Product Management's Sacred Seven: The Skills Required to Crush Product Manager Interviews and be a World-Class PM (Fast Forward Your Product Career: The Two Books Required to Land Any PM Job)

Sacred Seven provides a solid foundation in core product management concepts, covering a wide range of topics like product strategy, execution, metrics, and structured decision-making. I especially appreciated the use of real examples and case studies, which helped make abstract frameworks more practical and easier to understand. The interview tips embedded throughout the book, along with links to relevant videos, added helpful context and made the material more engaging. Overall, it’s a well-rounded resource for building PM fundamentals and understanding how experienced PMs think through common product challenges.

"Product Management's Sacred Seven" is a groundbreaking masterpiece penned by the brilliant trio of Neel Mehta, Parth Detroja, and Aditya Agashe. This exceptional book is a revelation for product managers, both novices and seasoned professionals alike, as it unravels the intricacies of the field with unprecedented clarity and insight. The authors embark on an ambitious journey, dissecting the multifaceted world of product management through a lens that encompasses seven pivotal domains: Product Design, Economics, Psychology, User Experience, Data Science, Law & Policy, and Marketing & Growth. This holistic approach sets the book apart from others in the genre, providing readers with a comprehensive toolkit that extends beyond the traditional boundaries of product management. The first standout feature is the authors' ability to distill complex concepts into digestible, actionable insights. Whether you're grappling with the nuances of user experience or navigating the legal landscape, "Product Management's Sacred Seven" serves as a beacon of clarity. The writing is not only engaging but also remarkably accessible, ensuring that readers of all levels can absorb and apply the wealth of knowledge within. The integration of diverse disciplines is a stroke of genius. By seamlessly weaving together elements of design, economics, psychology, data science, law, and marketing, the authors create a holistic framework that mirrors the dynamic reality of modern product management. This interdisciplinarity is a testament to the authors' deep understanding of the multifaceted challenges that product managers encounter daily. One of the book's greatest strengths lies in its applicability. It doesn't merely present theories; it equips readers with practical tools and strategies to excel in each domain. The real-world examples and case studies peppered throughout the book serve as invaluable guides, illustrating how these principles can be implemented to overcome real challenges in product management. "Product Management's Sacred Seven" doesn't cater exclusively to a particular skill level. Whether you're a budding product manager eager to kickstart your career or a seasoned professional looking to refine your skills, the book provides a roadmap for success. The balanced blend of foundational principles and advanced strategies ensures that every reader, regardless of experience, finds immense value within its pages. In conclusion, "Product Management's Sacred Seven" is a 5 out of 5 stars spectacular book that transcends the boundaries of conventional literature in the field. Neel Mehta, Parth Detroja, and Aditya Agashe have not only delivered a comprehensive guide to product management but have redefined the standard for excellence in the discipline. For anyone serious about excelling in the world of product management, this book is not just recommended—it's essential.

Summary: Great book. Must be an addition to any ProdMgr's library (next to Swipe to Unlock). Well written and keeps a reader's interest throughout. It should be read in its entirety first and then as a reference guide for interviews and keeping fresh. Through interviews with PMs and their own experience, the three authors break down product management into 7 Disciplines. Product Design Highlights * Fundamentally breaks down design into building a new product (0 --> 1) and scaling an existing one (1 --> n) * Mentions the Kronos effect - Companies protect their cash cows through a variety of tactics (acquisition, etc). One of the more dangerous implementations of protection is companies ignoring research or building out disruptive technologies to their own cash cow. The authors cite a great example in Eastman Kodak which actually invented the digital camera in 1975. Investment in the idea was squashed by leadership. * Assumptions in Chapter 3 - The books rightfully points out that "If you’re going to be going successful, your assumptions have to be valid - so your first step has to be finding and validating your assumption.” They go on to mention "Assumptions are hard to dig from the back of your mind, so it helps to have a systematic way to catalog them”. While the authors rightfully acknowledge this as critical they provide a quick write-up of a potential way of systemically eliciting the assumptions and organizing them. I would have liked to see some more depth here. The link doesn’t seem to work well for the footnote (PD.CH.FN1). Many people including myself don’t even realize they are making assumptions. I would like to have seen more depth in the book or via footnote on this important topic. * MVP vs RAT vs MLP - The authors correctly mention that MVP is a flawed term and oft-debated terms. They propose the Riskiest Assumption Test (RAT). Great concept! Which Assumption is Riskiest and how can it be most simply tested? They go on to expound on another very useful concept, Minimum Likable Product (MLP). An MLP "is the simplest thing that will impress your users and make them stick around." The key with an MLP is to identify the "surface area" for the feature set. * User Personas - The authors provide some strong arguments against the overuse of user personas which I found both interesting and compelling. * User research - ask open-ended questions to ascertain a fuller picture. They give a great example and funny at the same time example from a Pink Panther movie. While Y/N or multiple choice questions are standard, advancement is possible when an investigator breaks away from dominant methods with the courage to opt for labor intensive ones. * Experience over products - consumers are not just purchasing a set of features or a product. They value a complete experience. * Randon Note - the authors provide some interesting examples of how American Airlines and Ford complimented their products. AA with Sabre and Ford with their financing arm. Provides food for thought.

I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book 🙂. The authors are excellent at keeping a consistent voice & flow, so it doesn't feel like any part of it drags on (which is quite frankly incredible for a nearly 700-page book). For each "Sacred" topic, the authors clearly & concisely explain the most-impactful frameworks & also reference case studies that are relevant & fascinating (with funny footnotes sprinkled throughout). I was actually surprised that I enjoyed this format. I normally feel that case studies are overused & often employ poor logic (correlation, rather than causation) to argue why an author's theories are applicable. When other authors do this, it makes it difficult to pinpoint the true underlying explanatory principles, which makes those case studies fun stories... but not exactly replicable for your own work challenges. However, these case studies were truly insightful, with logical explanations!! (I assume this was uniquely possible in this book since the authors had to critically assess which of their many topics ACTUALLY explained what happened... and it helps that they've validated their perspectives through practice in the messy workplace). I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in any of the 7 "Sacred" topics... Honestly, any one of these chapters could easily be a fully sellable book in its own right: 1. Product Design 2. Economics 3. Psychology 4. User Experience (UX) 5. Data Science 6. Law & Policy 7. Marketing & Growth

This book does a remarkable job at covering a tremendous amount of breadth while also being concise and engaging. If you're an avid reader of business books, you'll definitely recognize nods to classics such as The Innovator's Dilemma, Design of Everyday Things, Seven Powers, Lean Analytics, Hooked, Zero to One etc. The authors essentially distill all this knowledge down, giving a crash course in seven core areas pertinent to product management while providing useful frameworks and recent real-world case studies along the way. As a first-time product manager myself, I found several of the ideas and concepts raised immediately relevant to my own work, which definitely made it worth my while. The amount of ground covered in Sacred Seven is a double-edged sword though, turning out to be its greatest weakness as well. I personally followed along relatively easily, already being familiar with many of the concepts they touch upon due to my pre-existing information diet of entrepreneurship/business books and podcasts. That said, I could imagine a person completely new to the subject matter presented getting slightly lost in certain sections. If I had to pick a bone, the Data Science section may be the weakest chapter in the book. As one concrete example, the authors mention that an experiment should be run for 3-4 weeks, with no mention of why they make this claim. Overall, this is definitely a great overview read, but treat it as just that. The authors thoughtfully place a link to all the sources they consulted- if your interest in a particular area is piqued by a chapter in this book, you'd be well served by diving deeper into the original source material as well :)

I was such a big fan of Swipe to Unlock that I immediately went to purchase the Sacred Seven. I really appreciate how the authors debunk and articulate different concepts so comprehensively yet succinctly. I already started applying the lessons and tips that I learned from the book in my day-to-day job as a PM, which is not something that I was able to come by from other books I’ve read about product.

"Sacred Seven" is a comprehensive guide that delves into the intricacies of essential product management skills, covering Product Design, Economics, Psychology, User Experience, Data Science, Law & Policy, and Marketing & Growth. The authors skillfully distill the core concepts of each skill, presenting them in easily digestible ways. Despite the extensive material, the book excels in clarity and accessibility. An added bonus is the inclusion of numerous footnotes and QR codes, providing readers the flexibility to dive deeper into the subject matter at their own pace. Highly recommended for both novice and seasoned product managers.

As many have stated, I believe given the breadth of knowledge and awareness a Product Manager needs to bring to the table, is very hard to find a book that covers all of the most important angles with a fresh perspective, besides giving key insights on each area and business cases, it also provides interview tips on each chapter, coupled with free videos to watch, makes the best investment you can make on yourself if you want to become a better Product Manager or break formally into it, as is my case, has helped me to skill up. Notes: In Statistical Significance section in the Data Science chapter, one needs to investigate more to get a better understanding on what the authors are mentioning, for example, it pays to review Central Limit Theorem, Confidence Intervals, Student's two-tailed t-test, t-table, also, get a better understanding what p-value is, which is very very complicated to have a definitive and understandable answer in simple terms, it is a struggle to define it coherently. Remember to read the footnotes, they are super valuable! All in all, this book covers all the areas fantastically and authors went the extra mile to make it easy to read plus the interview tips, I got hooked since the first pages and could not put it down. It is the Product Manager Bible hands down!