Top 10 Books that made me a better Product Manager in 2024
If you can only read one book from this list, make it this one:
- Badass: Making Users Awesome by Kathy Sierra
It should be required reading for anyone even tangentially responsible for building tools or services that human beings are expected to use.
Everything by Charles Duhigg
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
- Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business
- Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection
Since I’m generally skeptical of books that focus on min-maxing your life like an CRPG, I’ve studiously avoided Duhigg up until 2024 - when I voraciously read everything he’s written in reverse-order.
Possible Futures:
- The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future by Kevin Kelly
- Artificial Intelligence Revolution: How AI Will Change our Society, Economy, and Culture by Robin Li | Goodreads by Robin Li
Robin Li’s (CEO of Baidu) take on the impact and future of AI was particularly insightful. We don’t hear nearly enough about what Baidu, Tencent, Xiaomi, and Alibaba are working on.
The History of Microcomputers & the Rise and (Rise?) of Apple
- Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can’t Get a Date Robert X Cringely
- Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made by Andy Hertzfeld
- After Steve: How Apple Became a Trillion-Dollar Company and Lost Its Soul by Tripp Mickle
Leading humans during chaotic times
- Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times by Donald T. Phillips
See also:
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