110 of 113 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great overview of product management as a profession, 1 Aug 2000
By Todd Dailey - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Product Manager's Handbook: The Complete Product Management Resource (Hardcover)
As a new product manager, I found this book quite useful as an overview of what is to be expected of a product manager. The book covers the roles, skills, and expectations of the product manager, covers the different organizational structures that cover product management, and uses detailed examples to show how those functions work in practice.
My only criticism is that it is a broad overview, and as such some of the areas (branding, for example) are covered very briefly. This book probably won't teach anything to the experienced product manager, but it might be useful as a reference to how other companies approach product management.
53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good for First Venture into Product Management, 26 April 2000
By Michael J Webb - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Product Manager's Handbook: The Complete Product Management Resource (NTC Business Books) (Hardcover)
This book is a good first step into product management (even though I tend to be partial to textbooks). It covers a wide spectrum of the topic. Unfortunately, this wide coverage and the book's short length (254 pages) means that at times it tends to be a bit too general. If you are looking for a very specific and comprehensive book then this might not be the one for you.
On the upside, it's packed full with charts, checklists and case studies (invaluable tools in learning), and it's written in a pretty concise fashion.
Overall, I feel that this book is a very good introduction into the area of product management for the beginner and possibly a supplimental text for the seasoned product manager.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
SECTION ONE: The Role and Operation of Product Management. 1. The New Product Management. 2. Introducing Product Management and Managing Product Managers. 3. The Role of Product Managers in the Organization. Case One: Heavyweight Product Managers.
SECTION TWO: Planning Skills for Product Managers. 4. The Product Marketing Planning Process. 5. The Annual Product Plan. Case Two: The Importance of Data.
SECTION THREE: Product Skills. 6. Evaluating the Product Portfolio. 7. Strategic Product Planning. 8. New Products: Proposal, Developmeent, and Lauch. Case Three: The Many Aspects of Product Line Management.
SECTION FOUR: Functional Skills. 9. Pricing Products and Services. 10. The Product Manager as Marketing Manager. 11. Product Management: The Final Frontier? Case Four: The 3M ScotchCartII Cartridge.
Please let me know if this was of help.
52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great reference book...but perhaps start at Chapter 5, 1 Feb 2003
By Andy Orrock - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Product Manager's Handbook: The Complete Product Management Resource (Hardcover)
For product managers and, in fact, *anyone* who contributes the to the making, marketing or selling of products, this is a great reference book to have on your shelves. Linda Gorchels does a masterful job synthesizing all of the issues a product manager must be capable of tackling. She accomplishes this task with clean, well-structured text and examples. The heart of the book is really a series of extended checklists which are comprehensive, well-researched and accesible to the lay reader.
My only complaint is that the book is front-loaded with some some compartively less important stuff, including a chapter entitled "Product Manager.com." I suppose this emphasis is reflective of a book written in 1999 and published in 2000. But as I cast my eye warily at that chapter I was *this close* to just chucking the whole thing.
Just then...bingo. The red meat arrived at Chapter 5 when *finally* the planning skills required to be a PM were introduced. The book from this point (p. 69 in hardcover) on is cram-packed with tremendous information that you'll use again and again.
So, my word of advice when you get this book is either (a) don't give up on it early, or (b) proceed directly to Chapter 5.