In my opinion this book is very well written and it provides a wealth of information for new product managers.

I purchased several books on Product Management to help my team improve our product development and launch process. I am a little surprised that there seems to be few books available on Product Management.

I found this book to be the best among a disappointing selection. It provides an adequate overview for beginners and intermediate skilled people in software product development. It is useful in that it provides some guidance to help build a product management process where one does not exist.

However I don't think it provides sufficient depth that a team with limited skills should expect that it provides sufficient information. The templates were disappointing and of little value (great templates would have raised my rating by at least a star.)

I suggest you supplement this book with other books (if you can find them) and an experienced team member or outside consultant.

This book is probably the best overall guide for Product Managers I have seen. It is very broad in places because it tries to remain as applicable to Product Managers of all kinds of products, from shampoo to TVs to computer software. The concepts of Product Management are the same, regardless of industry, but the reader needs to be capable of translating broad concepts into something applicable to their own setting.

The book does a great job of describing the scope of a Product Manager's role and the types of things a Product Manager should be thinking about. This is particularly useful for new Product Managers or for experienced Product Managers that want a reference point for helping explain their role to others (often one of the greatest challenges for a Product Manager).

This book is is a must have for someone that want to have a good understanding of a Product Manager area of competency. It has real-life interviews related to challenges/solutions associated to this role. I absolutely recommend this book for someone that want to have a good understanding of what Product Manager entails.

This book gives a good introduction into the roles and responsibilities of a product manager. It makes no assumptions of any prior knowledge or experiences. For each chapter, it provides worksheets or process flow charts. In addition, case studies of actual events are presented. At the end of each chapter, it provides a set of checklist. Therefore I will recommend this to any reader interested to know more or making a career change.

Overall, this book provides an excellent overview of the on-goings within business processes. Below is a brief summary.

This book is divided into 4 parts. Part I gives an introduction into product management. Part II highlights the process that the product managers (PMs) can use in their annual planning activities. It provides a format or guidelines for the annual product marketing plan. Part III highlights the analytical skills of PMs, which is to evaluate existing product line and to determine & implement new product strategies. Part IV elaborates on the marketing skills necessary for a successful product line. Special attention is devoted to pricing and marketing communication decisions and activities.

Briefly, product management is about the planning, forecasting and marketing of products and services. There is a need for PMs to be cross-functional leaders. The overall responsibility of the PM is to integrate the various segments of a business into a strategically focused whole, maximizing the value of a product by coordinating the production of an offering with an understanding of the market needs and requirements. PMs manage not only products, but projects and processes as well. The PM's job is to oversee all aspects of a product/service line to create and deliver superior customer satisfaction while simultaneously providing long term value for the company.

In terms of time allocation, the PM typically spends 40-55% on day-to-day activities, 20-30% on short term activities and 15-25% on long term or strategic activities. Therefore excellent time management is crucial. Examples of day-to-day activities are maintenance of product fact books, motivation of the sales force and distributors, collection of marketing information including competitive benchmarks, trends and opportunities and customer expectations, acting as liaison between the sales, manufacturing and R&D, etc teams. Examples of short-term activities are controlling budget and achieving sales goals, participation in annual marketing plan and forecast developments, working with advertising departments or agencies to implement promotional strategies, coordinating tradeshows and conventions, participation in new product-development teams and predicting and managing competitors' actions, modification of product and/or reduction of costs to increase value, recommendation of line extensions, participation in product elimination decisions, etc. Examples of long term strategic activities are creation of long term competitive strategy, identification of new product opportunities, recommendation of product changes, enhancements and introductions, etc.

PMs need a variety of knowledge including product/industry knowledge, business knowledge and interpersonal/management knowledge. In the beginning, PMs typically spend most of the time gathering and organizing information on products, customers and their competition. Product knowledge is paramount. As they gain experience, the focus shifts to more comprehensive business knowledge, including finance, marketing and strategic planning. At the same time, they develop team building, negotiation, communication and leadership abilities. For PM to be effective, they need to build bridges throughout the company and be cross-functional leaders. For product management or marketing management, the emphasis is on being market-driven and not product-driven.

In terms of new product development, the role of the PM will be to represent the voice of the customer, balancing the corporate ROI (rate of investment), customer satisfaction and the manufacturing cost. Whereas for strategic interactions, the PM must work continuously with operations to improve and enhance production line. PMs are frequently involved with operations on cost-reduction projects.

This book gives a good introduction into the roles and responsibilities of a product manager. It makes no assumptions of any prior knowledge or experiences. For each chapter, it provides worksheets or process flow charts. In addition, case studies of actual events are presented. At the end of each chapter, it provides a set of checklist. Therefore I will recommend this to any reader interested to know more or making a career change.

Overall, this book provides an excellent overview of the on-goings within business processes. Below is a brief summary.

This book is divided into 4 parts. Part I gives an introduction into product management. Part II highlights the process that the product managers (PMs) can use in their annual planning activities. It provides a format or guidelines for the annual product marketing plan. Part III highlights the analytical skills of PMs, which is to evaluate existing product line and to determine & implement new product strategies. Part IV elaborates on the marketing skills necessary for a successful product line. Special attention is devoted to pricing and marketing communication decisions and activities.

Briefly, product management is about the planning, forecasting and marketing of products and services. There is a need for PMs to be cross-functional leaders. The overall responsibility of the PM is to integrate the various segments of a business into a strategically focused whole, maximizing the value of a product by coordinating the production of an offering with an understanding of the market needs and requirements. PMs manage not only products, but projects and processes as well. The PM's job is to oversee all aspects of a product/service line to create and deliver superior customer satisfaction while simultaneously providing long term value for the company.

In terms of time allocation, the PM typically spends 40-55% on day-to-day activities, 20-30% on short term activities and 15-25% on long term or strategic activities. Therefore excellent time management is crucial. Examples of day-to-day activities are maintenance of product fact books, motivation of the sales force and distributors, collection of marketing information including competitive benchmarks, trends and opportunities and customer expectations, acting as liaison between the sales, manufacturing and R&D, etc teams. Examples of short-term activities are controlling budget and achieving sales goals, participation in annual marketing plan and forecast developments, working with advertising departments or agencies to implement promotional strategies, coordinating tradeshows and conventions, participation in new product-development teams and predicting and managing competitors' actions, modification of product and/or reduction of costs to increase value, recommendation of line extensions, participation in product elimination decisions, etc. Examples of long term strategic activities are creation of long term competitive strategy, identification of new product opportunities, recommendation of product changes, enhancements and introductions, etc.

PMs need a variety of knowledge including product/industry knowledge, business knowledge and interpersonal/management knowledge. In the beginning, PMs typically spend most of the time gathering and organizing information on products, customers and their competition. Product knowledge is paramount. As they gain experience, the focus shifts to more comprehensive business knowledge, including finance, marketing and strategic planning. At the same time, they develop team building, negotiation, communication and leadership abilities. For PM to be effective, they need to build bridges throughout the company and be cross-functional leaders. For product management or marketing management, the emphasis is on being market-driven and not product-driven.

In terms of new product development, the role of the PM will be to represent the voice of the customer, balancing the corporate ROI (rate of investment), customer satisfaction and the manufacturing cost. Whereas for strategic interactions, the PM must work continuously with operations to improve and enhance production line. PMs are frequently involved with operations on cost-reduction projects.

I agree with most of the other reviewers. This is a top notch introduction to project management. Compared to the previous edition, this edition has added more case studies and interviews with professionals. It has also been reorganized to move the "introducing product management" sections to the end of the book.

This is another book that forms the trio of my reference shelf in marketing (The others Succesful Product Management & Sucessfull Product Management). Again, this book gets you in the ready-action mode you need to keep focused on what really matters of your product dynamics.

I find this book a must for product managers in any industry. The author helps you understand the different tasks and responsibilities, covers a wide range of industries with relevant examples and provides you with tools to analyze, think, and define short and long term plans for your business.
A nice mix of theory, examples and tools for your product management role.
Highly recommended

I've been a product manager for several years. This book gave me a great foundation for my work when I was getting started.

Better than the field guide, you need only one. A good start but disappointing in it's depth and detail. A beginners guide but certainly not a complete guide.

I read this book in 2000 when I started my first job as a PM. Since then, I have re-read it a few times. Each re-read is such a pleasure as I am able to tie in my experience to more and more facets of the book that were previously unclear. The book is an industry independent, general review of the roles and responsibilities of a product manager. It lays a nice foundation for those who are new to the position by outlining business processes, internal and external interactions and organizational roles a PM can expect to have.

The book does not delve into the mechanical details of marketing: such as conducting research, performing surveys, managing channels or evaluating effectiveness. However, it does talk about which kind of product managers would benefit from certain types of marketing initiatives.

If you are new to Product Management or would like to learn more about the processes involved in managing a product's lifecycle, this book is an excellent introduction.

I wouldnt say that this is an exceptional title but compared to other books in the market , this is the best. Be aware that this covers 'Product Management' in a very generic fashion. It doesnt talk about the role played by a PM in Software Development Process.

This is a very good introductory text to anyone who aspires to be a Product Manager. It skims through the generics of what is required of a Product Manager in general. Coverage of topics such as planning for new products, some light financial discussions, discussions about marketing plans, etc. are useful to know.

It pays to note that this book is light on details and should be used as an introductory text. There are books that offer in-depth coverage of specific areas of product management areas such as marketing planning, business planning, marketing analysis, data mining, and so on.

Although a bit light on details, I gave it 4 stars because if it went into details it would have been a 5000 page book as Product Management sits anywhere between a simple to complex discipline depending on what industry and what firm one works in.

It's a must read if you are new to PM position. It defines what you shall focus to keep your life easy and simple, especially PM faces complex situations as usual.

From my experience, it will take you at least 1 year to be familiar with PM position after reading this. If it's not your original industry, then it may cost you more time.

While the skillsets required by PM and pre-sale are quite different, this book provides a general roadmap to indicate where you are. You can keep track how solid your capability is before you make the decision to change your career.

I was a I/T pre-sale three years ago. And now, I'm PM in notebook business and is finishing our company first widescreen notebook project which gained the support from nVIDIA to be their NV36 beta site. This book and the books derived from it really help me a lot.

And to play your game well, I suggest to read Michael Porter's books and game theory to complement.

For product managers and, in fact, *anyone* who contributes the to the making, marketing or selling of products, this is a great reference book to have on your shelves. Linda Gorchels does a masterful job synthesizing all of the issues a product manager must be capable of tackling. She accomplishes this task with clean, well-structured text and examples. The heart of the book is really a series of extended checklists which are comprehensive, well-researched and accesible to the lay reader.

My only complaint is that the book is front-loaded with some some compartively less important stuff, including a chapter entitled "Product Manager.com." I suppose this emphasis is reflective of a book written in 1999 and published in 2000. But as I cast my eye warily at that chapter I was *this close* to just chucking the whole thing.

Just then...bingo. The red meat arrived at Chapter 5 when *finally* the planning skills required to be a PM were introduced. The book from this point (p. 69 in hardcover) on is cram-packed with tremendous information that you'll use again and again.

So, my word of advice when you get this book is either (a) don't give up on it early, or (b) proceed directly to Chapter 5.

If you want to follow some steps in your decision making processes as product manager, you should have this book. Easy to understand, and to apply , this handbook brings you ideas and simple models on how to implement market analyses, marketing programs, etc.

The Product Manager's Handbook is a good, general introduction to the subject. The concepts are explained clearly. The book gives a good description of the different steps it takes to transform ideas into commercially viable products and the skill set expected from a performing product manager. The critical financial side of product management, however, deserves more space than only 8 pages in a 290-page book dedicated to the product manager. At the end of the day, a product manager must show the money. Otherwise, the products will be "killed" sooner or later.

This book is a good piece for brand manager's or product manager's over consumer goods. I bought it expecting more depth and it was not deep enough for any experienced product manager. The concepts are good, in some places like new product launching very good for the introductory reader.