The Product Manager’s Guide to Success, Job Satisfaction and Career Acceleration.

Product management is one of the most dynamic and exciting careers around. Yet many product managers find themselves frustrated because of the unique challenges it presents. There are many books on the mechanics and core principles of product management, such as how to gather and write requirements, build roadmaps and perform other tasks. Now there is a book that tells you the rest of the story — the strategies, tactics and techniques that will turn you into a great product manager.

The Phenomenal Product Manager book goes beyond the basics and teaches you how to work more effectively with your teams, how to influence when you have no formal authority, how to get the most important work done in less time and how to manage and accelerate your career. Based on the author’s twenty years of product management experience as well as perspectives from the world’s leading product management experts, ‘The Phenomenal Product Manager’ is a must-read for every product manager who wants to be more successful and enjoy their job more.

Techniques and strategies used in this book are based on the author’s twenty five year career as a product manager. Learn what has made the best product managers more successful and more satisfied with their careers. Also learn how to accelerate your career and put together a plan for moving up rapidly.

Table of contents:

• Introduction
• Product marketing vs product management
• What is a phenomenal product manager?
• Influencing engineers
• Leveraging your sales team
• Getting management on your side
• Leading your team
• Doubling productivity
• Career acceleration
• Having fun
• Conclusion
• Appendix A: The Product Management Manifesto
• Appendix B:  Product Management Resources
• Appendix C:  Product Management Templates
• About the Author

At the end of each chapter there are worksheets decide how best to use the material to be more effective. Also included is a copy of the product management manifesto as well as links to a library of free white papers and templates.

Excerpt From The Book:

phe·nom·enal
adjective

1. extraordinary; highly remarkable

pro-duct man-a-ger
noun

1. Someone with all of the responsibility and little or no authority
2. A person who loves bringing great products to life
3. The one person who has the ability to dramatically affect a product’s success or failure

There are many books, white papers and reference materials that teach product management and product marketing techniques and best practices. If you want to learn to write excellent market requirements, build a business case, position a product or do a full-scale launch you can learn how to do so in a variety of ways.

However, learning these skills is not nearly enough. During my twenty-five year career in product management and product marketing I have seen hundreds of smart, capable people who had the skills described above yet either failed or were mediocre at what they did. Many of these people could not understand why they couldn’t rise up to the next level and be highly effective.

This book is about learning the other fifty percent that makes a product manager or product marketer incredibly successful. It is based on my observations of excellence in others as well as strategies and tactics I have personally used to succeed. It is also about getting more enjoyment out of the profession of product management and about how to move your career forward in a systematic and planned way.

My hope is that this book will help the hundreds of thousands of Product Managers and Product Marketers throughout the world to be more successful in their careers, more satisfied in their jobs and to create products that truly delight their customers and are highly profitable to their companies.

Where should product managers, or any business professional, invest their time to improve their productivity, effectiveness, and career growth? “The Phenomenal Product Manager” answers this question by presenting proven tips and techniques for anyone who must lead without authority or finds themselves in “reaction mode” far more than desired. Use the thought-provoking worksheets and exercises included in this book to stimulate action for overcoming challenges, delivering excellence, and sparking the passion and enthusiasm required for career fulfillment and market success.

About the Author

Brian Lawley is the CEO and Founder of the 280 Group, which provides Product Management and Product Marketing consulting, contractors, training and templates. During the last twenty-five years of his career he has shipped more than fifty successful products. He is the former President of the Silicon Valley Product Management Association, won the 2008 AIPMM award for Excellence in Thought Leadership for Product Management and is the author of the best-selling book, Expert Product Management. Mr. Lawley has been featured on CNBC’s World Business Review and the Silicon Valley Business Report and writes articles for a variety of publications including the Product Management 2.0 newsletter and Product Management 2.0 Blog.

Mr. Lawley is a Certified Product Manager (CPM) and Certified Product Marketing Manager (CPMM). He earned an MBA with honors from San Jose State University and a Bachelors Degree in Management Science from the University of California at San Diego with a Minor in Music Technology.