Resource: Hooked by Nir Eyal (SlideShare and website)

Why I like it: A helpful framework for thinking about product design, plus lots of interesting cognitive science and psychology.

Resource: Tavel's Hierarchy of Engagement by Sarah Tavel

Why I like it: The focus on driving meaningful user engagement with your product's core action. It's so easy to get caught up in all the non-core actions! 

Resource: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Why I like it: There are some dry bits... but there are many nuggets for agile teams building products: understanding leap of faith assumptions, examples of MVPs, a catalog of pivots, and the positive results of small-batch product development. Also reconfirmed my Toyota loyalty ;)

Resource: Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell video by Henrik Kniberg

Why I like it:  A good overview of how agile teams work and the product manager (product owner) role within the team.

Resource: How a Facebook Designer Thinks by Julie Zhuo

Why I like it: There are so many problems to solve and so little time/resources. We found this to be a very helpful framework for staying focused on the most important problems to solve. Plus, it's a great storytelling framework to use on your roadmaps, in cross-team communications and stakeholder communications. 

1. What's the people problem we're solving?

2. How do we know it's a real problem?

3. How will we know when we've solved it?

Resource: Technically Wrong by Sara Wachter-Boettcher

Why I like it: If you are designing or building products that affect people's lives, this is so important!! Written for a general population audience (not just tech folks), Wachter-Boettcher covers the myth of the pipeline and why technology companies continue to fail at diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); plus the harmful products and features that non-diverse teams can inadvertently build. I promise it will scare the crap out of you and provide tons of examples to inspire teams to do better.

These two resources are similar but are both great! 

Resource: Everybody Hurts: Content for Kindness video by Sarah Wachter-Boettcher

Resource:  Design for Real Life book by Eric Meyer and Sara Wachter-Boettcher

Why I like it: The concept of "stress" cases instead of "edge" cases -- we have a responsibility to ensure our designs and content don't break and cause harm in our users' stress cases. These forever changed how my team and I approached design and content strategy. 

Resource: Start With Why by Simon Sinek (video & book)

Why I like it: Such a simple yet impactful storytelling approach. Great for rallying teams around your mission and why you're building what you're building. I've also found this to be helpful in onboarding new teammates and for making sure messaging throughout the funnel (and across marketing and product teams) is consistent.  

Resource: Sprint book & The Design Sprint website

Why I like it: Helpful tools and exercises to get your team quickly from ideation all the way to testing with real users. My teams have done the textbook 5-day version as well as modified 1-3 day versions. The website has everything you need to get started even if you don't read the full book. 

Resource: Crack the Product Manager Interview with Gayle McDowell (Product School) 

Why I like it:

• Good interview tips for all disciplines: While McDowell is specifically talking about PM interviews, I think there are some good lessons for all disciplines -- how to organize your stories, how to build awareness and combat biases about your background, etc.

• Good overview of the PM role: If you're curious about the product manager role, she gives a good overview of what's expected: technical understanding, product-design thinking, business and marketing thinking, a data-driven approach, plus leadership and execution skills.

Resource: Designing Your Life book + resources by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

Why I like it: I wish I had read this at 18!! And 22. And 26... The authors guide you through the design process (data collection, brainstorming, design, prototyping, etc.) to empower you to design your life/lives. Their clear exercises take the scariness out of "what am I going to do with my life?"