Product management centers itself on coordinating several diverse, complex teams towards producing one coherent business product. It’s a fairly new role in organizations, and it’s especially popular in the IT sector. Software involves a disparate set of competencies, like writing code, graphical design, software design, marketing, customer relations, and subject matter expertise. A good product manager can act as a representative of a product’s “soul” to give voice to its essential human benefit. Alignment plays the key role in that task. A product manager gets everyone pointed in the right direction instead of living in their individual silo. This book tries to teach basic concepts required to take on that task by telling a story and identifying principles to bring this new role to life.
The story tells the tale of a new product director at a small technology startup. The field of application is personal healthcare, but that’s relatively unimportant for the book’s message. Like anyone else first navigating these waters in a new job, the new product directορ notices complex organizational currents at play. The CEO is out on medical leave; another founder, well, routinely confounds her from his position of power; other teammates are competent and well-meaning. These pieces together provide a puzzle to compile. What will come of this company? And what are the unspoken cultural rules at play?
Each section illustrates a key principle of a product manager’s role. Focused teaching accompanies each chapter to provide an academic take on the plot. By imagining the protagonist’s journey, readers gain competency to handle their own professional challenges. Books like this fall into a long history of works that teach navigating business culture via innovative ideas placed in organizational life. They don’t just instruct; the narratives make us more human while empowering us to face tomorrow’s goals.
This book achieves its aim towards a business audience. Although books about product management pose a new literary market, only a relative few have explored this topic in detail. This book has a leg up on the competition because instead of just teaching principles, it inspires the imagination so that abstract ideas become real. It should gain a large audience. A lot of people have heard the term “product manager,” but many have not seen effective product management firsthand. Putting the practices in a narrative construct allows readers to get imaginative training in this role without getting personal exposure. By itself, that makes this book valuable for developing one’s career.
Aligned: Stakeholder Management for Product Leaders
By Bruce McCarthy & Melissa Appel
Narrated by April Doty
Copyright (c) 2024
Ascent Audio
ASIN B0DB2YYTC8
Length: 10:36
Genre: Management/Business
www.amazon.com