Minimum Viable Library 2: Product Owner Edition

The Minimum Viable Library Product Owner edition is available! Explore a series of carefully curated collections of essential books, newsletters, podcasts, and tools to elevate your agile expertise.

Read on and learn how the recommendations for Product Owners cover a wide range of topics, including product management, product discovery, escaping the feature factory, and aligning with critical stakeholders.

The Minimum Viable Library Product Owner Edition

These are my six books in the Minimum Viable Library Product Owner edition:

1. Marty Cagan: “Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love:” Marty Cagan offers insights into how tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Netflix create beloved products, providing a master class on creating effective teams, discovering winning products, and fostering a strong product culture. From startups seeking product/market fit to established companies striving for consistent innovation, this book shares real-world stories and profiles of successful product managers and companies. It’s a classic. 
2. Jeff Patton: “User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product:” Jeff Patton demystifies user story mapping for software development. You will discover how changeable story maps keep your team user-focused and aligned throughout development. Jeff Patton presents a practical approach, guiding you through story lifecycles and offering exercises for quick understanding. The book allows its reader to explore high-level concepts, story lifecycles, and effective preparation and implementation strategies. 
3. Don McGreal, Ralph Jocham: “The Professional Product Owner:” Don McGreal and Ralph Jocham deliver a comprehensive guide for Product Owners to perform in their critical role best. The book emphasizes the importance of value creation for customers and helps Product Owners shift their focus from mechanics to strategic decision-making. With practical insights and proven approaches, it equips Product Owners to navigate complex challenges and lead successful product development efforts. 
4. Teresa Torres: “Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value:” Teresa’s book allows discovering the art of creating customer-desired products and services, ensuring continuous improvement. It introduces a sustainable approach to product discovery, addressing the challenge of aligning customer value with business value. It helps the reader to gain confidence to act, even in the face of potential missteps, by striking a balance between action and doubt. 
5. Melissa Perri: “Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value:” Melissa shows how to break free from output-driven cycles and embrace customer-centric practices for competitive success. It supports creating a solid product management foundation and delivering real value while meeting business goals. The reader will discover principles that work for organizations of any size and explore topics like shifting from features to value, scaling product organizations, connecting strategy to product activities, identifying valuable opportunities, and cultivating outcome-focused cultures. 
6. Chris Lukassen, Robbin Schuurman: “Practical Product Management for Product Owners: Creating Winning Products:” Using a Scrum-based case study, Chris and Robbin delve into world-class practices on how to craft successful products and services. Learn to replace negative behaviors with excellence, empathize with customers, align values and features, tell compelling stories, and optimize decision-making. You will gain a comprehensive toolkit for successful collaboration, influencing stakeholders, and optimizing roles. The book is essential for Product Owners, managers, and Scrum teams to reap the benefits of advanced Product Ownership. 

Conclusion

The Minimum Viable Library Product Owners edition offers a rich collection of insights and strategies to excel in product management. Marty Cagan’s classic work unveils the secrets behind tech giants’ product successes, emphasizing effective team assembly, product discovery, and fostering a strong culture. Jeff Patton demystifies user story mapping for seamless software development, while Teresa’s book introduces a sustainable approach to product discovery. Melissa Perri’s guide empowers a shift towards customer-centric practices, and Chris Lukassen and Robbin Schuurman provide a comprehensive toolkit for successful product ownership. This series equips Product Owners, managers, and Scrum teams to thrive in modern product management.

Which books, newsletters, podcasts, and tools do you consider essential for agile practitioners in the product space? Please share your suggestions in the comments.