Archive of Book Reviews Articles

Pictures can convey messages much more powerfully than words.  In a recent discussion about writing whitepapers, I suggested combining the idea-creation advice from Made To Stick with the image-creation advice from Back of The Napkin.  Check out this article to see some concrete examples.

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Blue Ocean Strategy provides an interesting reactive analysis of companies and markets.  Personas are used to understand your customer’s needs.  Combining the two provides powerful proactive insights when positioning your product for market success.

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My friend Rich Mironov, chief marketing officer at Enthiosys, recently published The Art of Product Management, and was kind enough to send me a free copy.  The essays he shares in the book make great conversation starters for product managers.  Tyner Blain is giving away a free copy to someone who participates in the product management conversations.  Read on to see how you can win.

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We’ve all heard the saying, the customer is always right.  For most product managers, however, the non-customer is the person you should be listening to.  When you hear the phrase understand your market, the goal isn’t to understand those people who’ve already purchased your product.  The goal is to understand the people who haven’t purchased your product yet.

Michael Port’s new book just came out. If you’re trying to redefine or improve how you focus professionally, it would be a good read. If you run your own company, or want to, it is a great read. Michael has good advice, good reasoning for his advice, and he writes well – a very easy to read style. Not dumbed down, not full of jargon. As someone who exactly matches his target audience, I highly recommend Beyond Booked Solid.

A first look at Outside-in Software Development, available tomorrow (or pre-order tonight on Amazon.com). At the time of this writing, the book is #29 on the Hot New Releases list – and you can get it for just over a third off the price if you pre-order now. Take a look at an overview of the book and our first impressions – then give the book a bump and let the wisdom of crowds take over.