartest MindsDavid Rowan
In Non-Bullshit Innovation, Rowan combines the deeply researched narrative of a great investigative journalist with the practical punch of a top keynote speaker and delivers a book that is both a deeply engrossing read and a hugely valuable guide. No bullshit.
Recommended by: Dan Cobley, serial entrepreneur, former Google UK MD
OKR in der Praxis
Objectives & Key Results – Beispiele, Hacks, ErfahrungenChristina Lange
Product Management for UX People
From Designing to Thriving in a Product WorldChristian Crumlish
Finally, a book that zooms into the Venn diagram between product management and UX with day-in-the-life clarity.
Recommended by: Hà Phan, UX designer turned Director of Product
Product-Led Growth
How to Build a Product That Sells ItselfWes Bush
Product-Led Growth changes how companies grow because it brings a focus on how the product you've built can help you acquire more customers. Customer acquisition doesn't just become something marketing is focused on, the responsibilities for acquiring great customers expands to the product team as well.
Recommended by: Hiten Shah, Co-Founder of FYI, Product Habits and Crazy Egg
Range
Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized WorldDavid Epstein
Range will force you to rethink the nature of learning, thinking, and being, and reconsider what you thought you knew about optimal education and career paths—and how and why the most successful people in the world do what they do. It's one of the most thought-provoking and enlightening books I've read.
Recommended by: Maria Konnikova, author and professional poker player
Scaling People
Tactics for Management and Company BuildingClaire Hughes Johnson
The practical guide to running a world-class organization… Claire has demystified how you run a large, high-performance organization, with clear concepts and practical templates that you can start implementing today.
Recommended by: Jason Citron, founder and CEO of Discord
Seeing What Others Don't
The Remarkable Ways We Gain InsightsGary Klein
No one has taught me more about the complexities and mysteries of human decision-making than Gary Klein.
Recommended by: Malcolm Gladwell
Sense and Respond
How Successful Organizations Listen to Customers and Create New Products ContinuouslyJeff Gothelf, Josh Seiden
The authors’ ideas—from the continuous two-way conversation we should be having with customers to the concept of ‘learning forward’ in order to forge ahead despite uncertainty—provide a crucial framework for the modern world of business. With fascinating case studies and practical advice, Sense and Respond shows how to take the structures and methods of software companies and apply them to organizations of all kinds and sizes.
Recommended by: Eric Ries, author, The Lean Startup—
Strong Product People
A Complete Guide to Developing Great Product ManagersPetra Wille
STRONG was wonderful to read. I would have killed for something like this three jobs ago! It has given me a lot to think about for my current role, I will definitely go back and reflect on how I am doing some aspects of my team management, and will invest in areas that, at the moment, I am not prioritizing enough.
Recommended by: Luis Cascante, Head of Product at Star Stable Entertainment
The Cold Start Problem
How to Start and Scale Network EffectsAndrew Chen
Andrew Chen presents a current, pragmatic framework for understanding products with network effects. The majority of rising technology companies consist of networked products, making this an essential read for anyone in the industry.
Recommended by: Amy Moran, Product Manager at Workday
The Infinite Game
Simon Sinek
I really enjoy every page of this book. It is a wonderful mindset to understand and try to apply to your day and decision.
Recommended by: Florencia Ferreyra, Product Manager at PedidosYa
The Leader’s Journey
Transforming Your Leadership to Achieve the ExtraordinaryDonna Lichaw
Finally a book that doesn’t treat leadership styles as one-size-fits-all. The Leader’s Journey helped me think through how to tell my own story as a leader and use the superpowers I identified to lead more effectively. It will help you do the same!
Recommended by: Melissa Perri, author of Escaping the Build Trap and Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School
The Power of Regret
How Looking Backward Moves Us ForwardDaniel H. Pink
If you have long assumed that 'no regrets’ is the way to live life, then this book is for you. The incomparably candid, clear, and concise Daniel Pink summarizes the latest science on looking backward on what could have been and shows how it can vault you forward to a happier, more productive, and principled life.
Recommended by: Angela Duckworth, bestselling author of Grit
The Practice
Shipping Creative WorkSeth Godin
With surgical precision, The Practice attacks our predictable misconceptions about the creative process and replaces them with better ideas, one by one. This book will inspire you to make things, hone your craft, and nudge you to ship things you are proud of. Read it.
Recommended by: Tobi Lutke, CEO, Shopify
Think Again
The Power of Knowing What You Don't KnowAdam Grant
This was a very powerful book that is important for all product managers as we need to constantly rethink our ideas to ensure they are providing value to users.
Recommended by: Jason Kunio, Product Manager at Mira
Trillion Dollar Coach
The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill CampbellAlan Eagle, Jonathan Rosenberg, Eric Schmidt
This book is about Bill Campbell, the legendary executive coach in Silicon Valley. A short read, it will give you a good glimpse into the leadership philosophy of someone who influenced a whole generation of technology leaders.
Recommended by: Sebastien Phlix, Product lead at Alan
Unleashed
The Unapologetic Leader’s Guide to Empowering Everyone Around YouFrances Frei, Anne Morriss
Frei and Morriss have written the definitive guide to leadership today, just when we need it most. In voices that are fresh, playful, and unapologetically direct, they give us permission to look beyond ourselves and focus instead on the true challenge of leadership: how to help others unlock their full potential.
Recommended by: Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO, Thrive Global
User Friendly
How the hidden rules of design are changing the way we live, work, and playCliff Kuang
Engrossing and rich with rarely-told stories and interviews, User Friendly gives critical insights to make us better, smarter consumers of design and user-friendly experiences. A must-read for anyone who cares about design and the challenges it has to meet in the coming decades.
Recommended by: Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb
The Team that Managed Itself
Christina Wodtke
If you are new to a leadership role, this book is just perfect for you! And if you are in leadership for a while it's still entertaining and a friendly reminder to stay focused. I was reading the book some month ago and am now listening to the audiobook. And it fascinates me anew how Christina Wodtke managed to write a book that allows me as a reader to dive so deeply into an exciting story and learn so many important and helpful things along the way.
Recommended by: Petra Wille