Inspired

I have recently finished Inspired (Marty Cagan, 2nd edition, 362 pages). This book is definitely one of the best in a long time for me. I wish I have read it 10 years ago.

Personally, I think what struck me the most was the contrast between modern Product Discovery practices described in the book, and a large amount of initiatives I have been part of myself, either as a Product Manager or in other software product related positions, along the last 10+ years.

Software products are not easy to get right. And there are other good books out there, even classic ones, that make this point very clear. Products are difficult.

The difference here is that Marty Cagan has himself lots of hands-on experience with really great product teams. And he has also consulted for teams that built products we all use today. So, he has insight on How to do it.

The essence is again on Product Discovery, with emphasis in finding and testing value and growth hypothesis. But the book goes all around the culture, methods and techniques to actually get that done. And it is also very honest on how much work it entails.

One of the parts I like the most, having worked myself with B2B products for many years, was the description of the Customer Development Program. That involves basically recruiting 6 different clients that can work together with the PM, designer and the development team, in order to frequently test usability and (feature/product) value. Based on my personal experience, I think this method is indeed bound to success. Although, as the author says, it involves A LOT of work.

The book contains also some good hinds to further material that can be explored to get into more details about for some of the main techniques. I surely got my reading list increased after finishing this one. And I’m looking forward to dive even deeper into topics that I think can make all the difference between hard work and failure, versus hard work and high chances of success.