Product Description

Why do some products make the leap to greatness while others do not?

Creating inspiring products begins with discovering a product that is valuable, usable, and feasible. If you can not do this, then it s not worth building anything.

- How do you decide which product opportunities to pursue?

- How do you get evidence that the product you are going to ask your engineering team to build will be successful?

- How do you identify the minimal possible product that will be successful?

- How do you manage the often conflicting demands of company execs, customers, sales, marketing, engineering, design, and more?

- How can you adapt Agile methods for commercial product environments?

Product management expert Marty Cagan answers these questions and hundreds more as he shares lessons learned, techniques, and best practices from working for and with some of the most successful companies in the high-tech industry. You will find that there s a very big difference between how the very best companies create products and all the rest.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11833 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-18
• Binding: Hardcover
• 242 pages

Review
"At eBay, of all of the leaders in the past decade, Marty had the most significant and lasting impact on how we create products."
- Frerk-Malte Feller, Managing Director, eBay Germany

"When it comes to creating inspiring products, Marty Cagan knows his stuff."
- Pete Deemer, Former Chief Product Officer, Yahoo! and CEO of GoodAgile

"Marty balances key product management principles, great new techniques, and examples that bring them all home."
- Jim Denney, VP Product Management, TiVo

"Marty is not only a seasoned expert on all aspects of the often ambiguous discipline of product management, his book also provides inspiration, tools and techniques, and really practical help."
- Judy Gibbons, Accel Partners

"This is a must read if you have any hope of building a company based on great products."
- Chuck Geiger, Former CTO, PayPal, Travelocity and Ask.com

"It doesn't matter how good your engineering team is if they aren t building the right products, and no one is better than Marty at helping teams discover the right products."
- Marty Abbott, Former CTO, eBay and Partner, AKF Consulting
--Back Cover

About the Author
Marty Cagan is founding partner of the Silicon Valley Product Group, where he helps companies create winning product strategies and develop the skills of their product organization as well as the techniques they use to create successful products.

During the past 20 years, Marty has served as an executive responsible for defining and building products for some of the most successful companies in the world. He was most recently senior vice-president of product management and design for eBay, where he was responsible for defining products and services for the company's global e-commerce trading site. Prior to that, Marty was vice-president of product at AOL and Netscape Communications, and a software engineer at HP Labs.

Customer Reviews

The Bible of Product Management!
Even though I'm a total "one click" junkie, and often make book recommendations to friends and co-workers, I've never taken the time to post a review until today.

So why now? I've been working in and around product management for over 10 years and I really, really wish that I could have had the benefit of a resource like this when I started. Inspired should absolutely be required reading for anyone in the product development space: product managers, UX designers, engineers, projects managers, marketing--anyone responsible for the creation of new products (or the significant improvement of existing products that are missing the mark somehow).

[Disclaimer: I've been a fan of Marty's blog and newsletter for several years now, so most of the information in the book was not new to me. I also hired Marty (twice) as a consultant--which should make this recommendation even more credible because I put my money where my mouth is regarding his insight and the value he brings to organizations!]

Even though I was already very familiar with most of the topics covered in the book, I still pre-ordered it and read it cover to cover as soon as it arrived.

Having all of this information together and organized like this allows readers to get the benefit of Marty's 20+ years of experience--as an executive at some of the leading companies in Silicon Valley as well as through his consulting practice--in one concise package. This guy knows his stuff and, as a result, there's no more comprehensive resource for product managers out there--not even close!

In his Introduction Marty writes: "I chose this career because I wanted to work on products that customers love; products that inspire and provide real value... Yet most products are not inspiring, and life is too short for bad products." Amen!

So read Inspired, and give a copy to anyone else who you want to be successful in the product creation space. They'll thank you for it.

P.S. Chapter 31: Succeeding in Large Companies alone is worth the price of the book if you take his advice and start employing these 10 techniques in your current job!

All-in-one guide to running a product organization
I attended one of Marty's product management seminars a couple of months ago, and found it excellent. This book collects the material from his seminar into a complete, easy-to-read format.

Personally, I found the sections on organizational structure, roles and responsibilities most useful, but the sections on the product discovery and development process are excellent as well.

I think the material and his process is flexible enough that most types of companies can derive useful, actionable insights here. Worth a read from any product manager or executive at a product-driven company.

Ignore this title at your own risk...
This is one of those books that will quickly attain, 'How did we get by without it?' status. One for the preventative medicine file, Marty outlines AND addresses so many common pitfalls in the product development process it's now on my 'review once yearly' list, right next to Steve Krug's, 'Don't Make Me Think.'

Big plus: there is not just for eBay-sized companies. The techniques and tools Marty outlines can be adapted to a wide range of product team budgets and staffing scenarios.

Bottom line, if you do anything that remotely touches the world of 'web products' (however you define it) this book is worth it. And, unlike so much of what gets written in our industry, this one is delivered in accessible, clear, well-written prose.

It makes a great gift for CEOs, too...