Cracking the PM Career: The Skills, Frameworks, and Practices to Become a Great Product Manager (Cracking the Interview & Career)
Cracking the PM Career: The Skills, Frameworks, and Practices to Become a Great Product Manager (Cracking the Interview & Career) book cover

Cracking the PM Career: The Skills, Frameworks, and Practices to Become a Great Product Manager (Cracking the Interview & Career)

Paperback – January 26, 2021

Price
$29.99
Format
Paperback
Pages
551
Publisher
CareerCup
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0984782895
Dimensions
7 x 1.25 x 10 inches
Weight
2.08 pounds

Description

"Generic advice is impossible to put to work in the specifics of product management where real-time judgment calls are required. Jackie and Gayle provide context and frameworks that help future PM leaders to formulate their own conceptual models as they grow to successful product leaders." - STEVEN SINOFSKY , former Microsoft president and product leader"Amazing, practical advice to take control and navigate your product management career. I wish I had this book when I first embarked on my PM journey. A must-have guide!" - YARDLEY POHL , co-founder and board member of Women In Product"More than product management 101, this book will help even the most seasoned product manager be a more effective leader and decision-maker."- GIBSON BIDDLE , former VP, Chief Product Officer of Netflix and Chegg Jackie Bavaro was most recently Head of Product Management for eight years at Asana, the well-loved work management software, where she joined pre-launch as the first PM. During her tenure, she grew the PM team to over twenty amazing people, helped Asana's go from $0 to more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue, and launched Asana's associate product manager program. With over 15 years of product management experience, she has also worked as a PM for Google and Microsoft as well, and in a diverse set of roles--a consumer PM, a B2B PM, a platform PM, a mobile PM, and a growth PM. Jackie has coached, mentored, managed, and advised hundreds of people in product and people who aspire to move to product roles. Jackie and Gayle's first co-authored book, the best-selling Cracking the PM Interview, has been credited with helping to level the playing field for product management talent. Jackie graduated from Cornell University with a double major in Computer Science and Economics. She currently writes, coaches, and advises from her home in San Francisco, California. More of Jackie's writing about product management can be found at https: //twitter.com/jackiebo and https: //medium.com/@jackiebo.Gayle Laakmann McDowell is an author, consultant, and founder focusing on improving tech hiring for both the interviewer and the candidate. Gayle has worked as an engineer for Google, Microsoft, and Apple. Most recently, at Google, she served on the hiring committee where she interviewed hundreds of candidates and evaluated thousands more. It was here that she discovered the disconnect between candidates, their skill set, and their interview performance. Though her company, CareerCup, Gayle has worked with many of the top tech companies to reform their hiring practices and implement interviewer training programs. She is the author and creator the best-selling Cracking the Interview & Career series: Cracking the Coding Interview, Cracking the PM Interview (co-authored with Jackie Bavaro), Cracking the PM Career (co-authored with Jackie Bavaro), and Cracking the Tech Career Gayle holds a bachelor's and master's in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. She currently consults, writes, and codes from her home in Palo Alto, California. She can be found online at gayle.com, twitter (@gayle), and facebook (@gayle).

Features & Highlights

  • Product management is a big role, and this a big book.From the authors of the best-selling Cracking the PM Interview comes the comprehensive guide to the skills, frameworks, and practices to become a great product manager. It will help you level-up your skills and career from your first product management role through product leadership, addressing questions like:
  • What does it take to become a great product manager and great leader?
  • What does it take to become a great product manager and great leader?
  • How can you reliably ship products that make a difference in the world?
  • How can you reliably ship products that make a difference in the world?
  • How do you build your product intuition, hone your execution, strengthen your leadership, and develop your strategic skills?
  • How do you build your product intuition, hone your execution, strengthen your leadership, and develop your strategic skills?
  • What does it take to lead and inspire teams?
  • What does it take to lead and inspire teams?
  • When is people management the right career move?
  • When is people management the right career move?
  • How does excellence in those skills translate into career success?
  • How does excellence in those skills translate into career success?
  • This book will teach you the reliable frameworks and best practices that improve your chances of shipping a successful product. The frameworks won't transform you into a great product manager overnight or guarantee that your products never fail, but they'll help you avoid the most common problems and give you the structure to start experimenting, reflecting, and improving.You'll learn how to:
  • Design high-quality products that delight users and solve people's needs.
  • Design high-quality products that delight users and solve people's needs.
  • Run and deliver your projects quickly, smoothly, and effectively.
  • Run and deliver your projects quickly, smoothly, and effectively.
  • Create product visions and strategies to set direction and optimize for long-term impact.
  • Create product visions and strategies to set direction and optimize for long-term impact.
  • Lead people and influence without authority.
  • Lead people and influence without authority.
  • Manage people, develop great PMs, build great teams, and create great product organizations.
  • Manage people, develop great PMs, build great teams, and create great product organizations.
  • Manage your career so you can translate your efforts into the recognition you deserve.
  • Manage your career so you can translate your efforts into the recognition you deserve.
  • Topics include:
  • Getting Started: the product life cycle; the first 90 days
  • Getting Started:
  • the product life cycle; the first 90 days
  • Product Skills: user research; A/B tests; problem solving frameworks; systems thinking; product discovery; design sprints; ethical product design; technical terms and concepts; product documentation (specs and PRDs)
  • Product Skills:
  • user research; A/B tests; problem solving frameworks; systems thinking; product discovery; design sprints; ethical product design; technical terms and concepts; product documentation (specs and PRDs)
  • Execution Skills: agile project management; minimum viable products (MVPs); incremental development; product launches; time management; overcoming obstacles
  • Execution Skills:
  • agile project management; minimum viable products (MVPs); incremental development; product launches; time management; overcoming obstacles
  • Strategic Skills: product vision; strategy; roadmaps; goals and OKRs
  • Strategic Skills:
  • product vision; strategy; roadmaps; goals and OKRs
  • Leadership Skills: growth mindset; ownership mentality; influencing without authority; stakeholder management; collaboration; communication; inspiring a team; mentoring; working with designers, engineers, and executives
  • Leadership Skills:
  • growth mindset; ownership mentality; influencing without authority; stakeholder management; collaboration; communication; inspiring a team; mentoring; working with designers, engineers, and executives
  • People Management Skills: becoming a people manager; being a member of the leadership team; reviewing work; holding people accountable; coaching and development; recruiting and interviewing; product processes; organizational structures
  • People Management Skills:
  • becoming a people manager; being a member of the leadership team; reviewing work; holding people accountable; coaching and development; recruiting and interviewing; product processes; organizational structures
  • Careers: career ladders; career goals; partnering with your manager; picking the right team; negotiations; networking; handling bad situations; career options beyond PM
  • Careers:
  • career ladders; career goals; partnering with your manager; picking the right team; negotiations; networking; handling bad situations; career options beyond PM
  • Product Leader Q&A: in-depth career interviews with eleven successful product leaders who have chosen career paths including CPO, head of product, CEO, social impact work, venture capital, angel investing, coaching, and starting their own companies.
  • Product Leader Q&A:
  • in-depth career interviews with eleven successful product leaders who have chosen career paths including CPO, head of product, CEO, social impact work, venture capital, angel investing, coaching, and starting their own companies.
  • And much, much more.Featuring stories from over fifty PMs and product leaders who have worked at organizations including: Adobe, AirBnB, Amazon, Apple, Asana, Atlassian, Calendly, Chan-Zuckerberg Institute, Chegg, Cisco, City of San Jose, Coda, Coinbase, Dropbox, eBay, Facebook, FlipKart, Gojek, Google, HSBC, Instagram, LinkedIn, Medium, Microsoft, Netflix, OpenTable, Pinterest, Pocket Gems, Quora, Samsara, Slack, Sonos, Stripe, Swiggy, Twitter, Uber, Walmart Labs, Yahoo, and Yelp.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(173)
★★★★
25%
(72)
★★★
15%
(43)
★★
7%
(20)
-7%
(-20)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Good PM advice for beginners, but not useful for skill building

If you are like me, you have probably read Cracking the PM Interview—the ten year old classic which laid the groundwork for modern product interview prep. Given the incredibly accomplished authors, I had extremely high hopes for this book. I wouldn't say I am utterly disappointed after reading this, but definitely don't think feel like I got my moneys worth.

In the book intro, the author describes the book as "80% PM skills and 20% managing your career." I have 4 years of product management experience and I felt all of the "PM skills" were superficial fluff that any APM would know. And when I say fluff, I mean just straight definitions of various product concepts like user research, product management, etc.

The reason I am giving this book 3 stars instead of 1 star is a decent amount of good advice sprinkled through the book if you force your way through it. If you start this book with the intention of up-leveling your PM skills, you will undoubtedly be disappointed unless perhaps if you are a college junior prepping for your first ever PM internship or something. However, reading this book cover to cover I think I did get some useful takeaways, especially from reading the Q&A section with Product Leaders. The common theme I uncovered was how to know when you are setup for success and when to switch jobs if/when you aren't being properly supported. Most of Q&A content can be found for free already on blogs and various video interviews from conferences on YouTube, but nonetheless, this book does a good job aggregating all this content into one place.

This book tried to do three things: teach hard PM skills, teach soft PM skills like leadership, and provide advice to help PMs navigate their career. I think for the PM career advice part, this book is the best on the market. For anyone looking to build their EQ and leader skills, I would recommend reading Empowered by Marty Cagan instead. For anyone with previous product experience looking to build their hard product skills (eg. design, data analysis, growth marketing, etc) I would recommend reading Product Management's Sacred Seven by Neel Metha instead.
37 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Bible on software product management

I have 15 years of consumer digital PM experience. I've been waiting for a book like this since the start of my career. It's an encyclopedic guide to software product management from one of the industry's leading practitioners. I particularly appreciated half the book devoted to leadership development topics, which is particularly hard information to come by, esp. from such an authority. Jackie Bavaro is a rockstar.
16 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Great book that will help you as a PM and as a person

I started as software engineer out of college where I have great ambition but no direction in the software tech industry.

Gayle McDowell's book serves as a torch guiding the unknown path for me.  By reading her books i can start seeing more clearly what is around me (where i am standing) as well as a grand passage of what the journey looks like down the road and how to improve myself in order to progress forward.

"Cracking the PM Career" is just an amazing resource work done by Jackie Bavaro and Gayle Laakmann McDowell

I have been in industry for 15 years now (SWE converted Product Manager), while i have accumulate knowledge & scars along the way as a Product Manager Lead at Meta.  I find it still incredibly helpful to read their books to fill my gaps and extend well-rounded knowledge.  The latest publish shares a lot great knowledge that will help you to be a even greater product manager.

I strongly recommend this book to others wether you are an aspiring PM or already a PM, or PM Leader to refine yourself throughout reading!
6 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Good Book

I transitioned from software engineer to product management role 1+ year ago. Though I had a gut feeling that I fit better in product teams as I always love to look at the product from birds eye view and plan projects for product and drive them instead of just code them, I found this book extremely helpful on the mindset that needs to be shifted, and understand the skill sets that might be needed and improved systematically. Highly recommended.
5 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

The PM bible.

No matter where you are on the PM ladder, there are sections which talk to you and help you become a better PM and further your career.

For e.g. - Can't stress enough on how helpful and underrated this section is in "Cracking the PM career" especially for PM's whose 1st language isn't English.

Highly recommend it.
4 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

You've cracked the interview -- now level up your career.

Jackie's *Cracking the PM Interview* has become the essential handbook that all product people benefit from when going through interview process for product management roles -- especially that first time. Now, Jackie is helping people take that next step.

This book is perfect for those looking to level up their product careers. Whether you're looking to go from Product Manager to Senior Product Manager... or eventually Product Leader... you'll learn from this book!

- Mike Belsito
4 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Excellent PM book!

One of the best PM books on the market. Thorough and worth the entire read. If you’re pressed for time and can’t read the entire book they guide you on which sections to skip to. Jackie and Gayle does an excellent job of describing the day to day as a PM, the tools you’ll need, methodologies to learn, and even how to understand the professionals you’ll work with every day.

By the end of it you’ll feel sharpened and know exactly what to do to sharpen your game. 500+ pages later I’m still highlighting. Excellent book! 📖🤓
3 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

A step by step Guide on how to succeed as a PM - Exceptional Content -Must read

As an MD passionate about digital health and career growth, I can only be thankful for this book. Easy to follow, incredible content to learn from and a lot of examples that will help you advance your career. Are you in a PM role now and you feel you can manage your team, this book will help you reach beyond that and create product that will embrace the vision of your customers and your team in the same time. Are you a junior PM and want to learn more, this book is also for you because you will learn how to actually start as a PM (first 90 days chapter) but in the same time you will learn the skills that you need to have to be a successful PM.
2 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

A step by step Guide on how to succeed as a PM - Exceptional Content -Must read

As an MD passionate about digital health and career growth, I can only be thankful for this book. Easy to follow, incredible content to learn from and a lot of examples that will help you advance your career. Are you in a PM role now and you feel you can manage your team, this book will help you reach beyond that and create product that will embrace the vision of your customers and your team in the same time. Are you a junior PM and want to learn more, this book is also for you because you will learn how to actually start as a PM (first 90 days chapter) but in the same time you will learn the skills that you need to have to be a successful PM.
2 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Level up in your product management career

This books offers guidance to unlocking value in every step of your career in product management. You will especially find the content extremely useful if you are trying to go from good to great and eventually become a product leader.

OL
2 people found this helpful