Paolo  Review

Practical Insights for Real Problems in Product Management

This is a book that comes from real experience in a variety of products and it is a book that really addresses the elephant in room.

First what it takes to build a great product is a lean organization and a product manager really in charge of the product. The book states it and explains how to sell management on giving you the right authority. Second, the  Book address the problem of product managers not doing enough research before deciding on building product and features. The book details how to conduct research and why this is a critical aspect of the process. The book is practical and describes the real case scenario where a typical product manager operates. Therefore it useful and valuable.

There are then a variety of chapters that address several specific elements of the product planning, development, and launch. Correctly the book put lot of emphasis on marketing planning and competitive intelligence, again areas that too often are neglected because ” we have no much time….no much resources…”

The author was a PM at Apples and HP two among the titans of silicon valley. Additionally, he shipped complex products and oversaw their life cycle end to end and generated revenue with them.
In my view this book is a no brainer for the price., and a must-have for product and product marketing managers whose aspiration is to build great and winning products.

Editorial Reviews

Review

If you’re responsible for managing and marketing products, you’ll be impressed with the scope of Building Insanely Great Products.
Steve Johnson, creator of Under10 Playbook software and author of Look Beyond the Product

From the Author

It took me 47 years to learn what to do and what not to do to build insanely great products.

Along the way of failures and successes, I have identified six key areas that must be focused on to accomplish product and/or service success. I discuss all of them in this book, so you do not have to repeat the mistakes I made and learn what works.
Steve Jobs coined the term “Building Insanely Great Products, ” and what I learned by working at the same management level as he when I was at Apple, are in this book.  Plus I include more lessons in this book about what I learned from David Packard during and after I handled his PR at Hewlett-Packard, that enabled HP to grow 20% a year for 50 years.  There are also lessons here that David Packard taught Steve about the importance of not only building insanely great products but also to build an insanely great company.
Steve took that advice, and it explains why Apple is the most valuable company in the world.
If the readers of “Building Insanely Great Products” also take that advice, then the roughly $600 Billion wasted each year on failed products could be productive.
If so, with less waste and greater return on product development investments, then perhaps “Building Insanely Great Products” will significantly help improve the world.