The Ultimate Resource Guide For Product Managers
One of the biggest challenges of being a product manager is the constant need to learn something new. The discipline is evolving rapidly and new best practices and frameworks appear every other month.
So, continuous learning has become a must for us product managers to ensure our competitiveness in the market and our ability to advance our careers.
Luckily, access to knowledge is not a problem these days—the real challenge is narrowing down the best resources for product people to learn from.
With that in mind, we've decided to share our favorite resources for product managers. Bookmark these to include in your personal development plan!
Resources For Learning and Skill Development
There are so many ways to sharpen your product management skillset that we've sorted them into eight categories to suit different learning styles.
Read: Books & Articles for Product Managers
While things in the world of digital product management change rapidly, the core principles that everyone adheres to have mostly remained untouched throughout the last decade (or even longer).
Here's a list of books from some of the most influential thought leaders in the industry that teach you these “evergreen” principles.
- Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan.
This is the must-read, all-in-one book that I constantly revisit whenever I have any questions about product management best practices. It covers everything from the customer-centric mindset, assembling product teams, decision-making, product discovery, and more.
2. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal.
This is your go-to book if you are practicing a product-led growth strategy. It teaches you the underlying human psychology of forming habits. It also teaches you the “Trigger, Action, Reward, Investment” framework to help you manage your users’ habits.
3. In Search of Stupidity (2nd Edition) by Merrill R Chapman
This is a compilation of large-scale “screw-ups” in the digital business. While you can learn about these mistakes to avoid them yourself, the most important lesson learned from this book is the concept of making mistakes and learning from them.
4. Lean UX by Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden
The authors have combined elements from Lean and Agile mindsets to develop a UX-first product development strategy for startups. I have grown to love this strategy after trying it on a couple of new products I had the chance to lead.
Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance
The story of a highly successful entrepreneur and his equally successful products. What I recommend you to pay attention to is Musk’s ability to convert technology that existed before him (e.g. electric cars) into great products (Tesla).
This list can go on forever, but I suggest you focus on these five first. If you are done with them and crave more knowledge on building products, then check out authors such as Melissa Perri, Teresa Torres, and Don Norman. We also have a recommended list of the best product management books.
Watch: Video Content for Product Managers
I have to confess, I’m not really a book guy and prefer the audiovisual mode of consuming content instead. So, if you’re like me, or you want to complement your reading with video lessons too, then I can suggest you watch the following:
- Product Talks by Mind The Product
While this channel has a wide variety of educational content in general, the category of videos I watch the most often is the public talks on different product topics by influential Silicon Valley executives, co-founders, and product leaders. - Google Ventures Channel
This is a curated list of bite-sized videos made by Google that cover everything from SaaS pricing strategy, customer feedback analysis, prioritization, MVPs, product vision, ideation, project management, and more. I constantly revisit this channel to refresh my memory whenever I need to work on a specific product deliverable. - Reforge Webinars
As a constant attendee, I will argue that Reforge is among the best when it comes to running product marketing and management webinars. They are rich in both theory and case studies, showing these theories in action.
Apart from these three, I can also suggest you follow individual product influencers such as Bart Jaworski and others.
Listen: Podcasts for Product Managers
Videos are great at teaching you product management skills, but they have one significant flaw. You have to watch them. Not all of us find the time and the free screen real estate to watch product videos. This is where podcasts save the day. You can listen to them while working, jogging, walking your dog, or doing chores.
So, here are a couple of great podcasts to listen to the next time you’re vacuuming your house:
- The Product Manager Podcast
Join our own Hannah Clark and her guests from different product backgrounds to discuss topics related to our discipline and hear the interesting stories our guests like to share. - Intercom Podcasts
While Intercom's podcast archive covers a wide variety of topics, my favorite series is “Off Script,” in which they interview Intercom's senior leadership about the latest industry trends and their day-to-day work. - The Productivity Show
Unlike the previous two, this podcast does not focus exclusively on product management. Instead, it discusses how to be more productive in all areas of life, including setting up your workspace correctly and managing your energy levels.
For more, also take a look at our selection of product management podcasts.
Subscribe: Newsletters for Product Managers
If you have a hard time getting around to watching videos or checking for the latest podcast episode, you might find it more practical to receive product content right to your work inbox. Here are my favorite three for you to check out:
Tim occasionally sends out highly practical topics to help PMs get better at what they do.
2. The Product Manager Newsletter
We’re proud (and maybe a little biased) to feature our own newsletter here, too. We send out a biweekly curated selection of our best and freshest offerings for product people, including articles, podcasts, and even events.
This newsletter focuses on best practices and the latest trends in user experience, prototyping, and product design.
If you’re interested in newsletters managed by specialized product tools, consider subscribing to Productplan’s newsletter. Our team also built a list of the best product management newsletters.
Interact: Communities for Product Managers
It’s fairly common for product managers not to find solutions to the challenges they are facing at that moment in educational articles or books. In that case, the best course of action is to discuss the matter with your peers.
So, I recommend joining an online community where you can discuss various topics and exchange insights with people like you. Here are the three communities that I am part of:
This is an online forum where product owners and executives gather to discuss everything related to managing products the Lean way.
Wait, didn't we just cover newsletters? Yes, Lenny Rachitsky's infamous newsletter is a must-subscribe resource for PMs, but the real gold is in the vibrant Slack community available to paid subscribers. This may be the most active PM community out there right now, so whether you're seeking a sounding board or mentor, this is the place to go.
Yes, we product folks have our own subreddit, too! Here, the discussions vary greatly, from daily advice on handling stakeholders to PM interview tips, discussing the best metrics for certain features, and sharing job search funnels with peers.
We've rounded up a few more notable ones in our product management communities list.
Learn: Online Courses and Certifications for Product Managers
Some of my peers claim that product certifications don’t matter anymore. The truth is, if you’re applying for a job at a tiny startup, they will probably not care about your certificates. In large tech companies, on the other hand, a well-recognized certificate will definitely help you stand out from the crowd.
So, here are three great product manager certifications worth the investment.
Coursera made this product management course in collaboration with the University of Alberta. It covers most of the skills and frameworks necessary for every product manager to know.
2. Master of Science in Product Management
This is an actual master’s degree program offered by Carnegie Mellon University. The program lasts 12 months and focuses on creating great product experiences, leading cross-functional teams, and delivering business value.
3. Certified Product Manager (CPM)
The certification program by AIPMM lasts 2 months and requires a final exam to obtain your certificate. It covers a wide variety of product skills, from designing launch plans to acting upon product analytics insights.
These three are only the tip of the iceberg. You can learn about other options on our product management certifications page.
Attend: Events and Conferences for Product Managers
Online product management communities are amazing, but they still lack the level of connection you get with your peers when meeting and socializing with them in person.
So, even in the age of post-COVID online-first communication, physical events and conferences are not dead! Here are the top three events I suggest you attend:
This event, organized by the Product-led Alliance and held in multiple locations around the world, allows product managers from all over the world to share their knowledge with their peers and network.
2. #mtpcon
Mtpcon is Mind The Product's main event. It usually lasts two days and hosts over 1,000 attendees. The conference is known for inviting famous speakers such as Marty Cagan and others.
3. ProductCon
ProductCon is the largest product conference in the world, with events taking place four times annually in several locations around the globe. These events are a who's-who of product leaders, speakers, and founders from the most recognized and innovative tech companies in the world.
To learn more about upcoming conferences, their prices, locations, and dates, be sure to check out our dedicated page for product management conferences.
Start: Handy Templates for Product Managers
Building something new has become significantly easier thanks to the wide variety of templates available online for product managers. Here are three templates that I use in my daily routine as a PM:
- Product roadmap template to effectively communicate my product plan.
- PRD template for bringing clarity to my development teams.
- User Persona template to document the needs and motivations of my target audience.
Generally, in terms of template variety and quality, I’d say that Miro is among the best tools out there. So make sure to check out their Miroverse.
Tools: Helpful Product Management Software
As I already recommended Miro as a tool with a rich selection of templates, let me point out a couple of more tools that will become handy in your day-to-day work.
- Monday Dev is a versatile tool for managing processes and tracking product development progress. It offers multiple options for visualizing your teams' work (Kanban, calendar, Gantt) and lets you customize the task workflow to meet your team’s needs.
- Confluence is a powerful knowledge base tool for storing PRDs, meeting notes, and product strategy. It integrates natively with Jira and lets you see task progress right on the Confluence page.
- Sprig is a product feedback analytics tool with a twist. Thanks to its AI models, it can process a large amount of feedback data in no time and make actionable conclusions.
For more recommendations, check out our curated list of the best product management tools.
And, of course, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for more product management resources and guides, plus the latest podcasts, interviews, and other insights from industry leaders and experts.