The BOOK is out!
Big announcement! My book, STRONG: A Complete Guide to Developing Great Product Managers, is now published. If you already know you want to get a copy (or two), you can do so here.
Want to learn a little bit more about who the book is for and what you can expect to learn from it?
Keep reading!
Who is this book for?
Are you a product leader looking for advice on how to ensure that every product manager on your team is living up to their full potential? Do you want to make sure your product people are competent, empowered, and inspired—giving their very best every day? And would you like to know how you can best help them on this journey? Then STRONG is for you.
Or perhaps you’re an aspiring product manager who wants to learn the skills it takes to become an effective product leader. If so, STRONG is for you, too.
But that’s not all. STRONG is also very useful for UX/design and engineering leads who work closely with product people, Agile coaches, HR managers who work for companies with product organizations, and for each and every product person eager to learn more about how to take the next step in their career. Whatever your relationship may be to the product world, if you are interested in what it takes to help develop great product people, STRONG is for you!
"Whatever your relationship may be to the product world, if you are interested in what it takes to help develop great product people, STRONG is for you!" Tweet this
Why is this book important?
For seven years now, I have been working as a freelance consultant for technology companies, helping product organizations become better at what they do. Through this work, I’ve learned that the best way to create sustainable change is to empower product people to continuously pursue professional development. I’ve observed that a product organization only becomes better when each of its members is constantly working on themselves and learning new things. And this attitude is most likely to become reality when the line managers of product managers (heads of product, product team leads, and so on) are enabled to take care of people development themselves. Through my coaching, I help them become the best product coaches their team has ever had.
"A product organization only becomes better when each of its members is constantly working on themselves and learning new things." Tweet this
With this book, I want to make my years of experience in coaching product managers accessible to a much larger group of people. I’m doing this because I know that there is so much potential in every product manager just waiting to be released!
How is the book organized?
STRONG contains five parts. Each part focuses on the specific knowledge and skills you’ll need to help every product manager on your team develop and improve. These five parts include:
PART I: What Product Managers Do—Define Your Good
PART II: Manage Your Team—Find Your Voice
PART III: Find and Recruit Good Product Managers—Attract the Best People
PART IV: Develop Your Existing Product Team—Train for Excellence
PART V: Create the Right Environment—Build a Great Culture
What will you learn from STRONG?
By the time you finish reading this book, you will understand:
Why you need to focus on the personal development of every product manager—and of the team as a whole—to unlock their full potential.
Why coaching is an important part of your job, and how to do it in the most effective way.
How you can define what a good product manager looks like.
How you can accurately assess product managers and provide them with valuable, actionable, and helpful feedback on their current performance that will help them perform even better.
Which methods/frameworks you can use to make sure your product managers learn what they need to know to be more effective.
And you will be able to:
Reflect on your own coaching personality and define your own areas for development.
Efficiently prepare and use 1:1s as your main coaching tool. (STRONG is packed full of helpful tools and templates you can use in your 1:1s.)
What are others saying about this book?
A number of thought leaders within the product world had the opportunity to review STRONG. Here’s what they had to say about it.
"Petra is an exceptional product leader and discovery coach, and an ideal person to write a book on how to make sure the product managers on your team are competent, inspired, and empowered." — Marty Cagan, Founder and Product Partner at Silicon Valley Product Group
"I think we need a handy guide for heads of products on how to help their product people grow! So happy Petra is writing this book." — Gabrielle Bufrem, Manager, Product Management at VMware and Trainer for Mind the Product
"It’s not easy to have a clear vision for each individual on a product team when it comes to personal and professional development and you are the manager in charge. Petra’s book will give guidance and orientation when it comes to people development for product people." — Martin Eriksson, Founder of ProductTank and co-founder of Mind the Product
Who am I (the author)?
If we haven’t met before, hello, I’m Petra! I’m an independent product leadership coach. I love to help my customers build great products and high-performing product teams by focusing on the personal growth of each individual product manager. Alongside my freelance coaching work, I co-organize and curate Mind the Product (MTP) Engage Hamburg. Fun fact: I’m always waiting for windy days because I’m a huge kite-surfing enthusiast.
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My coaching website: https://petra-wille.com
My book website: https://strongproductpeople.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/loomista