Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love

Description:

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.

CHAPTER 1: Behind Every Great Product

CHAPTER 2: Technology‐Powered Products and Services

CHAPTER 3: Startups: Getting to Product/Market Fit

CHAPTER 4: Growth‐Stage Companies: Scaling to Success

CHAPTER 5: Enterprise Companies: Consistent Product Innovation

CHAPTER 6: The Root Causes of Failed Product Efforts

CHAPTER 7: Beyond Lean and Agile

CHAPTER 8: Key Concepts

Holistic Product

Continuous Discovery and Delivery

Product Discovery

Prototypes

Product Delivery

Products and Product/Market Fit

Product Vision

PART II: The Right People

Product Teams

Overview

CHAPTER 9: Principles of Strong Product Teams

Team of Missionaries

Team Composition

Team Empowerment and Accountability

Team Size

Team Reporting Structure

Team Collaboration

Team Location

Team Scope

Team Duration

Team Autonomy

Why It Works

CHAPTER 10: The Product Manager

Key Responsibilities

Deep Knowledge of the Customer

Deep Knowledge of the Data

Deep Knowledge of Your Business

Deep Knowledge of Your Market and Industry

Smart, Creative, and Persistent

Product Manager Profiles

CHAPTER 11: The Product Designer

Product Discovery

Holistic User Experience Design

Prototyping

User Testing

Interaction and Visual Design

The Absence of Product Design

CHAPTER 12: The Engineers

CHAPTER 13: Product Marketing Managers

CHAPTER 14: The Supporting Roles

User Researchers

Data Analysts

Test Automation Engineers

CHAPTER 15: Profile: Jane Manning of Google

People @ Scale

Overview

CHAPTER 16: The Role of Leadership

Leaders of Product Management

Leaders of Product Design

Leaders of Technology Organization

Holistic View Leadership Roles

CHAPTER 17: The Head of Product Role

Competencies

CHAPTER 18: The Head of Technology Role

Organization

Leadership

Delivery

Architecture

Discovery

Evangelism

CHAPTER 19: The Delivery Manager Role

CHAPTER 20: Principles of Structuring Product Teams

CHAPTER 21: Profile: Lea Hickman of Adobe

PART III: The Right Product

Product Roadmaps

Overview

CHAPTER 22: The Problems with Product Roadmaps

CHAPTER 23: The Alternative to Roadmaps

Product Vision

Overview

CHAPTER 24: Product Vision and Product Strategy

The Product Vision

The Product Strategy

CHAPTER 25: Principles of Product Vision

CHAPTER 26: Principles of Product Strategy

CHAPTER 27: Product Principles

Product Objectives

Overview

CHAPTER 28: The OKR Technique

CHAPTER 29: Product Team Objectives

Product @ Scale

Overview

CHAPTER 30: Product Objectives @ Scale

CHAPTER 31: Product Evangelism

CHAPTER 32: Profile: Alex Pressland of the BBC

PART IV: The Right Process

Product Discovery

Overview

CHAPTER 33: Principles of Product Discovery

CHAPTER 34: Discovery Techniques Overview

Discovery Framing Techniques

Discovery Planning Techniques

Discovery Ideation Techniques

Discovery Prototyping Techniques

Discovery Testing Techniques

Testing Feasibility

Testing Usability

Testing Value

Testing Business Viability

Transformation Techniques

Discovery Framing Techniques

Overview

CHAPTER 35: Opportunity Assessment Technique

Business Objective

Key Results

Customer Problem

Target Market

CHAPTER 36: Customer Letter Technique

CHAPTER 37: Startup Canvas Technique

Discovery Planning Techniques

Overview

CHAPTER 38: Story Map Technique

CHAPTER 39: Customer Discovery Program Technique

The Power of Reference Customers

Single Target Market

Recruiting the Prospective Reference Customers

The Relationship

Platform/API Products

Customer‐Enabling Tools

Consumer Products

Summary

CHAPTER 40: Profile: Martina Lauchengco of Microsoft

Discovery Ideation Techniques

Overview

CHAPTER 41: Customer Interviews

CHAPTER 42: Concierge Test Technique

CHAPTER 43: The Power of Customer Misbehavior

CHAPTER 44: Hack Days

Discovery Prototyping Techniques

Overview

Feasibility Prototypes

User Prototypes

Live‐Data Prototypes

Hybrid Prototypes

CHAPTER 45: Principles of Prototypes

CHAPTER 46: Feasibility Prototype Technique

CHAPTER 47: User Prototype Technique

CHAPTER 48: Live‐Data Prototype Technique

CHAPTER 49: Hybrid Prototype Technique

Discovery Testing Techniques

Overview

CHAPTER 50: Testing Usability

Recruiting Users to Test

Preparing the Test

Testing Your Prototype

Summarizing the Learning

CHAPTER 51: Testing Value

Testing Demand

Testing Value Qualitatively

Testing Value Quantitatively

CHAPTER 52: Demand Testing Techniques

CHAPTER 53: Qualitative Value Testing Techniques

Interview First

Usability Test

Specific Value Tests

Iterating the Prototype

CHAPTER 54: Quantitative Value Testing Techniques

A/B Testing

Invite‐Only Testing

Customer Discovery Program

CHAPTER 55: Testing Feasibility

CHAPTER 56: Testing Business Viability

Marketing

Sales

Customer Success

Finance

Legal

Business Development

Security

CEO/COO/GM

CHAPTER 57: Profile: Kate Arnold of Netflix

Transformation Techniques

Overview

CHAPTER 58: Discovery Sprint Technique

CHAPTER 59: Pilot Team Technique

CHAPTER 60: Weaning an Organization Off Roadmaps

Process @ Scale

Overview

CHAPTER 61: Managing Stakeholders

Stakeholder Defined

Product Manager Responsibilities

Strategies for Success

CHAPTER 62: Communicating Product Learnings

CHAPTER 63: Profile: Camille Hearst of Apple

PART V: The Right Culture

CHAPTER 64: Good Product Team/Bad Product Team

CHAPTER 65: Top Reasons for Loss of Innovation

CHAPTER 66: Top Reasons for Loss of Velocity

CHAPTER 67: Establishing a Strong Product Culture

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Learning More

Index

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