11 Sites To Follow If You Want To Be a Better Product Manager
“Reading is fundamental.” My wife and her friends say this whenever they miss something obvious or spelled out in the instructions.
Reading is fundamental — to success. Product Managers can’t know everything, but the more we know, the better our results, decisions, and outcomes. Here are 11 websites and blogs you need to visit and follow if you want to be a better product manager. Interestingly enough, some of the sites were not originally blogs but service or software providers. You’ll find their blogs hold tons of valuable information.
HubSpot
As a Product Manager for a CRM and Sales Enablement Tool in the Healthcare space, of course, I’m familiar with and a reader of HubSpot. They provide marketing, sales, and CRM software, but their blog has great value for Product Managers.
URL: https://blog.hubspot.com/
Check out this article: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/brands-without-traditional-marketing-budget
UXPin
UXPin offers prototyping and design/development software for your products. They recently hosted the Agile UX Virtual Summit 2017, a FREE UX/UI design conference for product managers and designers.
URL: https://www.uxpin.com/
Access resources like https://www.uxpin.com/knowledge.html
Mind the Product
Mind the Product is a community of product people helping product people. If you ever get a chance to attend one of their awesome conferences, do so.
URL: http://www.mindtheproduct.com/
Check out this article: http://www.mindtheproduct.com/2017/07/heartbeat-product-nate-walkingshaw/
The Clever PM
The Clever PM is a 10+ year veteran in the Product Management field. His insights are often humorous and advice actionable.
URL: http://www.cleverpm.com/
Check out this article: http://www.cleverpm.com/2017/06/22/how-to-level-up-your-product-management-skillset/
SVPG
Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG) was created by a handful of Silicon Valley product people. I would estimate a collective 120+ years of product management experience between the lot of them, and you can grow simply by reading their blog.
URL: https://svpg.com/
Check out this article: https://svpg.com/beyond-lean-and-agile/
ProdPad
ProdPad provides product portfolio management tools. It’s software built by product managers for product managers, and their blogs and site resources are beneficial. They also publish their roadmap to the wild for all to see. Be sure to check it out when you head to the site.
URL: https://www.prodpad.com/
Access resources like https://www.prodpad.com/blog/product-tree-game/
Product Manager HQ
Product Manager HQ is known for being our world’s first and largest online Slack community for product managers. They make it their goal to help people break into the product manager role.
URL: https://www.productmanagerhq.com/
Check out this article: https://www.productmanagerhq.com/2014/08/do-product-managers-need-a-technical-background/
L2 Inc.
A colleague of mine introduced me to Scott Galloway, L2 Founder and Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern, via his Winner & Loser videos. I was hooked. Galloway is both tongue-in-cheek and an absolute genius. L2 is a top-of-the-line business intelligence firm that benchmarks consumer brands' digital performance, think Amazon. Using those benchmarks provides digital research insights which help marketers grow their business. Be sure to watch a couple of the Winners & Losers videos. You won’t regret it.
URL: www.l2inc.com
Sign up for the Daily Insights for Articles like this: https://www.l2inc.com/daily-insights/no-mercy-no-malice/a-disturbance-in-the-force
Aha! and ProductPlan
Both Aha! and ProductPlan offer product roadmap software and are very fast-growing companies. Their blogs and websites are practical treasure troves of fun and useful articles. While the majority aren’t product management-focused per see, their blogs and resources are worth following.
URL: http://blog.aha.io/
Check out this article: https://blog.aha.io/benefits-work-from-home-employees/
URL: https://www.productplan.com/
Check out this article: https://www.productplan.com/non-technical-product-managers/
Medium
Last but not least, by any means, is Medium. How best to describe Medium? Space wherein a community of thinkers and writers share their perspectives and the world.
For product managers, not only is reading important but writing or sharing ideas is equally important. Your ideas need to be out in the wild as they can form a portfolio of sorts or even a testament to what you thought in 2016 before that one job or before you read that one book and then in 2017 when your world turned upside down by that involuntary change in career.
URL: https://medium.com/tag/product-management
Check out this article: https://medium.com/swlh/send-me-problems-not-wireframes-fc5b4f66f081
Thanks for reading the list! What are some of the invaluable blogs or sites you follow to give you an edge?
Hi, I’m Sean; I’m passionate about CX and Products. Over the last decade, I’ve been privileged to lead product organizations at some of the most impactful companies in the world. Mainly in the healthcare space and most recently focused on an internal platform managing work for hundreds of clinicians and care for millions of patients. SeanLAdams.com is my little corner of the internet; stop by anytime.
