INSPIRED

How do today's most successful tech companies--Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla--design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of people around the world? Perhaps surprisingly, they do it very differently than the vast majority of tech companies. In INSPIRED, technology product management thought leader Marty Cagan provides readers with a master class in how to structure and staff a vibrant and successful product organization, and how to discover and deliver technology products that your customers will love--and that will work for your business.

With sections on assembling the right people and skillsets, discovering the right product, embracing an effective yet lightweight process, and creating a strong product culture, readers can take the information they learn and immediately leverage it within their own organizations--dramatically improving their own product efforts.

Whether you're an early stage startup working to get to product/market fit, or a growth-stage company working to scale your product organization, or a large, long-established company trying to regain your ability to consistently deliver new value for your customers, INSPIRED will take you and your product organization to a new level of customer engagement, consistent innovation, and business success.

Filled with the author's own personal stories--and profiles of some of today's most-successful product managers and technology-powered product companies, including Adobe, Apple, BBC, Google, Microsoft, and Netflix--INSPIRED will show you how to turn up the dial of your own product efforts, creating technology products your customers love.

The first edition of INSPIRED, published ten years ago, established itself as the primary reference for technology product managers, and can be found on the shelves of nearly every successful technology product company worldwide. This thoroughly updated second edition shares the same objective of being the most valuable resource for technology product managers, yet it is completely new--sharing the latest practices and techniques of today's most-successful tech product companies, and the men and women behind every great product.

Preface to the Second Edition xvii
Part I Lessons From Top Tech Companies 1
Chapter 1 Behind Every Great Product 5
Chapter 2 Technology-Powered Products and Services 7
Chapter 3 Startups: Getting to Product/Market Fit 9
Chapter 4 Growth-Stage Companies: Scaling to Success 11
Chapter 5 Enterprise Companies: Consistent Product Innovation 13
Chapter 6 The Root Causes of Failed Product Efforts 15
Chapter 7 Beyond Lean and Agile 23
Chapter 8 Key Concepts 25
Part II The Right People 31
Product Teams 32
Chapter 9 Principles of Strong Product Teams 33
Chapter 10 The Product Manager 41
Chapter 11 The Product Designer 53
Chapter 12 The Engineers 59
Chapter 13 Product Marketing Managers 63
Chapter 14 The Supporting Roles 67
Chapter 15 Profile: Jane Manning of Google 71
People @ Scale 74
Chapter 16 The Role of Leadership 75
Chapter 17 The Head of Product Role 79
Chapter 18 The Head of Technology Role 87
Chapter 19 The Delivery Manager Role 91
Chapter 20 Principles of Structuring Product Teams 93
Chapter 21 Profile: Lea Hickman of Adobe 103
Part III The Right Product 107
Product Roadmaps 108
Chapter 22 The Problems with Product Roadmaps 111
Chapter 23 The Alternative to Roadmaps 115
Product Vision 121
Chapter 24 Product Vision and Product Strategy 123
Chapter 25 Principles of Product Vision 129
Chapter 26 Principles of Product Strategy 133
Chapter 27 Product Principles 135
Product Objectives 137
Chapter 28 The OKR Technique 139
Chapter 29 Product Team Objectives 143
Product @ Scale 146
Chapter 30 Product Objectives @ Scale 147
Chapter 31 Product Evangelism 151
Chapter 32 Profile: Alex Pressland of the BBC 155
Part IV The Right Process 159
Product Discovery 161
Chapter 33 Principles of Product Discovery 165
Chapter 34 Discovery Techniques Overview 171
Discovery Framing Techniques 175
Chapter 35 Opportunity Assessment Technique 179
Chapter 36 Customer Letter Technique 183
Chapter 37 Startup Canvas Technique 187
Discovery Planning Techniques 191
Chapter 38 Story Map Technique 193
Chapter 39 Customer Discovery Program Technique 195
Chapter 40 Profile: Martina Lauchengco of Microsoft 205
Discovery Ideation Techniques 208
Chapter 41 Customer Interviews 211
Chapter 42 Concierge Test Technique 215
Chapter 43 The Power of Customer Misbehavior 217
Chapter 44 Hack Days 221
Discovery Prototyping Techniques 223
Chapter 45 Principles of Prototypes 227
Chapter 46 Feasibility Prototype Technique 229
Chapter 47 User Prototype Technique 233
Chapter 48 Live-Data Prototype Technique 235
Chapter 49 Hybrid Prototype Technique 239
Discovery Testing Techniques 241
Chapter 50 Testing Usability 243
Chapter 51 Testing Value 251
Chapter 52 Demand Testing Techniques 253
Chapter 53 Qualitative Value Testing Techniques 259
Chapter 54 Quantitative Value Testing Techniques 265
Chapter 55 Testing Feasibility 273
Chapter 56 Testing Business Viability 277
Chapter 57 Profile: Kate Arnold of Netflix 283
Transformation Techniques 286
Chapter 58 Discovery Sprint Technique 287
Chapter 59 Pilot Team Technique 291
Chapter 60 Weaning an Organization Off Roadmaps 293
Process @ Scale 295
Chapter 61 Managing Stakeholders 297
Chapter 62 Communicating Product Learnings 305
Chapter 63 Profile: Camille Hearst of Apple 307
Part V The Right Culture 309
Chapter 64 Good Product Team/Bad Product Team 311
Chapter 65 Top Reasons for Loss of Innovation 315
Chapter 66 Top Reasons for Loss of Velocity 319
Chapter 67 Establishing a Strong Product Culture 323
Acknowledgments 327
About the Author 329
Learning More 331
Index 333