To truly excel in product management, you need to have a respect for design, an understanding of countless processes, a passion for problem-solving, excellent communication skills—the list goes on and on. That’s a lot to keep up with.
[Update: We’ve also launched a new home for our latest product management resources]
Let us introduce you to the mantra, “Stay thirsty my friends.” To you this may sound like the tagline of a famous beer commercial, but to us, it’s a core value that we live by every day. In the spirit of “Staying Thirsty” we’ve compiled this list of books, blogs, Slack communities, and podcasts for product-obsessed people that want to develop themselves in and out of the office.
Bookmark this list and get through it bit by bit. It can seem daunting, but you of all people should know small rituals can lead to large results. So treat yourself to a book every quarter. Download three podcast episodes at the beginning of every week. Set a weekly time slot on your calendar to interact with your Slack community friends. Before you know it, you’ll have sped through this list!
Want to get right to the good stuff?
Books for Product Managers
As a product manager, you have to be many things. A persuasive leader. An empathetic mind reader. An organized strategist. These books will help you develop the skills that lie under the surface to help you become a more well-rounded product manager and leader.
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness— Richard Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
An approachable best-seller that will expand the way you think about applications of research.
The Lean Product Playbook—Dan Olsen
A step-by-step strategy for new and seasoned PMs alike to learn how to build products customers will love.
Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value—Melissa Perri
We can all get stuck in the “output over outcomes” mindset—this book will break you out of it and provide tactics to create customer-centric products.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers—Ben Horowitz
A must-read amongst leaders of all disciplines, this (slightly) oldie but goodie shares practical nuggets of leadership wisdom that have withstood time.
A Brief Guide to Learning Faster (and Better)—Scott H. Young [Free]
If you want to absorb the nutrients in turmeric, you pair it with black pepper. Think of this guide as your black pepper—it will optimize the absorption of insights from the rest of the resources on this list.
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products—Nir Eyal
This book takes some of the psychology principles explained in the other books on this list and directly ties them into tactics for creating habit-forming products.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion—Robert B. Cialdini
If you’re looking for an easy-to-read book that will teach you basic psychology concepts, look no further than Influence.
Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive—Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, and Robert B. Cialdini
A great follow-up read after you’ve finished Influence that will advance your powers to become a true Jedi of persuasion.
Thinking Fast and Slow—Daniel Kahneman
You can think quickly and emotionally or slowly and logically. Kahneman will teach you techniques to marry the two.
Deviate—Beau Lotto
Learn the science behind how our brains perceive the world. By understanding how our brains function, we gain a better understanding of our users’ brains as well.
The Martian—Andy Weir
Popular science fiction novel that features creative problem-solving that’s relevant through the lens of a PM.
ShapeUp—Basecamp [Free Download]
Get to know the processes of shaping, betting, and building a product as told by one of the longest-running SaaS companies in the biz.
Mastering Product Experience in SaaS—Nick Bonfiglio, Mickey Alon, and Myk Pono [Free]
A comprehensive guide for delivering personalized product experiences, measuring their success, and iterating on them to create best-in-class experiences.
Blogs for Product Managers
Product Manager HQ
A great source of authentic advice and actionable takeaways for product managers or those looking to make the switch over to product management. They cover everything from product management fundamentals to career advice to AMAs with the greats.
Start with this: Effective Meetings for Product Managers
Reforge
Growth-focused topics make this a favorite among product leaders. Learn lessons from today’s fastest-growing companies and get new perspectives on how your role can impact the growth of your product and business.
Start with this: Don’t Let Your North Star Metric Define You
OpenView
Product-led growth isn’t just a buzzword, and OpenView’s content will prove it. We particularly like how they focus on the “people” side of product management, whether that means creating customer-centric products or culture-based internal processes.
Start with this: Product-Assisted Growth: The Best Kept Secret of Product Led Companies
Pragmatic Institute
Pragmatic Institute’s resource library spans everything from articles, reports, ebooks, and webinars to keep product professionals up to date on the latest trends. Come for their Annual Product Management and Marketing Survey, stay for their articles that cover everything from AI to product launches to pricing and everything inbetween.
Start with this: The Four Key Hurdles to Successful Product Launches
Slack Groups for Product Managers
These Slack communities are excellent ways to meet peers and advance your career. The benefits of joining one (or all) are too good to be ignored. Use these communities to get feedback and advice, find local meetups, advance your career, and meet thousands of passionate product people. Just don’t forget to read the house rules!
Product School
This group is considered one of the largest Slack communities with over 50,000 members. Product School provide weekly AMAs, resources for career advancement, product launch advice, networking, and more.
Channels Worth Checking Out
- #help-and-advice
- #feedback
- #resume_review
- Your local channel (ex. #z_local_bayarea)
The Product Coalition
The Product Coalition Slack space is managed by Jay Stansell, Founder and Chief Editor of productcoalition.com. Their Slack community has over 5,000 members. It’s a great space to exchange ideas with peers and industry experts.
Channels Worth Checking Out
- #book-club
- #request-advice
- #looking-for-talent
Mind The Product
The Mind the Product Slack group hosts over 30,000 members. There’s something for everyone—whether you’re looking for feedback on your product, want to share a good article, or need some career advice. They also have regional Slack channels for you to network with your local PM community.
Channels Worth Checking Out
- #pmtraining
- #freshcontent
- #careers
- #producttank
Product Hive
Product Hive is a community of product managers, strategists, and designers that started in Utah. They have over 3,000 highly-engaged members in their Slack group. A big focus for Product Hive is mentorship, so if you’re looking for a mentor or want to be one, start by joining this group.
Channels Worth Checking Out
- #design-review
- #ux
- #articles
- #conferences
Product Collective
Product Collective might sound familiar—they organize INDUSTRY, one of the leading conferences for product professionals. Their Slack group brings over 13,000 members together to connect, collaborate, and get inspired. If you’ve attended INDUSTRY conference in the past, you can also use Product Collective’s Slack community to connect with other attendees. Please note that if you’d like to access this Slack group, you need to subscribe to Product Collective’s newsletter.
Channels Worth Checking Out
- #all-resources
- #all-feedback
- #all-hiring
- #all-consulting
Women in Product Management
Women in Product Management is a movement and a community all in one. Founded by Slack Product Manager, Marci Victoria Grace, this Slack group gives women in product management and product-adjacent roles the opportunity to connect with mentors, friends, new career opportunities, and much more. Fill out their submission form to be considered to join over 800 members.
Podcasts for Product Managers
Put your commute to good use! Podcasts are a great way to see all the different facets of a product management career. Each episode is a window into a new person or businesses’ thought process. Use these to hone your skills, get a peek into the day-to-day of someone in completely different shoes than you, or hear the path that brought product leaders to success. You could even get insight into how your competition is thinking about things 😉 The possibilities—and episodes—are endless.
This is Product Management—Hosted by Mike Fishbein
Alpha’s “This is Product Management” podcast boasts a variety of guests from different verticals and backgrounds. With over 200+ episodes, you’re sure to find something that piques your interest. The topics they cover range from leadership advice to current trends to skills every good product manager should have.
Start with these episodes:
- Episode 202: Product Assisted Growth is Product Management
- Episode 223: Leadership Lessons is Product Management
- Episode 156: Critical Thinking is Product Management
The Product Experience—Hosted by Lily Smith and Randy Silver
Brainchild of Mind the Product (recognize the name from their Slack community?), this podcast “goes deep” with the best speakers from Mind the Product’s global events. The Product Experience can help you develop soft skills, like “How to Say No,” and improve your PM acumen with topics like “Rapid Prototyping” and “Tell Better Stories.”
Start with these episodes:
- The ABCs of Product—Melissa Perri on The Product Experience
- Killing Zombies—Lisa Long on The Product Experience
- Lean Mean Product Machine—Dan Olsen on The Product Experience
Build—Hosted by Maggie Crowley
When the host of your podcast is a “former Olympian turned Harvard MBA turned Director of Product Manager at Drift,” you already know you’re in for some great conversations! When Maggie isn’t sitting down with industry-leading companies like Slack and Basecamp, she’s sharing best practices and answering frequently asked questions inspired by listeners and her own experiences—often joined by her Drift teammates.
Start with these episodes:
- #18: How to Measure Product Market Fit with Superhuman Founder Rahul Vohra
- #16: How to Ship Effectively with Drift’s VP of Product
- We Talked to Product Management Legend Marty Cagan. Here’s What We Learned.
UI Breakfast Podcast—Hosted by Jane Portman
Start your day with a hearty bowl of UI Breakfast Podcast. Not only will you pick up actionable insights, but you’ll also get a taste of the human side of being a PM, marketer, and/or UI/UX designer. Jane explores topics like design thinking, SaaS blogging strategy, balancing parenthood with building products, and much more.
Start with these episodes:
- Episode 149: Tech Education for Kids with Mariam Tocino
- Episode 128: Writing Great Product Specs with Janna Bastow
- Episode 100: Leveling Up with Patrick McKenzie
User Defenders Podcast—Hosted by Jason Ogle
User Defenders is dedicated to shining the spotlight on UX designers who are saving the world from bad design one project at a time. We challenge you to not finish an episode feeling inspired. And if that wasn’t enough to get you to check out this podcast, each episode is complete with a rendering of the featured speaker as a superhero.
Start with these episodes:
- 045: Criticize by Creating with Alexa Roman
- 053: Be a Good Ancestor with Alan Cooper (Part I)
- Imposter Syndrome: Why We Have it, and How to Kick it in the Privates!
Product to Product—Various Hosts
“A product management podcast for / by product people” that features conversations between two product enthusiasts. Learn from employees at companies like Amazon, Airbnb, Uber, Buzzfeed, and Spotify—a lot of the topics are especially relevant for product leaders. A unique feature of this podcast is that they’ve grouped their episodes into themed seasons, so you can easily narrow down episodes by topics you’re most interested in.
Start with these episodes:
- s02e01: From tension to trust: How a PM transformed team culture
- s04e02: Building world-class growth teams
- s05e03: You’ve hired your PMs, now trust them
Pragmatic Live—Various Hosts
Team members of Pragmatic Institute sit down with industry thought leaders to bring audiences engaging content on all things product management. Episode length can be as short as 20 minutes which make for a great quick way to get a little smarter and a little better.
Start with these episodes:
- How Technology Is Changing Customer Interaction
- (Improv)ing Collaboration: Soft Skills That Matter
- Why Product Marketers Need Data
The Why And The What Product Management Podcast—Hosted by Daniel Kahn
Explore the “why” and the “what” behind today’s great products and the people that make them. This burgeoning podcast doesn’t just stop at interviewing product managers, Daniel speaks to all the people that make products happen—product leaders, stakeholders, product owners, and thought leaders.
Start with these episodes:
- VP Product Growth, Travis Kaufman—Product-Led Growth
- PM, Tanner Elvridge—Path to PM from Undergrad
- Head of Product, Aaron Rothschild—Building Relationships with Non-Product Teams
It Doesn’t End Here
Gainsight has our own growing library of product management articles, guides, webinars, and more you can find here. What’s more, you can stay up-to-date with the latest trends in product experience and product management by subscribing to our monthly newsletter (you can find the form just below the comments section). You could say we’re pretty passionate about helping product people become better at their craft. So go forth and get smarter!
