I’ve had quite a few folks reach out for guidance on navigating their journey as a PM. Since it’s a newer field and a lot of it has to do with softer skills it can be a bit hard to know where to start to build on your skills and become a more effective PM. Here are some resources I’ve found to be helpful in developing my own skills. If you’ve got any you’ve found useful or would like to share please leave a comment, :).
Books
The best resource I’ve found on Books for PMs is from Ken Norton. You can view it directly here: https://www.kennorton.com/essays/books-for-product-managers.html
These were the ones I found to be most useful:
- Nudge
- How to Lie with Statistics
- Interview Math (Lewis C Lin, helpful for quant interview prep)
- Cracking the PM Interview
- Decode & Conquer
- On Writing
- In the Plex (if interviewing with Google)
- Don’t Make Me Think
Courses
There are a few different options for PM-related courses out there but I think the runaway favourite in terms of value and actual practical application is Reforge. Their courses are built around key concepts like Retention and Engagement, Advanced Growth Strategy, and Product Strategy. I highly recommend taking one of these courses if you have the time & resources to do so. It’s generally a 6-8 week commitment at 6-10 hours per week of time.
Newsletters
Newsletters can be a low friction way for you to continuously get helpful content for you to consume on a periodic basis. Open to more suggestions if folks have them.
- Gibson Biddle’s “Ask Gib” Product Newsletter | Substack
- I’ve been subscribed to this newsletter for about 6 weeks now and have found every email I’ve received to be insightful & helpful. Gib does a great job of breaking down topics of interest to PMs (e.g. how should I spend my time) and has some really great prior experience to pull from.