Product Manager's Fieldguide

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. Four stars for being a fast read and a useful reference even 3 years after I purchased it. One star removed out of 5 because it fails to address some issues that I found to be important working within a large company and for not including support for smaller sized company product management. But read on to see what I am doing with this book now that I too work for a small startup company... I purchased this book along with another book titled "Product Management" by Donald R. Lehmann and Russell S, Winer: Product Management 4th Edition (Mcgraw Hill Series in Marketing) The field guide is more like an overview of all aspects of project management mixed with some forms to be used in various aspects of managing your product mix, and as such it is a fast read and a useful reference during the life of a product. I did not buy or read the "Project Manager's Handbook" of which this book is associated: The Product Managers Handbook, 3E The book targets product issues found within large companies were many people are involved internal to the company. You may not have thought of this book as a useful reference for a small or startup company for this reason. But now that I am a co-founder of a small company I continue to refer back to this field guide to find solutions to difficult problems in managing my current service offering back into these same large companies. In particular I am using the "Launch Implementation Checklist" and "Post-Launch Tracking: Early Course Correction." I use these worksheets with respect to improving my own service offering and as a way to create value back into larger companies who want more impact with their products using my service. Best regards, Ron Fredericks [...]

This is a very good book if you are new to product management or are making a career switch from a non-managerial career to product management. If you have managed one or two product life cyles in the past, you are less likely to benefit from it. A significant portion of this book is devoted to general management, but in the product management context. Nonetheless, the book is very well organized and systematic. It develops concepts in detail and offers a wealth of information, that you would otherwise have to pay a lot more to collect from other sources. I would highly recommend it to all beginners in this discipline. Experienced individuals may use it as an occassional reference.