The Product Manual: The Complete Survival Guide for New Product Managers
You've got the PM job. Congratulations. Now what?
Most product management books assume you already know what you're doing, which is adorable.
After 20+ years building products and managing teams, Jason Brynford-Jones has written the practical product management guide he wished he'd had starting out. No framework fantasies, no advice without the how or the why. Just veteran wisdom and real examples from the trenches. This is the book for product managers who actually need to do the job, not for those who just want to sound smart on LinkedIn.
Inside, you'll find out what actually matters:
- Learning how to say no
- Leading without formal authority
- Performing product and people inventories
- Making decisions in the absence of data
- Navigating tricky stakeholder relationships
- Decoding why estimates are always wrong
- Validating ideas so you don't build the wrong thing
Product management is a role no one can properly define, but everyone will hold you accountable for. You'll lead without authority, make decisions without perfect information, and deliver value without agreement on what that means. You'll bridge gaps no one admits exist, answer questions no one asked until too late, and inherit ambiguity as a birthright. You're somewhere between diplomat, janitor, and shepherd, while half your team won't understand what you actually do. This ironic ambiguity is permanent.
This book won't lie to you about any of it. Brace yourself.
Written with zero patience for shallow fluff and unactionable advice. If you want feel-good platitudes, buy a different book. If you want to finally know how to actually get things done, start here.
