Managing Products to Deliver Solutions: 25 Best Practices for B2B Product Management by John Mansour is our choice for the book of the month for March. This 78-page book is a quick read and full of ideas, some of which can be found contradictory to what is commonly thought within the practice. Or what would you say, if somebody claimed that “uncovering needs doesn’t begin with users – it ends with them”?
The whole book is written in a frank, straightforward style without too much sugarcoating. That is probably one of the reasons, why I liked it so much. It is like I said myself. ; )
Like it or not, your customers are going to do what they do to run their business regardless of whether your company exists.
There is more to the book than just witty anecdotes. It summarises nicely some of product management challenges in today’s society. One of these is lack of understanding of government regulations as a whole, and assigning clear responsibility for it. At Unlimited Consulting, one of our core business areas is to assist our customers on this.
What will users be able to accomplish in the next version of the product, and how will it benefit my organization.
The book also includes some concrete tips for immediate improvements. One of my favourites is about how roadmaps should be structured to communicate what users can accomplish rather than what features will be included. Of course, following such an approach, separate roadmaps might be needed for different customer segments.
We recommend the book for anyone managing B2B products or managing an organization that manages B2B products. You will for sure get some new ideas, or at least recognise a few issues you have already faced. Get the book on Amazon.
Link to Amazon provided for convenience. We are not affiliated.