Jeff Lerner Review by Marvin Garcia
Review by Marvin Garcia
Jeff Lerner is the real deal. What I mean by that is much of his material is completely new. This is not stuff that you've heard before. Highly recommended.
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Related Marketing Topics and Book Reviews for Business Focus:
Product Management's Sacred Seven: The Skills Required to Crush Product Manager Interviews and be a World-Class PM (Fast Forward Your Product Career: The Two Books Required to Land Any PM Job) Paperback – August 6, 2020
by Parth Detroja (Author), Neel Mehta (Author), Aditya Agashe (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars
Authored by 3 Product Managers at Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, Product Management's Sacred Seven It is a complete source that will provide you with the essential knowledge and abilities required to be a top PM and be employed anywhere.
When we wrote the book we spoke with our 67 product managers and HR managers of 52 leading firms around the world. They included everything from the typical FAANG suspects to adorable unicorns like Coinbase, TikTok, and Grab. We asked everyone two simple questions:
What is the difference between those you choose to interview from the ones that you do not?
What skills are essential to aid PMs in advancing their careers at the speediest pace?
We spoke with people from around the globe, who were employed in a variety of industries and countries We expected to find no pattern to our responses. We were surprised to discover an unifying theme in the interviews. The skills and knowledge that made exceptional PMs stand out from others all came down to seven topics which include: design of products and psychology, economics the user's experience law and policy, and marketing and growth.
The typical PM excels in one or two of these fields. A truly exceptional product manager excels in all seven. Written by the #1 best-selling author of Swipe to Unlock, this book combines theorems, case studies along with mental and physical models that will help you understand the seven topics and speed ahead in your product development career!
Inside Product Management's Sacred Seven You'll find real-world examples from more than four dozen businesses as well as battle-tested interviewing tips and access to a no-cost collection of bonus videos online.
Topics Covered: The development of products and hypotheses testing Marketing Selection Prototyping and creating a Product Strategy and Business Models and Market Entry Strategies Unified Economics and Customer Economics Product Segmentation Pricing Psychology User Motivation and Product Stickiness and Habit Gamification, Cognition, Mental Models, UX Principles Usability of Products, Light and Dark Patterns and Data Analysis Experimentation Frameworks Product Metrics Stories told through data and Antitrust Policy Intellectual Property Platform Liability Data Privacy Employment Law, Accessibility and Brand Building Advertising Growth Hacking and many more!
Featured Companies: Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, TikTok, Snapchat, Apple, Spotify, Uber, WeChat, Yelp, Tinder, Twitter, Tesla, ByteDance, OnePlus, PayPal, LinkedIn, Airbnb, Pinterest, Zillow, Visa, Salesforce, Asana, Robinhood, Adobe, Alibaba, Netflix, Bloomberg, Shopify, Trello, Workday, Notion, Nintendo, Glossier, Lyft, Telegram, Disney and more!
Swipe to Unlock is great, but this book is even better
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2020
I read these author's first book a while back based on a friend's recommendation that it was good for product management interview prep. That (Swipe to Unlock) was a good fun read and gave useful insight into how FAANG PMs think about technology and business strategy. However it wasn't written specifically for a PM audience but rather for anyone generally interested in technology.
Sacred Seven, on the other hand, goes out of its way to essentially be the PM Bible, covering all the core subjects left out in Swipe to Unlock (e.g. data science, product design, growth hacking, UX, etc). This book combines actionable strategies and case studies with hints of theory to serve as an applied playbook for all PMs.
As someone who is currently going through the PM recruiting process, I especially appreciated the gray boxes throughout the book with interview tips sprinkled in, such as how companies will often ask you to identify the most important metric for a company like Uber, and most candidates fail to realize that this is a test to see if you can call out that Uber is a two sided marketplace and weigh pros and cons of a driver side topline metric vs. rider side one. There are just so many useful nuggets like that in this book which have already helped me land PM offers from both Paypal and Oracle!
If you are only gonna buy one product book, get this one
Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2020
There are so many books you often hear you should read to hone your skills as a PM. Inspired, Lean Analytics, Predictably Irrational, Zero to One, Hacking Growth, Hooked and The Lean Product Playbook are just a few that comes to mind.
This book felt as if someone took all the key product management insights and tactical strategies from all of those books and probably many more and combined them all into a single resource I expected this book to read similar to Cracking the PM interview or something like that, but the storytelling and applied examples make it fell much more similar to something like Sapiens or Freakonomics. Great read that I recommend to all PMs. I've worked at Microsoft/Amazon for three years and previously read all the books I listed above but still learned a ton of new things.
Andrew McGuire - Product Manager
Must Read for Product Managers and those who aspire to be
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2020
Summary: Great book. Must be an addition to any ProdMgr's library (next to Swipe to Unlock). Well written and keeps a reader's interest throughout. It should be read in its entirety first and then as a reference guide for interviews and keeping fresh.
Through interviews with PMs and their own experience, the three authors break down product management into 7 Disciplines.
Product Design Highlights
* Fundamentally breaks down design into building a new product (0 --> 1) and scaling an existing one (1 --> n)
* Mentions the Kronos effect - Companies protect their cash cows through a variety of tactics (acquisition, etc). One of the more dangerous implementations of protection is companies ignoring research or building out disruptive technologies to their own cash cow. The authors cite a great example in Eastman Kodak which actually invented the digital camera in 1975. Investment in the idea was squashed by leadership.
* Assumptions in Chapter 3 - The books rightfully points out that "If you’re going to be going successful, your assumptions have to be valid - so your first step has to be finding and validating your assumption.” They go on to mention "Assumptions are hard to dig from the back of your mind, so it helps to have a systematic way to catalog them”. While the authors rightfully acknowledge this as critical they provide a quick write-up of a potential way of systemically eliciting the assumptions and organizing them. I would have liked to see some more depth here. The link doesn’t seem to work well for the footnote (PD.CH.FN1). Many people including myself don’t even realize they are making assumptions. I would like to have seen more depth in the book or via footnote on this important topic.
* MVP vs RAT vs MLP - The authors correctly mention that MVP is a flawed term and oft-debated terms. They propose the Riskiest Assumption Test (RAT). Great concept! Which Assumption is Riskiest and how can it be most simply tested? They go on to expound on another very useful concept, Minimum Likable Product (MLP). An MLP "is the simplest thing that will impress your users and make them stick around." The key with an MLP is to identify the "surface area" for the feature set.
* User Personas - The authors provide some strong arguments against the overuse of user personas which I found both interesting and compelling.
* User research - ask open-ended questions to ascertain a fuller picture. They give a great example and funny at the same time example from a Pink Panther movie. While Y/N or multiple choice questions are standard, advancement is possible when an investigator breaks away from dominant methods with the courage to opt for labor intensive ones.
* Experience over products - consumers are not just purchasing a set of features or a product. They value a complete experience.
* Randon Note - the authors provide some interesting examples of how American Airlines and Ford complimented their products. AA with Sabre and Ford with their financing arm. Provides food for thought.
13 people found this helpful
The Most Valuable PM Interview Prep Book on The Market
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2020
While books like Decode and Conquer offer a useful selection of example PM interview questions and answers. Sacred Seven takes a much different approach. Sacred Seven isn't a book of example questions and answers but rather a collection of all the concrete knowledge you need to come up with great answers to just about any interview question yourself. It reads more similarly to popular nonfiction books like Freakonomics or Predictably Irrational than something like Cracking the PM Interview.
What makes this book really engaging is it has hundreds of interesting examples and case studies rather than just be mostly theory. Sacred Seven covers everything from how to determine what your MVP should be, how to select metrics and setup experiments, how to build an addictive user experience, how to growth hack, and much more. This book feels like a summary of everything you'd learn if you did one of those one year product management degree programs at Cornell or Northwestern at one thousandth of the price.
15 people found this helpful
This book is great for engineers!!
Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2020
I'm a growth engineer by trade but my PM recommended I check out this book because he claimed it's useful for non-PMs. I decided to give it a shot.
This book looked extremely think and daunting when it arrived. I've never taken courses in law, economics, psychology, or marketing (four of the seven "units" or whatever the sections are called). I was expecting those chapters to either be really boring intro level theory or too complex to understand. To my surprise, this book did a great job of making the content very engaging but also approachable for people of all experience levels. I think the growth hacking section was my favorite as it had lots of interesting strategies that I can actually implement at work! Would strongly recommend this book to engineers, data scientists, designers, etc! Although the book was written by PMs, the insights contained within it are valuable for everyone on the product to know.
12 people found this helpful
Fantastic Overview of Product Management as a Discipline
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2020
This is perhaps one of the most ambitious books on product management that I have encountered. Ask any PM, and they'll state how the job really requires a lot of different skills and expertise. Few books have been able to capture the breadth of domain knowledge required to be a product manager and I think this is one of the best.
The authors have clearly done a lot of research to distill the discipline into seven core areas. The books is well organized with case studies, nice visualizations, and interview tips dispersed throughout. At no point has it been boring and I've breezed through reading it, despite its considerable length. I highly recommend this book for current and aspiring product managers, or other professionals (e.g. software engineers) who want to be able to learn about the different considerations it takes to launch great products. Splendid job.
10 people found this helpful
Start here and add layers as you go.
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2021
If you're an aspiring PM (or need to develop PM skills to succeed in your current position), you should probably treat this tome as your starting point. Its size alone will discourage some. It's like "War and Peace" but way more fun.
If you thought product management was straightforward, the "Sacred Seven.." will duly put you in your place. The text covers everything from design, economics, psychology, data science, law, and more, which is just the bare essentials to get started. A good PM should have solid exposure to all these.
The authors did a really solid job making the material really accessible and providing lots of use cases to cement each chapter's objectives. Plus, there are lots of extras in the form of QR codes that provide access to high-quality content that could easily be sold separately.
Is this the be-all-end-all of PM books? No, but it's probably the one that comes closest to encompassing the entirety of subjects one needs to be at least conversant in to have a chance. It immediately prepares you to learn effectively and to start seeing the world through the eyes of a PM.
Highly recommended!
Fantastic Resource Not Just to Land a PM Role, But to Shine in the Role
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2020
As an early career PM, I read a lot of the standard books to prep for PM interviews like Cracking the PM Interview, Decode and Conquer, The PM Interview, and Swipe to Unlock. I also spent time interning in a variety of roles in the tech industry throughout college, and I felt like all of these experiences prepared me well for entering my current role. However, I found myself time and again highlighting sentences and jotting down notes from this book with ideas I either hadn't heard before or that had slipped through my understanding. I'm very happy I made the time to read this book because it helped me think through my experiences with a more critical eye, like how to create product requirements. A computer scientist by training, this book also helped complement my knowledge in areas like economics, law, and marketing. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is learning how to be a PM, is in a PM role, is curious about tech business strategy, or who is preparing for PM interviews.
Great Insights for the Aspiring and Practicing PM
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2021
A book you'll want to read multiple times. Its sound hefty at 600+ plus pages, but it's a surprisingly fast read even though it is packed with details. I appreciate the underpinnings of the content being heavily based on principles of psychology. The use cases throughout the book really help seat knowledge by well-known examples that most readers will recognize and connect with.
Lately I've spent a lot of time reading about technology and making digital products from the user research and product perspective, this book acts like a floodlight that highlights key areas critical to making products thrive.
I appreciate the topics of psychology, user experience and product design that elevate really key concepts; however, even the section on law and policy is interesting!
7 people found this helpful
Tech-Focused MBA in a Nutshell
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2021
I attended a top-tier MBA and found this book to be an excellent refresher. If you're interviewing for a product management job in the tech space, looking to refresh your skills or are an entrepreneur looking to add some structure to your strategy, this book is an invaluable resource. I love how the book is divided into seven sections that you can easily flip between. There are quite a few editing misses in the text itself but they don't detract from the value of the information packed into the book.
8 people found this helpful
The most comprehensive book on product management
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2020
As an aspiring PM, I read a lot of the main books (Cracking the PM Interview, Decode and Conquer), went through a lot of online courses, and talked to a lot of PMs to learn about product management, and I felt like all of those combined gave me a decent idea of the role and what I should do to prepare for the interviews and job. However, I wish I'd learned about this book earlier because not only did it essentially cover everything I learned from all those sources combined, but it was way cheaper, completely comprehensive, and even included less obvious details. Coming from a Computer Science background, I never learned about Economics and Law, so those chapters really made my interviews well rounded. The authors' book Swipe to Unlock was amazing and made me believe that this book would be just as helpful, and I'm glad to say I wasn't wrong. I absolutely recommend this to anyone who is preparing for PM interviews.
Textbook info on being a PM, way easier to read than your typical text book! A++
Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2021
Truly a wealth of knowledge and information on the Seven key aspects of being a PM.
1️⃣Product Design
2️⃣Economics
3️⃣Psychology
4️⃣User Experience
5️⃣Data Science
6️⃣Law & Policy
7️⃣Marketing & Growth
The case study method the authors use really helps explain the concepts they highlight. Especially as these case studies are timely and relevant to apps and products we use every day.
The level of detail is equivalent to a text book, but the writing style is far from taxing or complex. Textbook writers, take note! 😄
While every company implements product management slightly differently, this book gives a holistic view of the community, the required skills, and overall expectations of a PM.
Highly recommended for anyone working in the PM space!
One person found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2021
After 20 years in different software engineering, project management, and engineering management roles, I was kicking around the idea of transitioning to product management. I've been hesitant, though, because knowledge on the job working with specific product stakeholders might be different from the basic skillset. With this book, though, not only did I learn a ton of core knowledge at the base of product management, but I was also able to see how it definitely makes sense as an evolution for my career. The book was not only helpful, but inspiring!
Excellent book on product management
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2020
UPDATE: Having finished the book I am updating my review. Bottom line - it is probably the best book on product management I have read (and I’ve read quite a few). The seven areas they cover, each represent a thorough lesson in each. They provide many real life examples and illustrations of the principles they are covering. They definitely know what they’re talking about. So there you have it - I give them five stars. While I stand by my earlier comments, I can say the overall value of the content far outweighs any
I am approximately midway through the book and must admit that it contains quite a bit of PM knowledge and expertise. I am impressed. Something that doesn’t impress me are the frequent typos. For a boon of this size and caliber, you’d think they would have had it proofread. Not to authors: Typos detract from the great concepts you’re trying to put forth. Have it proofread prior to release. Think of it as passing QA.
8 people found this helpful
Buy this product book for PM Recruiting!!
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2020
As someone going through the PM recruiting process, I've been searching for additional resources to help myself prepare for the unique case interviews. Not only this, but as I enter the PM space I am looking for places to gain insight and knowledge into the field as Product Management is not typically taught in University classes. The author's of this book have another book, Swipe To Unlock, that I found really interesting and useful to my recruiting process. However, it left out topics like Product Design, Data Science, User Experience, and more. This is why I went ahead and purchased this book.
Sacred Seven goes so into depth in all things PM, that I learned things that I didn't even know that I needed to learn. The action items in the book helped me strategize my way through PM interviews that I have already had throughout this PM recruiting cycle. The book is filled with very niche interview tips that are so useful for not just the specific companies that they are referring to, but also the greater PM recruitment space. The useful tidbits of information I learned throughout the different sections have tremendously helped me and I would recommend this book to anyone looking to transition into Product Management.
8 people found this helpful
Useful in finance and many industries, as well
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2020
I work in finance but a friend in tech recommended this book to me. As a heavy user of technology, I personally found the book eye opening in everything that goes into building the products I use and bringing them to market. The book's work on business models in tech is quite useful in thinking about businesses in general, especially in evaluating which metrics are most important to examine. In addition, the book's work on user experience is quite useful. For work, I use a good amount of relatively niche software, and it was great to better understand how people on the tech side of things think about the user experience. This book is a great read and I highly recommend to anyone, regardless of industry.
One person found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2020
I am familiar with the authors' previous works, including "Swipe to Unlock." This book fills in the gaps from this previous book (i.e. data science, UX...) and is like an encyclopedia with the basic fundamentals necessary to excel in product management. The writing is concise and easy to comprehend, making it an excellent read for people just entering the world of product management (but also for those with more experience in PM).
The book is also organized and sectioned quite well. As a student studying economics and law, I particularly admired those sections of the book the most; but, the others are just as useful and detailed. The book opens up by distinguishing between "building vs scaling," which sets the tone and theme throughout much of the book. Varying your approach (at each stage and between products) is a useful lesson that will be handy as a PM, and this is repeatedly stressed and taught throughout the book (using different examples and perspectives).
This book not only teaches you relevant information that will boost your skill set on the job market, but it also provides amazing "interview tips" that I would definitely suggest looking over. What I particularly found intriguing about these "interview tips," relative to other PM books I have read, is that it heavily focuses on how to set yourself apart from conventional answers. This hinted that the authors are truly invested in helping the readers excel in the world of PM, and I definitely took many notes from these interview sections.
Overall, this book is a must read and a must have for those looking to improve their knowledge, skillset, and interviews as they seek to go into product management. The book felt like a condensed (easy-to-read) version of what you'd learn over a course of a longer period at university, which is all the more reason I would personally recommend buying it.
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2020
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I have read all three of these authors' books, and none have disappointed. They do an awesome job only including essential information, and do so in easy-to-digest snippets to allow readers of all backgrounds to understand the material. There are countless case studies to put into perspective how the material is applied to our lives day in and day out. This book, along with their previous two, are particularly useful for students taking tech/business classes, and anyone interviewing for roles within a tech company. They are the exact primers you need to stand out in the interview. This book even includes "Interview Tip" bubbles after a section concludes, which are extremely helpful. Regardless of where you are in your career, you will learn from this book.
7 people found this helpful
Clear deep-dive into the components of being a PM
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2020
This book was great. Though it was full of advice on how to approach PM interviews, it was a much more comprehensive look into the actual job of product management and provided a more well-rounded angle compared to interview-only books like Cracking the PM Interview and Decode and Conquer. I found that reading the stories and advice in this book helped me understand how to tackle the actual problems that I might find on the job.
The examples are well-researched, but the segments I enjoyed the most were when the authors pulled upon their own experiences. In each scenario, they set up the context and take the reader through decisions that were made -- as well as the constraints on it, the tradeoffs, etc. that led them that direction. It's rare to get this type of insight into decision-making and thought processes that influence some of the products we use every day.
The book also contains full references and QR codes that can be scanned to watch supplemental videos -- though I haven't made my way through all of the videos yet, I found that this mixed media approach was effective in walking me through details of concepts where I wanted a deeper dive, and allowing me to quickly decide where I wanted to invest more time.
The best Product Management book, invest in yourself with this awesome publication
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2020
As many have stated, I believe given the breadth of knowledge and awareness a Product Manager needs to bring to the table, is very hard to find a book that covers all of the most important angles with a fresh perspective, besides giving key insights on each area and business cases, it also provides interview tips on each chapter, coupled with free videos to watch, makes the best investment you can make on yourself if you want to become a better Product Manager or break formally into it, as is my case, has helped me to skill up.
Notes: In Statistical Significance section in the Data Science chapter, one needs to investigate more to get a better understanding on what the authors are mentioning, for example, it pays to review Central Limit Theorem, Confidence Intervals, Student's two-tailed t-test, t-table, also, get a better understanding what p-value is, which is very very complicated to have a definitive and understandable answer in simple terms, it is a struggle to define it coherently.
Remember to read the footnotes, they are super valuable!
All in all, this book covers all the areas fantastically and authors went the extra mile to make it easy to read plus the interview tips, I got hooked since the first pages and could not put it down.
It is the Product Manager Bible hands down!
Finally, a book that's in touch with the future of tech
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2020
I first discovered these authors when they spoke at the Grace Hopper conference in Orlando. I was initially very skeptical to see three male presenters at a conference for women in tech. However, over the course of the hour long presentation, it became clear that these guys were genuine allies interested in increasing diversity in tech.
In reading this book, I noticed small touches the authors made that I really appreciated. For instance, there are interview tips scattered throughout the book. Oftentimes, when the authors bring up a fictional hiring manager or other leadership figure, they make her female. They also discuss companies that 99% of guys aren't familiar with but are killing it such as Glossier. High recommend this book to all Women in Product!
The book is broken up into great sections
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2020
Love the ability to dive into any area of interest and quickly study more. The authors also do a great job of integrating various external resources which can be accessed via QR code.
I think if you are quite junior in your career this is a great book to start understanding product strategy from beginning to end at a high level. Giving you a solid foundation to start diving into more advanced topics.
Wish there was more about the technical stack and technical frameworks.. but I guess that might be their other book "Swipe to Unlock".
Also highly recommend trying to get the hard cover of this book. I owned the paper back and it was shipped to me already torn. But I am here to review the content and the not the craftsmanship of the book itself. Love the book gents.
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2020
I'm a data scientist by trade and bought this book because I enjoyed Swipe to Unlock written by Neel, Parth and Aditya. The book is thick, but contains a lot of great content. It really helps you understand the holistic thought process behind creating, developing, marketing and growing an app/product. The authors break down many strategies companies use to gain followers/users (growth hacking, advertisements, branding, etc.) that can be very useful for data scientists and engineers to understand. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested about the world of project management.
One person found this helpful
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2022
I read Sacred Seven end-to-end to help prep for my upcoming PM interviews.
A standard PM interview at a big tech generally includes the following sections: analytical, execution, technical, product sense (design/strategy) and of course behavioral intermingled throughout your panel.
Nailing the execution, analytical and behavioral parts of the interview requires separate practice in my opinion and the book doesn’t get into low level details so look elsewhere if it’s the technical you’re trying to nail. That said, there’s a ton of nuggets in this book that will give you inspiration on how to think outside the box and reshape how you might answer a product strategy/design question - and the product sense portion is where candidates often struggle and fail to impress.
Once you’re settled into a product role, this book also provides a lot of tips on how to be a more well rounded PM regardless of your experience or level and I’ll be sure to be referencing the notes that I took while reading this book (be sure to take notes!) throughout my career journey.
The new PM bible — helped me land an APM job at Google!
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2020
This book has been called the "Bible of PM" and I couldn't agree more. While other PM books are either tailored to a general audience or specialized only for interview prep, this book offers both an enjoyable background into how famous products are designed and intersperses critical tactics for interview success.
Sections dive far deeper beyond the traditional PM cliches of knowing your user and defining success, with chapters on policy, data science, and psychology. While almost every PM interviewing in the market has internalized the frameworks offered in "Cracking the PM Interview", this book takes you to the next level by not only enhancing your understanding of these topics but also offering practical strategies to incorporate them into your interview. Such a breadth of knowledge allowed me to stand out and receive offers in my interviews at Google, Twitter, and Microsoft against stellar candidates who had only read "Cracking the PM Interview."
But this book is also an enjoyable read for those who are either just looking to learn more about PM or already established in the industry. The anecdotes and storytelling were phenomenal, providing me with a much better sense of the history and the thinking that goes into great (and poor) products. I also loved how the book didn't have to be read cover to cover -- I often found myself skimming and sampling as I went along. I can see this book being useful as a reference from time to time. In short, if you're going to get a PM book, start with this one!
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2021
Sacred Seven was a great high level read that does a great job of covering the various subjects that should be considered as a product manager. This book is very readable, much like “Decode and Conquer”, and does a great job of breaking things down into individual components. What’s best about this book is how relevant it is today with real world examples from the past up until 2020. It was great reading some case studies that are very new compared to some classic companies that are no longer in the limelight or around at all. While I wish this book dived deeper into some topics, it wasn’t what the book was trying to do. It does give great add on material through QRs cods embedded throughout the book, which I loved. I highly recommend this book if you want an easy and understandable read about the topics you’ll need to dive deeper into if you want to pursue product management.
This book should be a textbook for any product management course
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2020
This book explains the different disciplines of product management and business strategy well, and rather than being solely theory based, there were tons of well researched case studies which helped me as a reader to draw parallels and understand concepts in a more practical way. Lot of industry trends and patterns which the authors have analyzed and shared their take on, and I think these patterns really give good insight into different business models in the tech industry. It is quite a detailed read, but certainly contains several nuggets of valuable information. The law and policy section was particularly interesting as it is generally a less covered topic in most product management blogs/books and so was interesting to know more about it. I also liked how the book is interspersed with tips from the authors as well as QR codes directing readers to more videos about product design, estimation, etc from the authors. Learnt a lot from the book.
Comprehensive and Detailed Book!
Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2020
I really enjoyed Product Management’s Sacred Seven. The authors hit upon fundamental skillsets that great product managers need to know, not only to be successful but exceptional. Although this isn’t a “crack the PM interview” style book, I now feel even more prepared and confident in standing out in future interviews because of their actionable insights. The accompanying visuals and graphs solidified and reinforced complex subjects.
Additionally, the pace of the book was perfect. The flow of each skill’s section was logical and easy to follow. I couldn’t put the book down the whole time I was reading it! As an aspiring PM, I appreciated the sheer number of case studies and examples. They provided really sound and understandable context for all of the most important concepts. I specifically liked the rich and detailed explanations of economic and data science principles, as they helped me strengthen my comfort with those topics.
A Product Management Masterclass
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2021
As a serial entrepreneur who often plays the role of PM, I've subscribed to more than a double digit count of PM courses and books that promise to prepare you to excel at the position. They all came up short.
Where all of the other PM resources leave you with a few ideas that will have you drowning in an ocean of problems as a product manager, Product Management's Sacred Seven arms you with the survival toolkit to help you swim through problem sets with precision and confidence.
Product Management's Sacred Seven is your North Star.
One person found this helpful
A very solid product book by product people
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2021
This is a practical book written by good product people. It's denser and more comprehensive than most of the medium articles or newsletters.
The writing is straightforward, sincere, fast paced and easy to follow.
It's a well researched book, each section are full of reference links. And they cleverly found a way to solve the dead link problem.