Product Management in Practice: A Practical, Tactical Guide for Your First Day and Every Day After Paperback – 31 May 2022

An excellent guide to product management. I revisit this book from time to time to keep me on track and to help me evaluate how well I am meeting the core requirements of my job.I like his down to earth approach and appreciate how he takes aspects of the job that are ambiguously described all over the industry and brings clarity to them.

There's no shortage of product management books out there, and I've read a lot of them, the problem is that many are either robotically focussed on process or idealistic, or both.Matt LeMay's book is a hugely welcome exception to this. He uses his considerable experience both as a product manager - and as a coach to product teams - to give you real, relevant and useful guidance in how to navigate the real world scenarios you find yourself in (eg: how to deal with demanding stakeholders, urgent feature requests from execs, or challenging team members) and he does it with the wit and self-deprecation of someone who has been there, done it - and often made a fair few mistakes along the way.Beneath the chatty charm of this book there's a fair bit of substance - the references show he knows his stuff, and as well as doing the job, he too has read the textbooks - and he gives lot of credit where it's due.But the abiding lesson is that product management isn't about frameworks or rigid processes and it's certainly not the same role in every organisation.It's is a much more human and adaptive cycle of collaboration and communication, where part of the skill is seeing what works in your organisation.It's also not about being the 'CEO of the product' but it is about making sure that everyone around you has a clear sense of what you're trying to achieve; and how you're going to achieve it; and that you personally will do what it takes (including getting the coffee) to help make it happen.Oh - and it doesn't always go well. But he gives good guidance on that as well. And there's some of the best guidance I've read on stepping up into management and remote working.Read it if you're a PM...or if you want to become one . Thoroughly recommended.

I've read this book cover to cover twice now, and probably an additional two times by referring to specific chapters as I encounter situations or questions in my new role as a Product Manager."What did Matt LeMay do badly once upon a time, reflected upon, and now does better?" I ask myself, intending to avoid common antipatterns and behaviours. Sure enough, Matt's relatable stories shine a high energy light on the dynamics of a Product team and how to navigate relationships with People and Product alike. This book isn't filled with theories and frameworks, you can google those easily enough. The real experiences of someone like Matt are much more valuable and I was able to employ techniques discussed in Product Management in Practice within the first days and weeks of my new job to great effect.I can genuinely credit Matt for helping me build trust with my management and stakeholders, and I will recommend this book to anyone looking to move into Product Management or is struggling to articulate or define some of the challenges faced further into a career in Product Management.

Incredibly satisfied to have found a book that cuts through the noise of frameworks and thought leadership and presents practical, actionable insights which product people (whether junior, senior or leader) can use in their day-to-day work.Particularly impressed by the in-book interviews with real practicing PMs which help to show how there's no one way and we can all benefit from eachother's learnings.I plan to give a copy to everyone in my team as a resource they can have next to their desks and pick up whenever they need it.

Very Basic and full of padding. Maybe useful to school leavers without any management or business experience, but a waste of time for someone who’s been about for a few years