Cracking the PM Career: The Skills, Frameworks, and Practices to Become a Great Product Manager (Cracking the Interview & Career)

I started as software engineer out of college where I have great ambition but no direction in the software tech industry.Gayle McDowell's book serves as a torch guiding the unknown path for me. By reading her books i can start seeing more clearly what is around me (where i am standing) as well as a grand passage of what the journey looks like down the road and how to improve myself in order to progress forward."Cracking the PM Career" is just an amazing resource work done by Jackie Bavaro and Gayle Laakmann McDowellI have been in industry for 15 years now (SWE converted Product Manager), while i have accumulate knowledge & scars along the way as a Product Manager Lead at Meta. I find it still incredibly helpful to read their books to fill my gaps and extend well-rounded knowledge. The latest publish shares a lot great knowledge that will help you to be a even greater product manager.I strongly recommend this book to others wether you are an aspiring PM or already a PM, or PM Leader to refine yourself throughout reading!

This book is the best Product Management book I've come across. I'm mid to late stage career. Have been co-founder or VP level at several companies. Have lead PM at several startups with successful exits. And with all those decades of experience, there was still good new stuff - to me - in here to learn, and great refreshers on other items.As I read the book, I couldn't help thinking of the cliche about "if I'd only known this starting out." I definitely could have used these insights. (Of course, some things are 'sign of the times' specific... there was no "Agile" as it exists today. But that's not so much the point as compared to just having a better starting framework for what does exist in the now; whatever those things may be.) It might be that some things don't really hit home until you have the experience, even if you got the book learning. But still, at least you have a better sense of things if you've been exposed to the concepts.This is not a full "Body of Knowledge" (BOK) type work. But it is just full of practical sensible, "this is what you may be facing" type scenarios. New or junior PMs... just get this.

Great book for junior product managers and for renewing your knowledge

My recommendation for how to engage with this book most effectively: do a mock interview with a trusted PM at a level higher than you, ask for specific feedback, and read the sections most pertinent to that feedback.Reading it cover-to-cover will expose you to information that is useful enough, but often intuitive. If you're a good PM, you'll be efficient with your time.

This is a very comprehensive book detailing the whole arc and every dimension of the PM career with relevance for other tech roles as well. It provides clarity and insights about the PM career trajectory as well as how to build better relationships with your manager, peers, networks. So much gem in this book!Note this is more of a foundational summary book. Try other books for more specifics on the execution of daily tasks.

One of the best PM books on the market. Thorough and worth the entire read. If you’re pressed for time and can’t read the entire book they guide you on which sections to skip to. Jackie and Gayle does an excellent job of describing the day to day as a PM, the tools you’ll need, methodologies to learn, and even how to understand the professionals you’ll work with every day.By the end of it you’ll feel sharpened and know exactly what to do to sharpen your game. 500+ pages later I’m still highlighting. Excellent book! 📖🤓

This is by far the best, most comprehensive resource on what the product management job is and how to be successful as a PM that I've seen. The best part? It's not just for entry-level product managers. Each section has advice and examples for what good looks like at more senior levels as well as what the basic skills are. I manage a team of PMs and managers of PMs, and I'm recommending this book to all of them!

I transitioned from software engineer to product management role 1+ year ago. Though I had a gut feeling that I fit better in product teams as I always love to look at the product from birds eye view and plan projects for product and drive them instead of just code them, I found this book extremely helpful on the mindset that needs to be shifted, and understand the skill sets that might be needed and improved systematically. Highly recommended.